EarthGolf

Erin Hills, the golf course that the other greeting card magnate built, is seeking a US Open and it would seem that it might just get it. The course, set about 45 minutes west of Milwaukee, is competing with a few other venues to become the midwest stop on the US Open rota.

“It’s one of those happen-chance things — we’re walking through the USGA tent, and there was Mike Davis,” Lang said. “Jim introduced him to me and said I was building a golf course called Erin Hills. Now remember, we hadn’t started construction yet. Mike says, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve heard about that.’ So we talk for a minute, and I say, ‘Why don’t you come out and see it?’ And he said, ‘Maybe sometime I will.’”
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Though a U.S. Open for Erin Hills is not a sure thing, it would fit nicely on the calendar sometime between the 2015 PGA Championship and the 2020 Ryder Cup, both at Whistling Straits.

Erin Hills seemingly has everything the USGA would want for its national championship. The golf course is magnificent and challenging. It can play as long as 8,266 yards from the back black tees and the extra hole — the 164-yard, par-3 “Bye” hole — will be used in place of the only hole the USGA doesn’t like (No. 7, a blind par 3).

Now, here’s a good tidbit that I’d not heard before. (Perhaps it’s common knowledge and I’ve just missed it.)

Lang is a self-made businessman with a construction company in Delafield and a calendar/greeting card company he sold in 2003. He intended to build a 9-hole golf course for family and friends. In 1999, a friend told him about some land near Holy Hill. Little did Lang know at the time that renowned golf course architect Tom Doak two years earlier had designed a course on that site for some local investors, but the deal fell apart.

A few questions - who were the previous investors, what was the Doak routing and why was Doak not retained?

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