The Club at Lac La Belle

I was fortunate enough to visit this course while on a golf trip to Wisconsin in August. The newly renovated course was difficult in all the right ways and the greens will challenge a golfer of any level. The pace of play and conditions were excellent. The putting course was a huge plus for our group as we spent an extra couple hours just playing that! The staff stole the show and if there was a 6th star available then they'd get it! Highly recommend this course for anyone able to play it.

A fantastic layout. They are strict on spacing tee times so pace of play was good. They have recently top dressed the greens. They are very undulating and demanding. This course will take another two years to mature. But when it does it should be a course any golfer would love to play

Great golf course and amenities. The new owners have done an incredible job with the course re-design.

Beautiful bunkers, fescue, and design. It's a classic with a modern twist. The course is also a joy to walk. Carts are available, but not totally necessary like so many newer courses.

This was my second time playing it this year, had played earlier in the summer before the grass was fully growing in. In another year or so, this place will be pristine!

Fantastic layout with challenging but fair obstacles, modern greens which are large, undulating, but playable. You can really decide how you want to make shots. Plenty of risk reward opportunities to choose your path!

All in all, a great layout that will definitely host some State Events! The staff and ownership is dedicated to making this a course worth the trip to for a round, event, and food!

My first visit but hoping it's not my last to Lac La Belle. I agree with the other reviewers on a lot of their points. I'll be somewhat detailed with my review since it's a newbie for everyone - remember I do tell it like it is unvarnished.

Let's tear some skin off Wisconsin's "newest" addition.

Staff - each and every one of them I interacted with want you to have a great time and excellent experience. Smiles, helpful info given that's needed but not requested, etc, etc. The GM Tyler is training staff right. Kudos.

Facilities - a little confusing.....they have a bag drop but the the parking lot isn't signed very well. I don't even know if they have a locker room. It wasn't offered (if they do have one) and it should be because I changed in the lot after a 2 hours plus drive....do I have to ask? Not complaining but weird that I couldn't find a locker room wandering around on my own after I went to the pro shop to check in. And watch out! There's a step up from a doorway that most will use to get to the pro shop - pretty weird/bad planning. Nice bar area with an outside patio that overlooks the 15 hole putting course downhill to the 18th green connected to the putting course. Some interior history walls to read and a couple of trophy cases of old stuff to take pictures of and browse. Didn't try the food but a nice value surprise was $14 for a six pack of La Belle Lager made for them by a local micro brewery. It's a decent orange whip and worthy to take out & quaff on the putting course post round which is sneaky tough, has drink holders and I do recommend a tour of it post round.....always free to play!

To walk or to ride that is the question - they do have caddies by pre arrangement for additional cost. They also have some very nice golf carts. It was 95 degrees plus the day I played so walking was a bit out of the question for me. In hindsight even if was 70 degrees I would have been glad I had taken a cart. The course is on very low lying land in a lot of areas and frankly is a bit swampy off or near all grassed areas. Cart paths aren't paved - a whole bunch of wet mosh pits of wood chips.....so even though Lac La Belle wants promotes walking w/caddies it's a bit difficult for me to fathom why you'd spend 30K to join a place to take consistently muddy slippery paths to and from many greens and tee boxes. And very apparent there was really no attempt or good planning to make it even remotely convenient to drive or even the use motor carts around the range, clubhouse or many areas of the golf course itself.

Course Layout - it's simply jaw dropping. Fun and some really well designed course architecture. I already want to go back. Needs to grow in and get settled a tad. Greens are in good shape and roll well but need to soften/age a bit as several are like concrete pads right now. Good sand in the traps but as with many new courses these days it seems the very last thing these course designers/supers pay attention to are tee boxes. Many need additional grow in - some too small for the amount of play they will receive.

Other issues - course is not currently "Garmined." Bring your rangefinder if you want yardages - however the flags aren't set up to laser.....or get a caddie. The carts do have GPS but I had a few too many issues where I hit stock shots and yardages were 10 to 15 yards off in either direction in several areas of the course.. Many of the greens are just plain HUGE (3 or 4 clubbers)....they might be the largest greens you have ever played absent of maybe Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley. The flags aren't color coded (they really really should do that) and without a caddie/local knowledge as a first timer you're pretty much completely clueless - that's even with the cart gps which can't get near some tee boxes and some approach shots....perhaps providing you a daily PIN SHEET might make sense?

Overall I felt it was worth the C-Note cost to play Lac La Belle....perhaps it's little bit too pricey for it's current shape....$75/$80 w/cart would likely get less complaints at the current time....if you're spending a c-note (even more with a caddy versus motor cart) as a public golfer you should expect close to perfection. The course itself is absolutely fantastic with an added putting course bonus. I hope they take note of the issues above and correct or mitigate some of them. Course aging and growing in a couple of years - I wouldn't hesitate to play it again. If they fill their membership rolls and it turns private and I don't get to play it again so be it. I''ll gladly return there next year if at all possible.

