Oconomowoc’s present course grew out of a 1915 land acquisition by the Grand View Company, which immediately engaged Donald Ross to lay out a new club north of town. Construction commenced in spring 1916 on a routing Ross personally staked in the field, but the United States’ entry into World War I halted the effort after nine holes were completed. The club functioned as a nine-holer until 1924, when the second nine opened and the layout became a full 18. Club-side materials document the pause, the 1924 completion, and the club’s intermittent financial strain during the interwar years. The available record does not clarify whether Ross himself returned to supervise the 1924 work or whether local contractors or associates in his office executed the balance of the plan. A 2020 note on a master-planning commission indicates that a 1915 Ross routing drawing survives, and that 1937 and 1941 aerials are being used to understand subsequent alterations and guide current decisions.
The course endured further disruption during World War II, when play and staffing ebbed to the point that it again operated as nine holes. A 1950 aerial confirms only nine active holes at that time; the precise year the back nine returned to continuous use remains undocumented in the public record. In 1995 the club embarked on an “aggressive course renovation program” intended to recommit to the Ross design while improving play on all 18 holes and modernizing the practice grounds. Since the 1990s the club has also removed hundreds of trees and, in 2008, re-seeded all fairways to bentgrass. In 2020 the club appointed architect Richard Mandell to advise on a master plan using the 1915 routing plan and the 1937/41 aerials as primary evidence. In fall 2021 Ross Golf Design provided shaping and construction administration for targeted work, including eliminating non-original bunkers and reinstating a Ross-era greenside bunker on the seventeenth.
Unique Design Characteristics
The course’s distinctive character follows the glacial spine that runs through the property. The second hole sets an early tone with a blind drive up to a ridge and a large right-side fairway bunker that dictates line; the approach plays to a green whose front slopes away from play, an inversion of the typical “false front” that presses angle and distance control. The first of the par-threes, the fourth, plays west into a narrow entrance between flanking traps, and club materials emphasize that all four par-threes point in different compass directions—an organizing device that exposes players to varied winds through the round.
Ross’s preference for perched targets and demanding carry-angles remains clearest on the uphill thirteenth, the club’s signature hole. The tee shot must skirt water on the right and trees left to claim a stance from which the second can climb steeply to a green set on a ridge edge; a pronounced false front tumbles mishit approaches back down the slope, leaving a delicate pitch. The eighteenth reprises that vocabulary at the finish, with an elevated, visually deceptive target protected by deep flanking bunkers and a front that sheds short approaches. The seventh is another strong example: a generous tee landing followed by an approach that must be struck a club extra to carry to an elevated, back-to-front surface where being hole-high can leave a treacherous putt. The short par-five eighth invites a choice: fly fairway bunkers to attack in two, or lay up to a tabletop above a ravine and negotiate pot bunkers that collect the mis-judged second. On the par-three seventeenth, a restored small pot bunker short-right now reasserts a precise preferred lane into the green, especially in prevailing downwind conditions that are offset by the hole’s uphill grade.
Across the round the routing curtails green-to-tee walks and leverages the site’s natural falls and side-slopes to influence ground approaches. Club materials note that greens have been renovated in recent decades to maintain their original challenges while accommodating higher modern speeds. The surviving examples that most purely transmit the early design are the thirteenth (for its ridge-edge setting and false front), eighteenth (elevated target and diagonal, deep bunkers), and the cross-wind sequence of par-threes at the fourth, sixth, twelfth, and seventeenth.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s work in Wisconsin, Oconomowoc represents an early commission on glacial topography and one that was interrupted by wartime constraints. The club’s documentary timeline—original nine completed in 1916, full 18 by 1924—anchors it as a pre-Depression Ross course in the state. The survival of a 1915 Ross routing drawing, and the availability of late-1930s/early-1940s aerials, make Oconomowoc a useful case study for how a Ross course evolved across the world wars and how clubs can triangulate present-day decisions against period evidence. The course has sustained a competitive profile within the state: it hosted the 116th Wisconsin State Amateur Championship in 2017 and has continued to stage WSGA events, including Senior Tour stops. In 2025 it served as a Final Qualifying site for the U.S. Senior Open, a role that speaks to setup flexibility and the course’s capacity to test elite senior players without resorting to extreme length.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing lines appear to hew closely to the historical corridors described in club and planning materials, though the club’s own history acknowledges a long mid-century period of uncertainty, including wartime reversion to nine holes and a 1950 aerial that shows only half the course in play. The 1995 renovation program—whose in-house description emphasizes a “recommitment” to Ross—coincided with a broad campaign of tree management and long-term turf improvements (bentgrass fairways in 2008). While the club history does not name the 1995 architect, secondary sources attribute the 1995 work to Craig Schreiner and note later involvement by Bob Lohmann; these attributions cannot yet be confirmed from club minutes or contract files available to the public. More recently, the club’s 2020 engagement of Richard Mandell explicitly tied planning to a 1915 Ross routing and to 1937/41 aerials, suggesting a documentary approach to restoration. Implementation in 2021—administered by Ross Golf Design—removed non-original fairway bunkers on the fifth and eleventh and restored the seventeenth’s greenside pot bunker, changes that sharpen the course’s strategic identity and re-establish period hazard forms at key decision points.
