Wild Rock Golf Course will officially open for public play on May 1, 2008. Designed by Dr. Mike Hurdzan and Dana Fry, Wild Rock is routed along a wooded ridgeline through an old quarry in Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
"Dr. (Michael) Hurdzan loved the land," said Chris Goodwick, the general manager. "He thought it could be a top-five course in the state. There are some dramatic holes out here."
Green fees will range from $65 to $105, depending on the time of season and day of the week.
"The pace of play should be good," Goodwick said. "This is a water-park resort. Every golfer in Wisconsin, no matter what his or her ability, is going to enjoy this golf course."
Wild Rock is part of the Wilderness Territory, home to the Wilderness Hotel & Golf Resort, Glacier Canyon Lodge and Wilderness on the Lake. Nine holes from the former 18-hole Wilderness Woods course have been retained for casual golfers and families.
Tom Lucke, a Wisconsin Dells native and currently the majority owner of the Wilderness Resort, bought the property when it was still called the Dell View Hotel, which had a golf course dating back to the 1920s. A major golf upgrade was initiated in the late 1990s, when the old course was replaced with Wilderness Woods, designed by Wisconsin architect Art Johnson.
“We opened up Wilderness Woods, and some of those holes were pretty strategically located,” Lucke said. “We operated the golf course for six, seven years, and people liked it. We did 25,000 rounds a year, but then we needed to expand.”
Wild Rock measures 7,418 yards from the longest of five sets of tees. From the back tees, the new course has a course rating of 76.3 and a slope of 139. Hurdzan predicts “a lot of wow factor” when the course opens.