When arriving the staff seemed very unorganized which can be chalked up to the course recently being reopened. The layout was decent with some beautiful holes but a few did not make much sense. The greens rolled well. The upkeep of the fairways and rough were about on par with your average muni but the tee boxes were a mess. Difficult navigating the course while walking as you had to walk through a ton of fescue and the signage was not great. This course needs a year or two of upkeep to be worth the price.

When I first saw this course scheduled its grand re-opening for June 20, I had to get a tee time. Having played the previous iteration of this course and seeing the work that was being put into it for 2+ years I couldn't wait to see the updates for myself. I did get out last fall for the 9 hole preview play so getting a chance to see the "finished" product had me excited to say the least.

I should have went in with tempered expectations but I couldn't help myself. At the current price point I figured I had to try and play it as often as possible before I would assume it transitions into more of a private club in the coming years.

The pros of the day were many, the negatives of the day were disappointing. The staff was incredible, the cart attendees, pro shop, waitresses and beverage service were all what you would except at a club of this stature. It was a testament to the training and preparation to have everything in place and running so smoothly on opening day. The course layout was exceptional and the new holes were very interesting to see. Going through the old layout in my mind when playing it was incredible to see all the changes and just how much work has taken place on the property. The greens are something else, this was my favorite improvement of the course hands down. The size, the movement, and the playability from around the greens and fairways gave the players many options to try and get the ball close. We were told GIR didn't mean a whole lot unless you were in the right place and after 18 holes I couldn't agree more. The bunkers are incredible as well. You do not get to play out of sand like this anywhere in the area from what I've seen.

The only negative of the day was the condition of the course, and I say this knowing full well it was opening day and I'm sure the improvements in course conditions have been significant already. It felt like the hype of the re-opening and green fees didn't much the conditioning of the course overall. It would be every bit worth the money was it continues to grow in. We've already discussed getting back out there in the fall just to see the improvements one full summer of play and maintenance might have on the course.

I would certainly recommend this course but it may be something you decide to wait on just a little bit longer. You certainly don't want to miss out on this course though as it will undoubtedly became one of the best in the area very soon.

Lac La Belle is going to be something special. The renovation done by Craig Holtom gave me memories of playing Sand Valley where he was part of the shaping crew. The course offers plenty of dramatic opportunities (the par 3 4th being one of the primary examples) while never letting down throughout the entire round. The greens are some of the best I've seen for a modern design outside of a top 100-type project and really make the course something special. The only complaint is that the grass was bare in some areas and very wet as the course had received several inches of rain in the days leading up to when I played it. I cannot wait for it to finish growing in and playing it again next summer.

To start off, the course has a phenomenal layout and each hole is visually appealing. The grass in tee boxes, fairways, and greens will need awhile to mature. Very sandy at the moment. Poor signage to tee boxes, especially the back tees. Found ourselves having to walk through fescue to get to multiple tee boxes. Inconsiderate construction workers and grounds crew while golfers are playing through. The course has unbelievable potential but if it wants to become a private club in a few years, these negative experiences (though minor) cannot happen.

Was looking forward to playing this new track as the Facebook ads made it very enticing. The story behind the course and the renovation is pretty neat. The clubhouse and bar are top notch. The practice putting green was very impressive and is laid out to have a fun match after your round with a beverage in hand. I will start off by saying the course layout is phenomenal and is a golf nerds dream visually. I do have some negatives to share from my experience though. First, there was still a lot of construction going on, especially the first couple of holes. These construction workers were not considerate of when golfers were playing through, They would be yelling at each other in middle of our backswings. They also had some high school grounds crew employees that lacked self awareness. They were screwing around on their lawn equipment no more than 30 yards away from us as we were putting. Those are experiences you don't expect to happen on a course that you paid triple digits to play and planning to be a country club in a few years. There was very poor signage from hole to hole, especially if you played the tips, like we did. We also found ourselves having to walk through fescue to get to a lot of the tee boxes. The fairways, tee boxes, and greens definitely need some maturing to do. I think the course conditions wise will be immaculate in a year or two. Overall a fantastic golf course with some minor negative feedback which might be just summed up to the course only being open a few weeks.

The Club at Lac Labelle recently reopened after a massive renovation. While I did not play the original course, my understanding is that the renovation was so extensive that you might really consider it a entirely new golf course. The design is spectacular - winding fairways, deep bunkers, wildly undulating greens... truly fantastic architecture! However, the course conditioning is not up to par. The is not unexpected given its newness, but in truth, they probably should have waited until 2021 to open (the first four holes are especially rough). I know that's probably not feasible financially, but buyer beware. If the course' ownership invests in maintenance in the coming years then The Club at Lac Labelle will rival Erin Hills as the best course in the area. But as of July 2020, this course is not ready for prime time.

Be prepared for a lot of workers as the course remains under construction!! I believe they were on more holes then they were not. That being said, course has a tremendous layout, wild bunkering and even wilder greens. I recommend if in the area.