As it presents today, the course retains the feel of a 1910s Ross routing across glacial ground: short green-to-tee walks, perched greens with pronounced front-to-back tilts, and fairways that feed or repel depending on line. The most conspicuous alterations relative to the presumed 1915 intent are the degree of tree planting that accumulated after World War II (now partially reversed) and the modernization of the practice facilities. Specific green contours—particularly at the thirteenth and eighteenth—continue to function as originally conceived, with false-fronts and slope creating exacting recoveries. The return of a small, deep pot bunker on the seventeenth is a tangible example of feature-level restoration guided by historical evidence.
Uncertainty
Whether Ross personally returned in 1924 to supervise construction remains uncertain; current public-facing materials do not resolve that question. The 1995 renovation is clearly described by the club as a recommitment to Ross’s intent, but the architect of record is not named on the club site; attribution to Craig Schreiner and later involvement by Bob Lohmann are derived from secondary directories and résumés and should be verified against club archives. The World War II reversion to nine holes is noted by the club; the exact year the back nine resumed continuous play after 1950 is not documented in the sources consulted.
Sources & Notes
Oconomowoc Golf Club, “History.” Confirms 1915 Grand View Company formation; immediate retention of Donald Ross; construction begun spring 1916; nine holes completed before WWI interruption; remained a nine-holer until 1924; financial reorganization; WWII reversion to nine holes; a 1950 aerial showing nine active holes; 1995 renovation program recommitting to Ross; subsequent tree removal and 2008 fairway re-seeding; clubhouse chronology.
Oconomowoc Golf Club, “Course Layout & Strategy.” Provides hole-by-hole strategic descriptions used here to identify specific features (blind tee at 2; par-three compass variety; false front and uphill second at 13; elevated/false-fronted 18; restored pot bunker influence on 17; pot bunkers and lay-up table at 8; elevated target at 7). Notes on greens renovation and routing efficiency also cited.
Golf Course Architecture (Alex Smith), “Oconomowoc appoints Richard Mandell for master plan of Ross course,” 14 Feb. 2020. Confirms first nine opened 1916, back nine 1924; indicates Mandell’s access to a 1915 Ross routing drawing and 1937/41 aerials.
Richard Mandell Golf Architecture, project note (“OGC Awarded to RMGA”). Recapitulates 1915 commission; nine holes in 1916; second nine completed in 1924 after WWI interruption. Used to corroborate timeline and the existence of the 1915 Ross drawing guiding present planning.
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Ross Golf Design, project summary for Oconomowoc (2021–). Documents recent shaping/construction administration, including elimination of non-original bunkers on holes 5 and 11 and restoration of the greenside bunker on 17.
WSGA / BlueGolf, “116th State Amateur Championship,” 17–20 July 2017 (Oconomowoc GC). Confirms the club’s role as State Amateur host site.
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WSGA / BlueGolf, Senior Tour #3 (May 13, 2024) at Oconomowoc GC. Demonstrates ongoing WSGA event hosting.
AmateurGolf.com, “U.S. Senior Open Final Qualifying at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin,” June 3, 2025. Confirms use as a USGA final qualifying venue.
Secondary attributions of 1995 renovation: GolfPass course page (architects listed as Ross [1916], Craig Schreiner [1995], Bob Lohmann) and a résumé/qualification PDF listing Oconomowoc GC among Schreiner projects. These are not primary and should be verified against club contracts or board minutes; included here to flag likely authorship.