Step Back into Golf's History: Lido at Sand Valley - A Nostalgic Experience
Transitioning into the Enchanting Ambiance of The Lido Golf Club at Sand Valley Resort, Wisconsin
Welcome to The Lido Golf Club, a testament to golf's rich history nestled in the heart of Sand Valley Resort, nearby Rome, Wisconsin. This impressive course is a labor of love from Michael Keiser and his dynamic family, breathing new life into a former pine forest harvested for paper.
The convergence of golf's renaissance and a plummet in pine pulp prices provided the perfect opportunity to acquire this sandy, expansive land. Today, the resort prides itself on four 18-hole courses: Sand Valley, The Lido, Mammoth Dunes, Sedge Valley, and a 17-hole short course named The Sandbox. Upcoming additions include a 12-hole course named The Commons, a new driving range, and a reversible 9-hole family-friendly layout. Rumors even hint at a third course designed for match play.
"We have land here to build nine courses," affirmatively states Tom Ferrell, VP of Media and Communications for Dream Golf.
The resort intriguingly combines contrasting personalities, merging public and private golf, diverse topographies, divergent design philosophies, and an extensive range of delectable dining options.
The Lido Golf Club stands out as a remarkable reconstruction of the 1917 Lido Golf Club in Long Beach, New York. This reimagined creation is a masterful blend of original sketches, photographs, aerial shots, and digital renderings, carefully brought together to resurrect a lost piece of golfing history.
Charles Blair Macdonald was the ingenious mind behind the original Lido, with construction overseen by Seth Raynor and input from Alister MacKenzie. The Lido winds across a level piece of land close to the resort entrance, contemplating the original's seaside setting yet rising no higher than 50 feet above the clubhouse. Being void of trees, concentration is drawn to the strategic placement of unexpected bunkers, mounds, and aiming rocks that challenge every stroke.
The course inarguably lives up to Walter Hagen's 1921 praises as "the greatest test in the world," with the possible exception of Pine Valley. Hagen counted The Lido among his personal "big three," alongside National Golf Links of America and Pine Valley.
One striking element of this course is The Punchbowl. The tee shot follows a cape-style layout, with a diagonal pond guarding the fairway. The farther right the line, the greater the carry and the risk. The fairway slopes towards the distinctively high green, which sits dramatically amidst steep, deep bunkers at its front, resembling a meteor crater rather than a conventional punchbowl.
The course possesses a serious, reverent tone. Caddies are essential for non-members to maintain the pace of play and identify aiming points and profoundly sloped greens. Alcohol is strictly forbidden, replacing it with a taste of nostalgia through hand-cranked water pumps offering well water.
The Lido provides a quiet, meditative round, devoid of the typical modern golf soundtrack of music and chatter. Instead, it offers a journey through history, traveling across the sandbanks of Central Wisconsin. A grand hotel once overlooked the original Lido, built by Senator William H. Reynolds. Although Wisconsin's The Lido opted for minimalism, it proudly features a small clubhouse with The Lido merchandise, a café, and a hickory club workshop, where many members show their respect for the course's history by playing with sets of hickory clubs from the 1920s.
The Lido Golf Club at Sand Valley Resort is undeniably a unique experience, standing apart from the rest of the resort due to its level terrain, intense bunkering, sobriety policy, and more formal atmosphere. The ethos here is to play ten strokes harder than the other courses and leave with every stroke etched in memory.
At Sand Valley Resort, Wisconsin, immerse yourself in the historic ambiance of The Lido Golf Club, a reimagined recreation of the 1917 Lido Golf Club in Long Beach, New York. The Lido stands out as a significant homage to golf's architecture, offering a challenging and tranquil golfing experience unlike any other at the resort. This serene round of golf, devoid of modern distractions, invites enthusiasts to delve into the rich history of the sport through pristine sandbanks of Central Wisconsin.
