The Big Daddy Invitational: This Year's Event:

The 13th annual Big Daddy Invitational will be held at Washington County Golf Course in Hartford, Wisconsin. Our first tee time is 8:27am. About an hour's drive northwest of downtown Milwaukee, the course sits in the secluded heart of Wisconsin's picturesque Kettle Moraine area. Measuring over 7,000 yards from the back tees and 6,198 from the very playable white tees, this public golf course was designed by the renowned Arthur Hills and opened for play on April 1, 1997.

Affordable, playable, and stylish, WCGC has received a 4 1/2-star rating and was once ranked second in the nation among municipal golf courses by Golf Digest, making it a course as challenging as it is beautiful. The course is nestled along the Rubicon River environmental corridor and boasts panoramic views of Powder Hill and Holy Hill.

An ever-present wind, which makes club selection and aim critical, gives the course its bite. Additionally, there are approximately 44 bunkers strategically placed around the course and water hazards are in play. Unfortunately, I am too familiar with many of the hazards on this course.

The course features a monstrous driving range with 6 different target greens, a short-game area, and a 3-hole practice course that includes a putting green, chipping green, and bunkers. These features make it one of the best practice facilities in the state.

WCGC has hosted the USGA Regional Public Links Qualifiers during each of the last 10 years, the 2000 Wisconsin PGA Championship, the 2001 Wisconsin State Junior Championship, the 2002 Wisconsin PGA Match Play Championship, the annual Washington County Scratch Pro-Am, and the 2006 US Open Qualifying Round. I'm sure that they'll be adding the 2010 Big Daddy Invitational to their website soon!

A quick snapshot of all our other outings shows that Washington County will be the most difficult course that has ever hosted a Big Daddy Invitational. So, despite the fact that we've played longer courses over the years, this course will be our most challenging.

More often than not, the Slope rating of a course defines its difficulty, and here are the slope ratings (from hardest to easiest) of all the courses that we've golfed at thru the years:

I can't verify that Washington County has a specific dress code. Nevertheless, I'd recommend wearing a collared shirt and nice shorts on June 25th. This is a classy outing, after all!