Eagle Springs Golf Resort

Founded in 1893 by the Tuohy family, Eagle Springs is the oldest golf course in Wisconsin. Today, it’s owned by Mike Bolan, the great-great-grandson of the first owners. While the course has changed a bit over the years, the clubhouse is original. Driving down Eagle Springs’ gravel driveway feels like time travel. 

The course’s history is murky, to say the least. In 1893, golf hardly existed in America, much less in the Midwest. Around that time, C. B. Macdonald was messing around in a field in Lake Forest, Illinois, laying out a seven-hole course. The architect of the first layout at Eagle Springs is unknown. It could have been the Tuohys themselves, immigrants from Western Ireland.

The later history isn’t much clearer. According to family tradition, William Tuohy brought in A. G. Spaulding in 1921 to redesign the course, notably the first and second holes. While it’s clear that someone who understood golf architecture did the work, it likely wasn’t Spaulding, who died in 1915. Per Bolan, the original 18-hole course shrank to nine during the Great Depression, which a 1937 aerial helps to confirm.

What’s not a mystery is the enduring excellence of Eagle Springs. Few courses are able to provide a quality experience at an affordable price, but the Tuohys and their descendants have done so at Eagle Springs for 126 years. Today, the walking rate is just $23. Bolan says he’s able to keep the green fee low because his family has rarely taken on debt. But another factor must be his own commitment to the facility. Bolan works seven days a week, doing everything from golf course maintenance to working the register. The result is that Eagle Springs remains a viable business in spite of being a nine-hole course in a small Wisconsin town. 

The course itself has several stand-out holes, including Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8, making this affordable “homemade” golf course incredibly interesting, as well. As previously mentioned, the course begins with a bang, grabbing your attention with an audacious punchbowl green at the first. From here, a short walk to the next tee reveals the visually stunning “volcano” second with a small green perched atop a sharp hill that falls off severely on all sides. You won’t ever forget this hole. In addition, the par-4 fourth and par-5 eighth traverse the rolling Wisconsin farmland, providing drama throughout the round. As a whole, Eagle Springs is a rare version of golf that simply doesn’t exist anymore in America with its hyper-affordability, simplistic and eco-friendly maintenance, and wildly unique golf experience. 

Take Note…

Architect Bolan. Always a tremendous hole, the first became even better when Bolan expanded the green. Originally, the green was a small punchbowl. Now that feature makes up the right half of the green. Seeking more pins, Bolan added a left plateau. This feature adds some welcome complexity and day-to-day variety to the hole; the right and left pins play completely differently. This is just one of several in-house additions that Bolan has made to the course under his stewardship.

‍Hole 2B. When Bolan realized that many of the older golfers playing Eagle Springs were skipping the iconic second hole due to the steep slopes leading up to the green, he decided to build an alternate par 3 that would cater to all golfers. Instead of walking up the hill behind the first green, golfers can walk directly right of the first green to play a much less intimidating second hole.

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