Excerpt taken from Wisconsin.golf. July 21, 2020
We’re honored to see CR Lutzke featured on Wisconsin.Golf for his work on the baths at Blackwolf Run. Here’s some of what they wrote:
The four water features, or baths, will have sand bottoms and beach access. For typical daily play, they will be part of the course routing, though multiple tee boxes ensure that there are no forced carries over water unless desired. If a business or group schedules an event, part of the par-3 course can be closed so that the baths do not come into play.
The 10-hole short course was designed by Chris Lutzke, a protégé of the late Pete Dye – who designed the 72 holes at Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits – with significant input from Kohler Co. executive chairman Herbert V. Kohler Jr. It was Kohler’s idea to include the swimming holes.
“This truly was a collaboration between Herb and Chris Lutzke,” Willis said. “Herb, with his experience working with Pete and traveling the world playing golf, he’s got a lot of ideas in his head. And in Chris, I think he found a perfect partner, just like he had in Pete, to help him bring those ideas to life.”
The short course will be incredibly flexible. Depending on the teeing ground used, it can be played entirely with a putter, with a wedge and a putter or with most of the irons in a player’s bag. The holes can stretch from 65 yards to more than 150. And it can be played in three-, four- or six-hole loops, as a warm-up to a round of golf on the Meadow Valleys or as a venue to settle bets post-round.
“What you’ll see on this course – and I don’t want to disparage other people’s products – but something like the Cradle (at Pinehurst) that is very small and compact, this is not like that,” Willis said. “This is a legitimate big-time, very well-designed par-3 golf course. You’re going to see some of the most visually stunning par-3s on this course that you’ll see anywhere on that property. And that’s saying a lot.
“Chris put his own stamp on it, too. It’s not like he walked in here as the Pete Dye protégé and just did what Pete would have done. He put his own stamp on it, and you can see that.”
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.