Kettle Hills Golf Course - Ponds Course

Don Zimmermann designed Kettle Hills Golf Course's Ponds & Woods layout in Richfield, Wisconsin, which opened in 1987. Zimmermann was a carpenter by trade with extensive construction, building, and grading background, he built the course himself, giving it a distinctly owner-operator feel that persists today. The facility sits in the Northern Kettle Moraine terrain northwest of Milwaukee. The 18-hole Ponds & Woods course plays 6,787 yards par-72 with a 129 slope. Bluegrass greens and Bluegrass fairways, an unusual choice that gives the course a different playing character than typical bentgrass/Bermuda Midwestern layouts. Front nine features water on seven of the nine holes (demanding precision and smart shot placement); the back nine moves into tree-lined corridors that reward accuracy. The signature 18th is a risk-and-reward dogleg closer. Peak green fee runs $55-85. Fits an Erin Hills or Milwaukee-area trip as the 'family-built Kettle Moraine' value round.