The Bull.

Date Played: 10/16/25

Location: Sheboygan, WI

Yardage: 6,461 yards, 72.0/133

Architect: Jack Nicklaus

Greens Fees: $100 including cart, range balls, GPS

Today was day 1 of my journey to play the top 100 public golf courses in the US. This idea really stemmed around watching the 2017 US Open at Erin Hills, and being simply astonished by that course. It has been my top bucket list course since that day, and a course I vowed to play once I felt I was good enough to really enjoy it. Well after a few years of working hard to become a semi-respectable 9.5 handicap golfer, I finally felt I had the skill to actually enjoy the best courses in the world. I had been kicking around the idea of going out and playing some of these great courses for a while, but it just felt like there would always be time to do it later. One day I just had the epiphany, why wait? Life's too short not to do the things you want to do.

So back in August, I made a firm decision. I am playing Erin Hills, come hell or high water. The idea had festered for too long, and it was time. On that fateful August day, I looked up Erin Hills tee sheet for the remainder of the year. They had exactly one day left in the season that wasn't fully booked, and that day was the very last day the course would be open, October 18th. It felt like divine intervention. Had I waited another day or two, who knows if I get a tee time? So on a whim, I booked it that same morning. I hadn't looked at flights, I hadn't figured out where I was staying or what other courses I would play, I just wanted to get to Erin Hills. Fortunately for me, I had some old friends in Milwaukee that would make the trip about more than just golf. It just felt like I was meant to make this trip. So I figured out all of the logistics, made plans with those friends, took care of all the minutiae. Only thing left to do was get out there and golf.

So that's where we are. Day 1 of many. Course number 1 of this project. The course I chose was The Bull in Sheboygan. It's a Jack Nicklaus design on an old cattle farm in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin, about an hour north of Milwaukee. Simply put, I chose this because of the recommendation of a friend. It was a top 100 course (#88) and someone I trust told me to play it. That was good enough for me.

Before I get into the round too much, the course itself is a bear. The very nice guy who cleaned my clubs at the end of the round told me it'd been voted the #14 hardest course in the nation. I can believe it. It features several forced carries, blind approaches, undulating greens, and just a lot of trouble everywhere. It's target golf to the extreme. I could see this being a pretty miserable place to play for a 20+ handicap, but for better players it is as much a mental test as it is a physical one. Spoiler alert: I hit the ball just about as well as I could for much of the day, and still shot an 87. I was thrilled with that given just how hard the course is and given my being +7 through the first five holes. Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

Hole 5: X

Just a really freaking hard hole, but a beautiful visual. A ravine all up the left side takes the entire left out of play, and the right side narrows down as you approach the green. If you can sling a draw in there, you can take advantage off of the tee, but the smart thing to do is lay back to the widest part of the fairway and leave yourself a longer iron in. I did not do that. A nice double on the card here for me, but hey, it was the number one handicap hole.

Hole 7: X