Cherry Hills Lodge & Golf Course

Cherry Hills Golf & Lodge in Sturgeon Bay is Door County's public-access anchor round just north of the downtown, an 18-hole par-72 layout that opened in 1977 and has operated as a golf-and-lodge destination (on-site accommodations + restaurant) since its original build. Under new leadership since 2015, Cherry Hills executed a property-wide restoration led by Jon Martell, a Manitowoc-area native whose résumé includes management stints at Whistling Straits and Liberty National, a rare pedigree for a Door County public course superintendent, and the primary reason conditioning has returned to top form over the last decade. The course's signature hole is #15, 'The Cliff Hole', a dramatic par-3 where a 185-yard tee shot from the middle tees sets up the strategic angle before the approach faces a 100-foot elevation change over the final 150 yards. That vertical feature is the calling card, playing more like a Western-mountain hole than a Wisconsin peninsula layout. Gentle elevation changes elsewhere, strategic bunkering, and rolling greens make Cherry Hills a legitimate-test-of-golf round even for low handicaps. For the Door County / Sturgeon Bay / peninsula-vacation trip visitor, Cherry Hills is the on-property-stay option (the lodge is integrated) paired naturally with Peninsula State Park Golf Course for a two-round Door County package.