Built By Local Caddies

Created by a trusted local caddy, this Playing Guide delivers the insider knowledge, strategic targets, green-reading insights, and course management tips that can help you play smarter and score better.

Designed for Every Skill Level

Whether you're a low-, mid-, or high-handicap golfer, every Playing Guide includes advice tailored to your game. From aggressive lines for accomplished players to smarter, safer strategies that eliminate big numbers, you'll know exactly how to approach every hole with confidence.

HOLE 1 - VERONA
Downhill opener · A green more demanding than the tee shot
Par 4  -  396 / 370 / 355 yds.

Tee Shot
Three things govern all eighteen holes here and only one of them is visible from this tee. First, and most important: this golf course is built on the terminal moraine where the Wisconsin Glacier stopped, and almost nothing plays level. Shots climb or fall on the large majority of these holes, and the difference is frequently a full club or two. Each hole here notes which way the land runs and what that costs you in club. Second, the round splits into two entirely different environments — open prairie for the first nine, then six holes enclosed by hardwood forest from the 10th, then back into the open for the finish. Third, the greens are 007 bent grass, firm and tightly mown, and several of the important ones fall hard from back to front. Grain is not a meaningful force on surfaces this firm and this closely cut — what moves your ball is the tilt and the tier.

On the wind: Madison's prevailing breeze is from the south in every month of the season, typically nine to eleven miles an hour. Out here on the open front nine it is a genuine factor in club selection and there is very little to shelter you. From the 10th through the 15th the timber takes it away almost entirely. Read the treetops on those holes rather than what you feel at ground level, because the two will disagree.

One pre-round note. If you have time before you tee off, spend it in the short-game area rather than on the range. On this property you will face far more downhill lies, uphill pitches and long putts from above the hole than you will on a typical course, and that is where the strokes go.

Now the hole. You are standing on the high point of the property looking out at the Verona skyline, and it plays downhill to a generously wide landing area. This is the eleventh index and the tee shot is the friendliest you will see today.

Best angle: the left half of the fairway, which opens the entrance and keeps the deep right-hand bunker out of your approach line.

Low handicap: driver, and take the width — a wedge in your hand is worth a great deal on a green this severe. If the first tee has you tight, a 3-wood still leaves a short iron and removes any risk of running through the fairway.

Mid & High Handicap: driver at the left side, letting the fall of the land add roll. The landing area is wide and forgiving, and that extra roll gives you the shortest approach you will have on the front nine.