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Wisconsin university golf course's history from private club to park
TL;DR
The Shorewood Country Club, once a private golf course, is now part of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus. Plans from the 1960s aimed to reduce the course size to accommodate university growth while maintaining a nine-hole course.
Key points
- Shorewood Country Club was a private golf course.
- It occupied 135 acres of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus.
- Plans from the 1960s aimed to reduce the golf course size.
- A nine-hole course is proposed to remain for university use.
- The university's projected student population was over 12,000 by 2000.
Mentioned in this story
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Shorewood Country Club
Smack in the middle of plans to make good on a last-minute bid to turn 535 acres of hills and trees into a northeastern Wisconsin university back in the 1960s: The Shorewood Country Club.
There was no getting around its clubhouse, pond, maintenance building, and 18 holes on 135 acres within the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus. It was a quarter of the university’s land. Its southern half occupied much of what was imagined as the campus’ core, where the administrative buildings, student and conference centers, and the library would sit.
The university “would have to occupy at least the southern portion almost immediately” for its development, the state’s Department of Administration said in the university’s first master plan from November 1968. Construction had already begun on the campus’ first phase of building classrooms and facilities. Classes were scheduled to start in the fall the following year.
To accommodate the growth, the administration department’s engineering bureau recommended shrinking the golf course in three phases.
A full-length course with nine holes would stay on the northern half until the university’s growth needed to shrink the course further, leaving room for “a shorter game of golf” still with nine holes on “26 acres of the most scenic portion of the course,” the plan said. The plan proposed researching possibilities to join the course into the university’s larger athletic and physical education programs and recommended the university expand onto the remaining land only if the student population grew past 12,000 people by 2000. (The university counted 11,560 students for the 2025-26 academic year.)
The plan was published with the expectation that the university “will assume full control of the country club by the fall of 1969.”
Layout of UWGB 18-hole golf course with construction phasing from 1969 to 1970
The Shorewood Company operating the country club, however, had no intention of accepting a final offer from Brown County to sell its course for $670,000. The company had operated the club after a group of golfers found the area’s golf courses lacking in 1930 and opened the Shorewood Country Club on Aug. 8, 1931, with nine holes. In 1940, it grew to 18 holes, then operated for over three decades with regular profits and debt from the expansion.
Q&A
What was the original purpose of the Shorewood Country Club?
The Shorewood Country Club served as a private golf course before becoming part of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus.
How much land did the Shorewood Country Club occupy on the university campus?
The Shorewood Country Club occupied 135 acres, which was a quarter of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay's land.
What changes were proposed for the golf course in the university's master plan?
The master plan proposed shrinking the golf course in three phases, ultimately retaining a nine-hole course on the northern half.
What was the projected student population for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay by 2000?
The university projected that its student population would exceed 12,000 by the year 2000.