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MADISON, Wis. - It was the worst kept secret in golf.
Not long after the final putt dropped at the 2024 American Family Insurance Championship, PGA Tour Champions players were already talking about the changes coming to the 2025 tournament. The excitement was building, even though the official announcement that next year's tournament would be the first team event on the senior tour, mimicking the PGA Tour's two-man format at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, would come months later.
The buzz wasn't just for the new format but the tournament's new home at the redesigned and rebranded TPC Wisconsin. A number of players had already given their stamp of approval to the first design credited to Steve Stricker. Stricker, who lives in a house at TPC Wisconsin, and PGA Tour Head of Design Steve Wenzloff have transformed the former Cherokee Country Club into another elite tournament venue in a state full of them.
The 2025 American Century Insurance Championship will take place June 6-8 and will be televised by Golf Channel.
"I think it's going to be a wonderful spot for a team event; there are a lot of opportunities to make birdies, eagles, especially coming (home)," Stricker said last June during the course's media grand opening.
The making of TPC Wisconsin
Rebuilding TPC Wisconsin wasn't easy. There were battles over environmental restrictions and Stricker's endless tinkering to redesign the green surrounds at the private club owned by his father-in-law, Dennis Tiziani.
"I asked my son-in-law if he could just stay home a little bit," Tiziani joked. "Every time he comes, we've got to spend a little bit more money, but it turned out pretty good. We did all the fixes."
More than 650 trees were removed and more than 350,000 cubic yards of dirt were moved to raise the entire routing by several feet. With an extra 18 inches of sand-capping, the fairways will drain better and provide the firm-and-fast conditions tournament organizers crave.
The routing essentially stayed the same, although holes 1, 10 and 15 were reconfigured to revamp that section of the course. The course sits on 154 acres at the edge of the 5,000-acre Cherokee Marsh. Water hazards, as you might have guessed, are everywhere. Along with the on-course tweaks, an environmental program is underway to restore more than 35 acres of wetlands to improve floral diversity, pollinator habitat and grassland bird nesting areas.
"The challenge was to make it more player-friendly to widen some of the fairways," Stricker said. "That really couldn't happen because of the waterways. Cherokee was built on the marsh. (During the original construction in the 1960s) They took the dirt from the side (of the property) and made these canals, so to try to fill those canals in wasn't going to happen with the DNR.
"It still has the Cherokee feel with water around a lot of the holes. The green complexes are totally different. The routing stayed the same. The challenge was to create something fun for everybody but easier up around the greens. There are a lot of chipping areas. It's a lot of options up around the greens."
It will be interesting to see how the 10th hole plays during the tournament. Stricker said the design team has gone back and forth whether it's a par 4 or par 5. If it's a two-shotter, it will be the toughest par 4 on the course. If it's a par 5, it would quickly become the easiest, and much more risk-reward oriented.
The $25 million project includes many upgraded amenities, including some new toys (a golf academy, a short-game practice area and pickleball courts) and refurbished ones (tennis courts and the pool in the athletic performance center, along with dining and meeting facilities).
This isn't your typical TPC. It's a licensing deal with since the course is privately owned. TPC Wisconsin becomes the 29th course in the TPC network, which is owned by the PGA Tour. That arrangement made things interesting from the start.
"They have a different philosophy of how they run their (facilities) than we do here, and obviously there's friction. They want to do it one way and one owner wants to do it a different way," Tiziani said. "They have been very good, too, not that they acquiesce so much, but there is a compromise in some things in how we are doing and what we are doing."
What fans can expect at the 2025 American Family Insurance Championship
All anybody wants to do now is put on a good show, especially for the members who are giving up their brand-new course for 10 days. There will be 38 two-person teams (76 total players) vying for the title. The proceeds from the tournament benefit the Steve Stricker American Family Insurance Foundation and the American Family Children’s Hospital.
The tournament is a Wisconsin affair through and through. Stricker and fellow Wisconsin legend Jerry Kelly will be the fan favorites. Many spectators will be guzzling Stricker's "Strick9" beer, and getting as rowdy as golf crowds can. The AmFam Champ, as locals call it, has become the premier regular-season event on the PGA Tour Champions.
A new home and new format should take an already strong fan experience up a notch. The TPC Wisconsin layout is much more walkabout and has better sightlines than the past host, the University of Wisconsin's University Ridge in Verona. All the Cheeseheads are bound to have a good time.
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