Highlands at Grand Geneva Resort & Spa

Great course. But a 5 hour round was disappointing. Marshall needs to do a better job

The Highlands is like the lovable mutt you adopt at the Humane Society. It's not a pure bred, but it's still adored by all. It's a hybrid course with a little bit of Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Weed all sprinkled into the rolling hills north of Chicago. Some golfers like it better than its more famous sister course, The Brute.

Because there is no signature look or trait, it's got a little bit of everything - bunkers, elevated tees, elevated greens, a short 4 (10th), etc. You'll never be bored.

Cart path only on most holes because of weather. Course in great condition. We'll be back.

Thanks!!!

Challenging course. Great layout. GPS on carts. Friendly staff

Definitely will play here again soon

Nothing to complain about here. Course was in very good shape, except we had cart path only due to the rains the previous night. Staff was super friendly. We'll be back!

If only they could have turned the 30mph winds off....

We have played this course a few times and will play there again. A little wet today but fun.

The Good: Fun Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye collaboration is the second course built at Grand Geneva Resort. Wide open fairways provide the opportunity to keep the ball in play, but small, lightning quick greens protects The Highlands. Good course conditions, very nice off-course amenities, and excellent practice facility. Excellent Par 3's and some good risk/reward Par 5's. Most of the Par 4's have a "go for broke" opportunity off the tee, making for an enjoyable resort experience. Several holes have some great elevation change for a course in southern Wisconsin.

The Bad: Overpriced at $130 during high season. The Highlands is a $75 track that disguises itself as a premium resort course. Some holes are beautiful while others seem lackluster. Several tee boxes are uneven. Greens are almost too fast for the resort golfer.

The Verdict: The Highlands is the little sister to The Brute and for a reason. While it does offer great greens and a playable layout, there are only a few holes that justify the hefty greens fee. Nonetheless, there aren't too many more beautiful walks in the park in Southern Wisconsin.

Best Hole: The Par 3's #4 and #12 are great, but the downhill Par 4 #14 offers the best photo of the course. A downhill tee shot to a well-guarded uphill green.

Was in Lake Geneva area for my wife's family reunion. I was able to sneak away for some golf and decided to play The Highlands for the first time. There were some pretty heavy rains the night before but course was in excellent shape. It was cart path only which made the course a bit of a walk at times. Course conditions were very good, greens had been aerated weeks ago and ran very nice. Bunkers needed to be worked from the rains but that would be expected. Definitely recommend this course and next time in LG I will be back.

This was my first time playing either course at Grand Geneva. Even before stepping foot on the course, I was impressed with the facilities. The pro shop is very nice. The practice green is very large with a variety of slopes to get you ready for the greens on the courses. The is a chipping/pitching area next to the practice green. Balls on the driving range are included with your greens fees. You have to hit off of turf but the range is large with a variety of flags set at different distances to get you warmed up. The golf carts are set up with a very nice GPS unit which gives readings of distance to the pin, front and back of the greens, hazards, etc. Probably the nicest GPS set-up I've seen on a cart.

The starter at the first tee recommended the blue tees for my group. In doing so, he said it really doesn't matter what set of tees you play from. He stated The Highlands course will give you multiple chances for birdies and pars but it will also give you multiple chances for double and triple bogeys.

The course does not play extremely long as even from the tips it is less than 6700 yards. Where this course will beat you up is the par 4's. Many of them have such tight landing areas off the tee where you will have to hit a wood or a hybrid off the tee to play it safe. If you miss badly, you are in the woods or waste areas, and are scrambling for bogey. Elevations changes will also play havoc with your club selection and distances. Overall, the course was in excellent condition. Just be aware, the course was closed on 4/25, as they were starting to aerate the greens. If you play The Highlands in the next week or two, the greens may run a little rough.

Pace of play on a Sunday afternoon was just OK. There were waits on some tees and several holes had multiple groups on them. I believe we finished our round in a little over 4.5 hours.

Out of the two course, I enjoyed The Brute more but will definitely play The Highlands again. The two courses compliment each other well. If you play The Highlands first, it is a good warm-up for The Brute. If you play The Brute first and get beat up, The Highlands will be a welcome recovery round. For perspective, I shot 10 strokes better on The Highlands than I did The Brute.

TheHighlands used to be called The Briar Patch. It was one of the early, and few, Pete Dye-Jack Nicklaus collaborations, opened in 1968 as part of the Playboy Resort. Some older buddies of mine who played the original said it was much tougher at that time than its sister course, The Brute. But it was reworked and softened in the mid-late 1990s by Bob Cupp and Bob Lohman -- and renamed to sound less threatening. A bit more target-golf than The Brute, but "getable". A guy I played with had 5 birdies and an eagle, but still shot 80, due to some triple-bogeys. In other words: getable, but still plenty of trouble to find -- wetlands, woods, high grass. Lots of short par 4s, which will challenge your club selections and strategy, depending on the tees you play -- anything from a driver down to hybrid will be an option. Undulating greens that still show telltale hallmarks of the Dye-Nicklaus days. Great staff and practice area!

The Highlands at grand geneva is a very nice course with very good amenities. Staff is friendly and helpful and the bag of tees and repair tools are a great addition. You can score on this course very well but the course is tight which can make the score go up up up. Fairways are some of the best around and greens are always in good shape too. The 9th hole is for sure the hardest hole in walworth county maybe the hardest in southern wi. 450yd par 4 uphill with a landing zone off the tee about 30 yds wide with ob on both sides. Then have a long iron or hybrid up hill to a false front green. Getting out of here with 5 is a good score. The golf course is a top 5 lg cpurse to me the bev carts are huge and obnoxious and the price for the course is far to high, but they always throw out deals with the hotel so check for those. Great course to play if you can find a deal.

My first time ever playing. Got tomplay for $25. This is unheard of. Very challenging. Absolutely beutiful. You cant go wrong.

This is a very nice upscale coarse and got a very good price from golfnow.com . I was supposed to be paired up with other golfers but was told the coarse was wide open and could go out when ever I felt like it. I hit a couple at the range first and when i went to the 1 tee there was no one waiting so I just went out alone. The coarse was in great condition for mid Oct. and it had some quite challenging holes. I would definitely play this coarse again.

good value --will be back-will attend with regular four-some

Love the glacier terraine of the Highlands. There's hardly no houses. Mostly woids and fields. I think this course is harder than the Brute. It has a couple of short par 4, blind holes.
Considering it had rain for two days, 50° and 20 mph winds it was cart path only..The grounds crew was working hard to blow the leaves away. The $10 rate (Golfnow.com) was worth the trip to Grand Geneva National..

great golf course that I was able to play all 18 by myself. There's even a runway in the middle of the course that caught my eye. A leftover from the playboy club era days I suppose.