ERIN, Wis. — If you’re so obliged to follow the long, winding road, you can take about a dozen county roads to get here. There’s no traffic, except for when a wild turkey crosses the road.
The charm of Erin Hills Golf Course is that it’s a hidden gem in the middle of wide-open spaces. And silos. And European-like stone buildings.
It’s a beautiful place about 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee. The USGA loves it so much it has the U.S. Women’s Open here this week, following the 2017 U.S. Open. And there will be another four more USGA championships by 2039.
“I've said this many times, so apologize for the potential eye roll, but this is field of dreams for golf,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan. “You're driving out here and you kind of keep driving and you go, maybe I missed it. … My parents are from Iowa, so it reminds me of the Iowa drive and then you pull in. It's just majestic.”
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Whan first time Whan played Erin Hills a few years ago with the course owner, Andy Ziegler. “I remember saying it's kind of one of those places I wish I would have designed. I mean, I wouldn't have done this well, but it's amazing what kind of vision they must have had, and to bring it to this level, it's a special place.”
It’s a special place with rolling terrain and views, but it’s a also a hilly, arduous walk for those playing the course, stretched to 6,829 yards for the game’s best female players this week. Erin Hills has character in the routing over the kettle moraine areas left by glaciers, and the ground is made of glacial till composed of sand and small rock.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda called the green at the 139-yard, par-3 ninth hole green “diabolical.” The green slopes into traps and hazards. It’s known as the shortest par 5 in Wisconsin.
“It's going to be a very interesting test,” Korda said on Tuesday. “I wonder how many groups are going to be on the tee box. That's the U.S. Open, it's supposed to test every part of your game. You're supposed to have holes like that. It's a really cool hole because obviously on the green you look at it and you don't see how sloped the green is. If you look at it just from the tee box, you see it's kind of like a shorter par 3, but it's very, very demanding in every aspect.”
Korda is playing in her 10th U.S. Women’s Open and still searching for her first victory. She’s a long hitter but there’s a lot more to Erin Hills than the obvious length off the tee.
“It tests every part of your game. It's very demanding,” Korda said of Erin Hills. “It's firm. It's fast, as well. Even if you think you've hit it good, you just can never … you can exhale when you see [the ball] stop. I would say even the weather plays a big role with the shots out here, with the putts. I think it's a great big hitter's golf course, but it's just demanding in every aspect.”
The wind and weather and those 132 bunkers. Trouble lurking everywhere. And then there’s the sheer yardage.
“There's some greens, especially on the back nine, you could have a pitching wedge, 9-iron into the green, and it would be a really good shot to be within 15, 20 feet,” said World No. 3 Lydia Ko. “I honestly don't love when sometimes golf becomes all about, oh, you play on a 6,800 or 6,900-yard golf course. I think holes can be really tough even if it's short, and it's just about the pin positions and the course and the environment that kind of sets it up.
“I think it's going to be kind of a game-time thing where I'm going to realize, ‘OK, today is going to be a little bit more of a conservative course management’ or it could be a bit more aggressive.”
The ninth hole at Erin Hills.
Fred Vuich
The 15th hole at Erin Hills.
Dave Evenson
There’s 26 amateurs in the 156-player field, and this for amateur Katelyn Kong, a UC Irvine freshman, is the longest and most difficult course she’s ever played.
“I kind of have to take my medicine on some holes,” Kong said. “Wedges are feeling good. Driver was solid [in practice].”
The USGA want golfers to use every club in their bag—literally—if they’re going to make it to the weekend. Kong played 18 holes on Monday and said she did use every club with the exception of her 6-iron.
Teen sensation Asterisk Talley played in the U.S. Women’s Open last year at Lancaster (Pa.) County Club, sharing low amateur honors. Just that year’s experience has her appreciating more what’s in store this week..
“Already, every part of your game is going to be tested, but now those long irons come into play, and if you get out of position it's definitely going to be really tough and you're going to be hitting woods out of the fescue,” Talley said. “It's going to be really hard to try and salvage a par or even a bogey out of those positions, so I think just trying to get yourself in the right position being over that shot is going to be really crucial, and just having every single part of your game on your ‘A’ game is going to be really important.”
This is the most important week of the year in women’s golf, and at least there’s some bliss in everything surrounding the course.
“I actually have no idea where the town I'm staying [is], but I think it is the nicest town in the area,” Korda said. “I did not know that this was like dairyland, and I only found that out because they said they have a cheese-tasting here. I love my cheese, and I heard it's cheddar cheese. I love my cheddar cheese. Yeah, there's a lot of things that I like in the area. It's obviously very quiet.”
The serenity ends after a beautiful drive to the course. Erin Hills is ready.