The Golf Courses at Lawsonia (Links Course)
WI, USA
A game of golf on the Links Course at Lawsonia is one of the most fun chess matches a golfer will ever have with an architect. The greedy golfer above pays the price for trying to lay up to close to the par five 11th green.
Even more so than Stiles and Van Kleek, Langford & Moreau deserve consideration as the finest, least known architect team of all-time.
Unfortunately, not enough is known about themwith the possible exceptionbeingRon Whitten, who notes in his Feature Interview on this site that he has accumulated one hundred old Langford blueprints. With over 200 courses to their credit (most of which are in the midwest), they were more prolific than many realize, including such gems as the nine holer at Harrison Hills in Indiana, their impressive re-work of Skokie CC in Illinois and Wakonda in Iowa.
William Langford and Theodore Moreau formedtheir design partnership in Chicago in 1918 andone wonders what influenceMacdonald’searly version of Chicago Golf Club followed by Raynor’s 1922 re-work(right when Langford & Moreau became busy) must havehad on this pair.In addition, golf architecture historian and writerTom MacWood conjectures that Langford frequented National Golf Links of America before graduating from Yale in 1908 as well as later at Columbia where he received his Masters. MacWood reasons that such visits to NGLA, Piping Rock and perhaps Sleepy Hollow would have surely shapedLangford’s design philosophy.
And there are definite similarities between the work of Langford & Moreau (who was a civil engineer) and Macdonald and Seth Raynor (who had acivil engineering degree as well). Langford & Moreau’scourses have a somewhat engineered look, though less so than Raynor’s solo efforts. Like Raynor, they moved plenty of dirt to build up their green complexesyet seemingly movedlittle dirt elsewhere other than for bunker construction and tee boxes. They didn’t shy away from bold interior green contours of the sort where C.B. Macdonaldassisted Raynor such as at Yale Golf Club. Another great attribute that theyshared with Macdonald/Raynor was their ability to find the routing that yielded the most pleasing holes. And finally and perhaps most importantly, like Macdonald/Raynor,a primaryfocus of theirs wason the strategic merit of a course.
In The Golden Age of Golf Design, Geoff Shackelford quotes William Langford as follows: ‘Hazards should not be built solely with the idea of penalizing bad play, but with the object of encouraging thoughtful golf and of rewarding the player who possesses the ability to play a variety of strokes with each club.’ Shackelford goes on to provide examples of Langford’s love of alternate route holes, again highlightingthe importance that Langfordplaced on strategy.
Strategy abounds at Lawsonia. Right away at the 1st, if the golfer stays toward the inside of the dogleg right, then the steep slope left of the green isn't as likely to factor into his approach.
Victor Lawson’s farmland property that Langford & Moreau walked was treeless, open to thewindsand featured nice changes in elevation(all pluses) but many of the slopes are broad in nature, which can be problematic for an architect. Yet, upon playing the course,one appreciates the golf quality in each and every hole, a sure sign in part of a superb routing.
One way in which they achieved so many remarkable holes from this site is that they didn’t dwell excessively on the par of the holes by stamping out the norm of four one shotters, four three shotters and ten two shotters. Rather, thescorecard reflects five par threes, five par fives, andeight par fours.Indeed from the 9th hole through the 14th, par is 5-3-5-3-5-3, which few architects (or owners) would have the conviction to do today.Yet, can anyone imagine a better set of holes over that portion of the property? The author can’t.
In the context of a superb routing, the golfer is reminded of another public golf course of the highest quality – the Black Course at Bethpage. Yet, unlike Bethpage, the Links Course at under 6,800 yards doesn’t rely on length to provide its challenge and is far more interesting from forty yards and in than the Black Course ever was.
Set in the middle of a field, the best way to give the one shot 12th character was through wild interior green contours and that's exactly what Langford & Moreau did. By so doing, no extraneous dirt was moved.
Holes to Note
2nd hole, 430 yards; Langford & Moreau cut deep left and right cross bunkers into the crest of the hill 130 yards from the 2nd tee. Though not a great feat to carry them, the sight of a well hit tee ball sailingover themis a pleasing one for golfers of all levels. Some would argue that such hazards only penalize the weak golfer but imagine the view from the tee without them, and the author thinks that the hole is all thebetter/more satisfyingfor them.
A picture of the left cross bunker at the crest of the hill.
Langford & Moreau frequently employed grass mounds or bunkers 20-60 yards short of greens. When the Lawsonia opened, such hazards were a real threat as players played a low game along the ground. Today, such features create depth perception problems for the better player while giving the weaker player something to accomplish as well.
3rd hole, 385 yards; Another in what becomes a long line of strategic golf holes, a bunker with a six foot high grass face dominates the inside of this dogleg to the right. The more the golfer flirts with it off the tee, the easier his approach.
The 3rd fairway doglegs right around this well placed bunker at the 250 yard mark from the tee.
The elevated 3rd green is open front left and falls toward the back right. A low running approach tracks to this back right hole location.
5th hole, 485 yards; A wonderful gambling hole where a big tee ball either a) brings the green within reach in two or b) brings the out of bounds right or trees left into play. This is thetightest driving hole on the course and some may elect to leave the driver in the bag.
The view after a good drive, with the 5th green now in reach in two.
Given that the approach for those going for the green in two is often from a hanging lie, this bunker thirty yards shy of the 5th green gathers plenty of mishits and from there, a par becomes uncertain.
The 5th green falls away to a back right bowl. When the hole is located in this vexing position, the player should have his approach run down into it from the middle of the green. Flying the approach into the back bowl is foolhardy as the price for a miss is dear, as seen above.
6th hole, 440 yards; For many, this is their favorite hole in Wisconsin.
The tee ball must carry 200 yards to clear the huge grass mound that dominates off the tee while at...
...the same time, stay short or to the right of this pair of blind bunkers that are 300 yards from the tee.
The wild 6th green features a two foot spin through its left middle.
