The Oaks Golf Course

The Oaks Golf Course is Greg Martin's 2003 design in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, 15 minutes east of Madison, a daily-fee layout on what was previously rolling farmland, now threaded with 200+ mature oak trees, wetlands, and stream crossings. Martin inherited an odd-shaped parcel and built what is widely considered one of the most engaging public courses in southern Wisconsin. The routing is architecturally unusual, six par-3s, five par-5s, and only nine par-4s, for a par of 71 at 7,000 yards from the back tees. That distribution gives the course more variety than a typical 4-par-heavy layout, with scoring swingy depending on handicap. The oaks and wetlands frame nearly every hole, creating the kind of hole-by-hole uniqueness that designers frequently aim for but rarely achieve on a single farm site. The Oaks has appeared on Golf Digest's U.S. Top 200 Courses list for 2023 and 2021-2022. For a Madison area golf itinerary, it's the premier public round, pair with SentryWorld, Whistling Straits (2 hours away), or the Wisconsin Dells resort courses for a weeklong trip that pivots between major-tournament venues and hidden local gems.