Erin Hills

Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry, and Ron Whitten (the Golf Digest architecture editor) opened Erin Hills in 2006 in southeastern Wisconsin, on a routing that uses the natural glacial moraine terrain almost untouched. The course was built specifically with championship golf in mind, and got the call quickly: it hosted the 2017 U.S. Open, won by Brooks Koepka with a 16-under 272 — the championship's lowest winning score in modern history. Golf Digest currently has Erin Hills at #8 on America's Best Public. Hurdzan is one of just five architects (alongside Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, and Robert Trent Jones Sr.) to have won the highest honor from each of the ASGCA, GCSAA, and Golf Course Builders Association — a distinction visible in the design quality. The course is fully walkable; carts are not permitted. Premium-tier pricing in the $$$$ band makes it a one-round splurge inside a Wisconsin trip alongside Whistling Straits.