If you’re a golfer or golf fan you know the pain of joining yearly lotteries to try and enjoy the sport. Enter the Masters pool each year and get the yearly email that you weren’t selected. As my buddy (Cam) and I were planning what we wanted to do for our 40th birthdays, we said we wanted to go on an epic golf trip with our wives. That’s how we found ourselves joining the lottery to get a tee time and rooms at Sand Valley in Nekoosa, Wisconsin. All four of us joined the list at the start of 2025, and Haley was the first one to get off the waitlist and have the chance to book a trip. In March of 2025 she set up our rooms and tee times - booked 19 months in advance for one of few remaining open dates, the weekend of October 9th (coincidentally also Haley’s birthday).
While we were all super excited for the trip, we knew it would be a long 19 months of waiting!
A lot can change in 19 months. Haley’s written about her struggle to a second pregnancy here. Somehow we figured booking this trip might be a (good) jinx to finding out we were pregnant with baby number 2, but we couldn’t exactly plan for that to happen. So fast forward to New Year’s Eve 2025, when we found out Haley was pregnant. The lucky thing about the timing was that the new baby’s due date was the beginning of September so I was still going to be able to go on the trip. The only question was, would Haley want to?
Luckily we had not booked any flights yet and as we researched travel plans it began to look less and less likely that we would fly due to the prices of flights. So Cam booked a rental van as a backup to flying, should we all decide to drive. Throughout the spring and summer Haley and I would randomly discuss the trip. Haley was adamant she could go, but only if she could bring the baby. I was hesitant that our friends might not want this trip to include a baby and worried that Haley would not get to experience the kind of trip we had planned if a baby came along. As it grew closer to the trip, Haley grew more confident going with a baby would be possible, but I needed convincing. It only took a late summer cookout (and a few glasses of wine) to finally convince me… it also helped that we’d already decided we were driving because flights, both timing and pricing, just didn’t make sense. So we started making plans to make this a 5 person trip to Wisconsin from Cleveland.
Through this, we all continue to learn the same lesson and it has become a motto in our family; “Choose Hard”. The easy thing to do would have been to cancel the trip or have Haley stay home with the baby. But we chose to have baby join our life instead of letting baby decide how we live it. It was harder to travel that far with baby than without her, but it was worth it… and really honestly easier than 12 hours in the car with a toddler (which we did earlier this year). We will keep choosing hard to live the fullest life we can and to include our children in our adventures.
Now to the Golf & Sand Valley
This was my second time at SV, they were just about to open their new courses when I was there the last time so I was looking forward to getting to play the 3 new courses. We’d set up our itinerary to allow us to play all 5 courses. Was it too much to try and squeeze into a 2.5 day trip? Maybe but we were going to give it a shot.
Day 1
Arrival & Check-In
Round # 1: Sand Valley
The original course and my favorite course on property. It is a great test of golf that rewards good shots but punishes bad. You don’t have to be perfect with your shots, you just need to avoid trouble. I played this straight out of the car my first trip and it was a mistake again to do this. It took 9 holes to get warmed up so once again I was left reliving shots and wanting another shot at the front nine.
Round # 2: The Sandbox
This is such a fun round with friends. You can play with as many players as you want and play barefoot. A unique experience that you would not want to skip. We all played together (and took baby out in the stroller) and it was such a fun way to hangout and let loose while still practicing our golf game.
Day 1 Recommendation: Book the 12 hole Commons, 17 hole par 3 course or Mammoth Dunes as your first round upon arrival. These are more forgiving courses that allow you room to warm up.
Day 2
Round #1: Sedge Valley
A new course for me and probably one of the most fun rounds I have ever played. This is a Par 68 course with only 1 par 5 but has some of the most unique green complexes and holes I have ever played. While I wouldn’t consider this an elite course I definitely think it should be a part of your Sand Valley itinerary.
Round #2: Mammoth Dunes
A really fun course and a must play on the trip… but this time around it was not my favorite round. The course is very secluded and you don’t see many other players until you get to the back 9. It is also a course that makes you feel you are playing on another planet. Unfortunately this round took us 5.5 hours to play and changed our plans for the rest of the trip.
Day 2 Recommendation: I would play Sedge Valley in the morning but then book Sand Valley in the afternoon on Day 2.
Day 3
Departure Day - We were scheduled to play the Commons in the morning and Lido in the afternoon but after our 5.5 hour round the day before we were told our round on Lido would take just as long. So we cancelled our scheduled rounds and booked a morning round on Sand Valley. I really want to play both of these courses but we just couldn’t get on the road at 8pm. If you plan on playing on Day 3 then I would recommend just spending another night on-site or close by. Then Day 4 is your travel day.
The Food
We had great dinners at both of the sit down on-site restaurants (Aldo’s & The Gallery). I recommend getting reservations at both while on-site. The food on the course is famous at Sand Valley and it does not disappoint. With $1 offerings at all the courses you have to stop and get something but our favorites were:
The Tacos as Craig’s Porch (Sand Valley) are a must. It is the perfect food to get at the turn and/or after your round. Grab a beer or canned cocktail. Then grab an ice cream sandwich.
The Italian Beef on Sedge Valley. The Hand Pie’s get the fame here but they were out so we had the beef. These were delicious and I ended up going back to get a second one.
If you have questions about the trip please reach out and also invite me :)
Cheers to the next golf trip and hit em’ straight(ish)
