Columbus, Ohio-based Hurdzan/Fry Golf Course Design announced that Erin Hills Golf Course, located 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee, has been named Golf Magazine’s Best New Course of the Year (2006). The January 2007 issue names Erin Hills as the best new course among the magazine’s annual “Top Ten New Courses You Can Play” feature. It was selected over an impressive list of courses covering all regions of the country.
The feature written by Joe Passov, also lists the Best New International Course, and oddly enough for a Top Ten You Can Play story, it also lists the year’s Best New Private Course. Sebonack Golf Club with a $650,000 initiation fee is hardly a course most people can play, but nonetheless was listed in the article. So in effect, Erin Hills is listed higher than all the courses mentioned in the piece.
Before it officially opened (Aug. 1) Erin Hills was chosen by the United States Golf Association to host the 2008 U.S. Women’s Public Links Championship. It is believed by many to be on the fast track for a U.S. Open Championship, maybe as soon as 2017. Mike Davis, senior director of rules and competitions for the USGA says, “It is such a spectacular piece of property, and I can’t remember when I’ve seen land like this in the Midwest. It just doesn’t exist.”
“There has been some talk about Erin Hills and the possibility of hosting the U.S. Open," says Bob Lang, a retired local businessman and owner of Erin Hills. "My response to that is to have the USGA even mention the Open is an honor in itself. It is my goal to be able to do things to prepare the course for that possibility.”
Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, principals of Hurdzan/Fry wish to note that Erin Hills was co-designed with Ron Whitten (golf architecture editor for Golf Digest) and is therefore not eligible for that publication’s “Best New” awards.
“Erin Hills is the most minimalist golf course we have ever done, and to win this award validates the old saying that ‘Nature does it best.’ But having Holy Hill as a backdrop also doesn’t hurt,” says Mike Hurdzan.
