Short Courses Provide Great Practice, Fun Rounds

27 Pines Golf Course owner Tom Schmelzer drives alongside the signature hole on the course he designed on a portion of his farm. Photo by Craig Sterrett.

It was 6 pm on a Saturday, south of Sturgeon Bay at 27 Pines Golf Course, half of which occupies former rich farm ground and half of which sits on soil that barely covers sand from an ancient dune west of Lake Michigan.

One group of about 25 people was finishing a potluck meal on the deck after an extremely casual round, and a young man, playing alone, listened to country radio in a red cart as two gray-haired men finished an after-work round.

“It was too hot to go hunting,” one said, noting that he’d decided to golf instead of wasting a beautiful, late-summer day by staying home.

Near the ninth hole on the 1,500-yard, nine-hole executive course, owner Tom Schmelzer was visiting with the group that had just finished the golf outing and post-round meal. An hour earlier, he and a friend had chatted about issues of the world, such as the future side effects of electric cars and spent batteries.

27 Pines doesn’t have the fanciest carts or a famous, 440-yard signature hole, and golfers driving Mercedes Benzes don’t flock to the place. But it does provide a gathering place for a rural neighborhood, a homey feel and a driving range for players looking to bomb a few drives or practice some finesse shots.

It also can serve as a wakeup call for any golfer who thinks a par-three course won’t have good greens, or any player who thinks he or she can just show up one day and easily break par.

Yours truly had golfed for more than 25 years at every course in Door County except two: Deer Run on Washington Island and 27 Pines. Although the Deer Run visit remains undone, the round at 27 Pines made this golfer want to return again and again.

I did not expect I’d need to hit every club in my bag when I played 27 Pines. That held true, but just barely.

Average golfers might never need to hit a driver or 3-wood from any of the tees, but that doesn’t mean it’s easier to hit greens in regulation at 27 Pines than it is at par-36 courses, where decent drives can allow players to hit 9-irons or wedges on almost all approach shots. This golfer could hit wedges on holes #1 and #2, but after that, I teed off with a 5-iron once, a 6-iron twice, a 7-iron once and a 4-iron twice.

At 27 Pines, knocking a tee shot on the green is the only way to get on in regulation – landing on the green with the opportunity to one-putt for a birdie.

In addition to providing a good place to practice hitting irons, 27 Pines has surprisingly diverse styles of greens. A couple are slightly mounded. A couple occupy as much space as some of the larger greens at local 18-hole courses, and one two-level green has a sand trap curving around its right edge and a small, oblong pond to the left.

That’s a lot of variety for a short course – well worth the visit for 18 with pals or a quick, relaxing nine after work.

Like 27 Pines, Door County’s northernmost course – Deer Run Golf Course and Resort – continues to have a loyal following. Former Cedar Lodge owner and operator Russ Jorgenson said the course has remained in as good a shape as ever since Wausau-based Masgay Restaurants purchased Deer Run. Although the new biergarten there has been attracting quite a few visitors and residents, golf remains the main attraction for Jorgenson and a dozen or so buddies who play there as much as possible.

He said the biggest problems the course had this year came from sandhill cranes damaging greens while looking for grubs to eat. Other than that, Jorgenson said he’s happy with the course and finds it challenging.

“The greens are small – that’s the hardest part,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to land on them and get [shots] to stay on.”

Jorgenson said he’s especially pleased about the outcome of the season finale for the golf league this year, when he and his buddies – “the old guys” – beat the young guys during the end-of-season outing. Jorgenson shot 38, and another teammate, Will Hershberger, had a 36, matching par.

I need to get out to the island sometime to give the 2,700-yard course a try, instead of being a golf snob who’s missing out on a good time.