Project begins in autumn 2026 and will include rerouting, restoring greens and enhancing course conditioning
By Laura Hyde |
Ridgeway Country Club in Neenah, Wisconsin, has approved a renovation plan by Emergency 9 Golf. Construction will begin in autumn 2026, with the project to be carried out in phases over the next three to four years.
The John Barr-design course is located west of Lake Winnebago on approximately 118 acres. The first nine opened for play in May 1928, with the back nine opening the following year.
Architect Samuel Beckman of Emergency 9 Golf will reroute the layout but will focus on maintaining the course’s 1920s character, strategy, conditioning and aesthetics.
Beckman plans to introduce three new fairway bunkers on the first hole, which currently plays as the eleventh, with the green restored to its original design. The second hole begins near the existing twelfth tee, and the fairway and the green have been shifted eastward onto some previously unused property. The third will be a new par-three of 170 yards built close to the former thirteenth, and will feature a Volcano-style green.
Other planned work on the front nine includes creating the new fifth hole, a par three of 192 yards with a narrow and contoured green, and on the seventh – formerly the sixteenth – Beckman plans to restore the four-quadrant green.
On the back nine, the green at the eleventh (former second) will be restored, and the thirteenth’s putting surface will be expanded closer to how it was originally designed. The par-three seventeenth, formerly the eighth, will retain the original design, but with modern construction methods used. A Coffin-style bunker protects the front-left of the green. And at the par-four eighteenth, the green has been expanded and connects with the practice green.
Watch: A hole-by-hole fly-though of the renovation masterplan.
“I’ve been working closely with the Ridgeway to develop a comprehensive masterplan that honours its heritage while addressing the needs of today’s players,” said Beckman. “This means smarter strategy, better drainage, more playable teeing options and a design language that brings consistency and identity back to the course.
“While the course currently has stands of trees planted mid-century, the property has great movement across it. The property reminds me of my time living in the UK, outside of London. It’s more rural English countryside, like Huntercombe, than Surrey parkland, like St Georges Hill and Sunningdale. Ridgeway has the opportunity to come into its own in the Northern Wisconsin golf scene.”