When you turn off Highway 50 and arrive at the best Wisconsin golf resort you (probably) have never heard of, you’ll drive by imposing houses, wind around intriguing golf holes and pass perfectly manicured flower beds.
The speed limit during this 90-second drive en route to the stately clubhouse is an arbitrarily 26 mph, for no other reason than to simply capture visitors’ attention. It certainly works, but the entire eye-catching property accomplishes that too.
And hand up, until recently, I never knew this place existed. But the photos looked great and the drive from the Twin Cities looked easy enough, so we gave it a try one steamy August morning. Fast forward 36 hours and 54 holes after arriving — while standing on top of the massive Dance Floor putting green on the final evening of a quick two-night stay — I rolled putts as the sun set over Lake Como and couldn’t believe I had been so naive.
How didn’t I know about this place? And was I the only one?
I’ve spent most of my life 300-ish miles away in a neighboring golf state and the past decade working for a golf website. Sure, I knew of Sand Valley and Lawsonia and Whistling Straits and Erin Hills and others, but I hadn’t heard of Destination Geneva National until this summer. I’m sure most of Wisconsin and Illinois’ die-hard golfers know it well, but I still felt like it slipped under the radar for someone even a state away. It looked worthy of a visit, and soon it was on the to-do list.
Undiscovered is a subjective term, but I left Geneva National with the goal of making sure a few more people knew of one of the best golfy getaways in Wisconsin.
Destination Geneva National — a fairly new title; it used to go by Geneva National Resort & Club — is located in southeast Wisconsin, in the small resort town of Lake Geneva, Wis. It’s about an hour from Milwaukee, less than two hours from Chicago and five hours from Minneapolis. The town has a unique history as a hideaway for Chicago gangsters like George “Baby Face” Nelson and George “Bugs” Moran, but these days it’s mostly known as a laid-back family getaway boasting a nice downtown with excellent restaurants and shopping and a handful of resorts and good golf courses, many of which are sprinkled around Geneva Lake or Lake Como.
One of those spots is Destination Geneva National, a sprawling property that sits on the west side of Lake Como. Its draw is that it essentially does everything — and does it all well. It hosts weddings, corporate outings, family getaways and buddies’ golf trips. And its setting — hard against the lake — is almost like a cheat code to make any of the aforementioned special. (But the pools, half dozen restaurants and plethora of lodging options don’t hurt, either.)
A big selling point for golfers, you might assume, is the golf. There are three 18-hole courses, so a 54-hole getaway means you never play the same golf hole twice. The courses are good, too, and weekday stay-and-play rates are $145 during peak season ($190 weekend, cart included). Spring and fall are cheaper, and this time of year — October — you can play for $100.
What you get is three unique courses designed by a trio of hall-of-famers whom we can simply identify by their last names: Player, Trevino, Palmer. The Trevino Course starts in the woods and is a mostly forgiving setup that opens up on the back nine. The Player Course will test your shot-making and challenge your aggressiveness (and was home to a couple of my favorite holes). And the Palmer Course boasts a picturesque finishing stretch along Lake Como and a finishing hole in the 18th that plays back up to the impressive Geneva National clubhouse, a lively area flooded with golfers, wedding-goers and dozens of others bellied up to the bar or snacking on the patio.
But this busy area is all by design, and the nucleus of it all is the brand new Dance Floor, a 27-hole illuminated Himalayas-style putting course that opened in 2022 and spreads out across the back of the clubhouse. It’s 44,000 square feet and complementary for anyone staying at the resort (and just $9 for anyone else) and is open until 11 p.m. on weekends. There are drink holders propped up throughout the wildly undulating putting surface with music blasting through the surrounding speakers. Just a few feet away sits another recent addition, the Paloma Cantina, an outdoor bar where you can order tacos, craft cocktails and beer. It’s flanked by more new centerpieces — a bocce ball court, two fire pits and additional patio seating.
Overlooking all of this is the elevated turf. smokehouse patio, the restaurant that sits on the backside of the clubhouse (which, by the way, is big enough to accommodate the pro shop, hotel check-in in and upstairs event spaces). Turf serves breakfast, lunch and dinner — go with the wings and woodfire pizzas — but there are also other resort restaurants a couple of miles off property (there’s a free shuttle you can use). Crafted Italia serves up pasta, pizzas and more — all the carbs you need after a long day on the golf course — and Hunt Club Steakhouse offers mouth-watering wet- and dry-aged cuts, a tremendous wine catalog and a long list of tasty old fashioneds inside one of the area’s most historic buildings. Oh, and the heavenly thick-cut applewood smoked bacon appetizer will literally be lit on fire by your waiter before it’s ready to devour (it’s the little things).
After you’ve had your fill of golf, red meat and wine, the digs are good, too. There are cottages, suites and a lodge to stay in, and some with enough space to accommodate bigger groups (and customized stay-and-play packages as well).
It’s easy to be a fan of Destination Geneva National. Everyone there seemed to be. However there was one thing few agreed on — which course they liked best. Some said the Palmer. Others swore by the Player and others liked the Trevino. It’s kind of the running joke here; everyone has a different opinion with no outright winner. If you’ve been there, you know the drill. Just don’t tell me it’s anything other than the Player.
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