Quit Qui Oc GC in Elkhart Lake

What do Medinah CC, Olympia Fields CC, Tripoli CC, Old Hickory, the East Lake Course at the Atlanta CC, Nakoma CC and Quit Qui Oc GC (1922) in Elkhart Lake have in common?

They were all designed by the same man; architect Tom Bendelow, who designed so many golf courses in the early 20th century that he was called the "Johnny Appleseed of American golf". Conservative estimates suggest that Bendelow courses number 500+.....others in the 600s. Problem is, so many of Bendelow's early creations have disappeared that it's unlikely that we'll ever know how many there were.

Bendelow, a Scot, traveled far and wide but something drew him to Wisconsin and northern Illinois. In some cases we're quite sure that he must have just gravitated to the work as his reputation grew rapidly during this heyday of the growth of the sport. Tuscumbia GC, in Green Lake, has always claimed to be the oldest Wisconsin course (1894) and Janesville CC claims the same year. Bendelow may have had his hand in the design at Janesville CC but, according to course superintendent Jeff Rottier, the records are incomplete. But, Tom Bendelow was spending significant time in Wisconsin during those years and there are a number of design characteristics at JCC that remind one of Bendelow's signature features.

P.G. Wodehouse offered an insight into Bendelow's personality when he wrote; "The least thing upset him on the links. He missed short putts because of the uproar of butterflies in the adjoining meadows". His ad in Golfer's Magazine read: "Oldest Golf Course Architect in America; Scientific Construction on Most Economical Lines.
In those years, architects were required to accept what the land offered them as the powerful earth-movers had not yet been produced. The shapers used horse-drawn scrapers if they used anything at all. If you look at QQO GC it's easy to arrive at the same conclusion as that routing makes it clear that ease of use was not the prime motivator in its design. If you imagine what the terrain may have looked like in the 1920s, (especially holes # 3, 14 and 15), it's hard to believe that the shapers did much more than to put a (sometimes) flat surface on some of those areas and called them greens. They work, though.
Many of us learned to play on those old designs and our skill sets were determined by what we encountered there; sidehill, downhill lies which challenged our imaginations and inflated our scores.

Bigelow was so prolific that golf aficionados coined the phrase "18 stakes on a Sunday afternoon" as being all that was necessary to lay out the greens and tees for a nine hole course. No doubt an oversimplification as Bendelow was a man of the faith and never worked on Sunday.
One hundred years later, the advent of starting a new golf course makes developers quake unless their name happens to be Bob Lang, whose dream course, Erin Hills, will host the 2017 U.S. Open Championship. Land acquisition alone is daunting enough as the minimum acreage thought to be necessary for an 18 hole course is conventionally set at 100 acres.

QQO GC may not be an Open venue but the 27 holes there have provided generations of Elkhart Lake/Sheboygan County residents with great golf at an affordable price.
Several years ago the QQO membership decided to add nine new holes and hired Wisconsin architect Bob Lohmann to lay it out. The result was the Glacier 9, a challenging paeon to the last glacier which will challenge the eye and skill of the most adept golfer. QQO is always in prime condition and a highly mobile refreshment wagon is always on the lookout for hungry, thirsty golfers. For those capable of deferring gratification, the friendly confines of the clubhouse offers an abundance of food and drink which will tease the palate and slake the thirst of the intrepid player.

Todd Montaba is the PGA Professional at QQO and Todd is available for a lesson or to chat you up post-round. This is a very friendly and gracious staff whose mission is to see that you have a great time at this classic, old track less than an hour from Cedarburg.
QQO's diverse layout has been the scene of many outings over the years and it's easy to find. If you go on a weekend, just listen for the roar of the racecars at Road America which is nearby.

Call 920-876-2833 for tee times or search Quit Qui Oc GC for additional information. Make sure to say "hi" to Todd!
Thomas Bendelow's grandson, Stuart W. Bendelow, made sure that Bendelow was not forgotten and wrote his grandfather's biography, called "Thomas 'Tom' Bendelow: The Johnny Appleseed of American Golf" Williams and Company Press, 2006.