Lawsonia Links & Erin Hills 2018
Near death from heatstroke, record golf strokes on the final hole, and a breakthrough win.
Lawsonia Links
When played, ranked #58 by Golf Digest. Has most recently been elevated to #23 by Golf Magazine in 2021, 9 spots ahead of Erin Hills. Seems like a trendy hipster move to us as it has no business in the top 50, much less being ranked above Erin Hills. 58 seems fine. Interesting and fun course with really challenging severely sloped greens that force you to hit the correct spots. Always a bonus to be able to play a top 100 course for under $100.
Erin Hills
#9 at the time we played in 2018. Not sure it necessarily deserves a top-10 ranking, but certainly doesn’t deserve the #31 it most recently received by Golf Magazine, especially in relation to Lawsonia. “A true championship course” according to Coop, pretty much sums it up.
Stats
Yellow Jacket: Shaffer, who put together the most consistent performance of his career. Having a big lead going into #18 in the final round, the pressure of staring down his first win (along with the heatstroke) may have gotten to him just a bit as he missed tying the record for highest single hole score, dumping an 11 on the difficult finishing hole. Obviously, all that matters is the final score, and the fact that he could afford double digits on 18 and still win by 3 shows how dominant he was for the trip.
Cost Breakdown
Travel: Gas $$. Nice.
2 nights in the Clubhouse Suite: $2112
Caddie for 1 round: $120
2 rounds at Erin Hills, 2 rounds on Kettle Loop: $760
Lawsonia Links: $95
Total: $1679