Golf in Platteville

Bentgrass greens and fairways blended with blades of bluegrass and fescue connect across 3,284 yards to form Argue-Ment Golf Course’s nine-hole golf course. Natural wilderness, tall grass roughs, and rows of crops flanking the course stand as testaments to the horticultural conscientiousness of the family-owned facility, which minimizes the amount of pesticides used on the layout to preserve the area’s ecological integrity and create a traditional links-style course right in heart of Southcentral Wisconsin. Golfers must exercise astute club selection and confident swings to steer balls around or over water hazards, which come into play on three holes and torment hydrophobic golf balls. At the end of each fairway, small greens elude errant approaches and flummox putters with subtle breaks. Golfers can prepare for their round by enrolling in a lesson with PGA member David Haugh, who helps hone swings at the course’s practice facilities.

Course at a Glance:

• Nine-hole, par 36 course
• Length of 3,284 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 35.6 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 123 from the farthest tees
• Five tee options

Built in 1925 as a nine-hole course from soil harvested at a local farm and placed by horse-drawn carts, Lake Wisconsin Country Club has since grown into an 18-hole course that runs alongside Lake Wisconsin. At a distance of 5,881 yards from the farthest tees, the picturesque par 70 eschews overwhelming length in favor of a hazard-intensive round, as players must reckon with dense tree lines, water that comes in play on five holes, and territorial blades of grass throughout the layout. Rounds begin with the course’s most difficult hole, a 415-yard par 4 that demands a straight drive to keep balls out of a small forest on the left and a pond located on the right. A stint at the club’s driving range grants clubbers a chance to prepare for the round and guide 9-irons through warm-up calisthenics.

Kissing the shores of Lake Wisconsin, the club offers complimentary dock slips for guests approaching by boat or in need of a place to station their pet porpoise. The club’s dining room is open to the public for Friday-night fish fries, during which patrons can take in cocktails, surf 'n' turf entrees, and evening views of the lake.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 60 course
• Length of 5,881 yards from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 117 from the farthest tees
• Three tee options