OUR PLACE
The pain that cannot be considered pain.
It’s too deep for that. The agony, the carved-out section of the aortic artery in your heart when the children die before their time, before your time, before anyone’s time. The loss on Lake Geneva a few days back of three elementary-aged children is so deep that the words here, the prayers to God for any relief, become less than meaningless.
How do the grandparents go on? How do the parents proceed into a new world where their mental construct resembles the downtown of cities in Venezuela? We, those who stand on the shore of that beautiful lake, can still pray, and we pray for hope and for a lessening of the agony of the parents and grandparents and the other children. We pray without having any idea about how, praying to a God that can do anything, this being might somehow lessen that agony. In that prayer, we ask Him to make His face shine down upon those survivors and their families with a faint but deep smile that will penetrate and allow them to have life again.
Those of us at the GSR are praying: Catholics, Protestants, and even an atheist. We pray for what we know, the agony, and what we don’t know, the lessening of it. We pray for the police and fire officers who rendered resuscitation for a seemingly endless period of time, while knowing that their attempts would likely change nothing. Please God, step in and do what we have no way or idea of doing. We are not with those kids lost, but we can be with their parents and begin to accommodate a depth of post-traumatic stress unimaginable to most. Please God, with your smile down upon them, step in and do what only God can do.
Renovations wrap up at Big Foot Country Club.
Construction on the Wisconsin course, led by Zinkand Golf Design, focused on rerouting holes, expanding practice areas, and bunker updates. Golf course architect David Zinkand and his more than 25 years of experience designing, managing, and shaping projects in the field have completed their latest phase of improvements at Big Foot Country Club, marking another milestone in the thoughtful evolution of the club’s historic 1924 layout originally designed by Tom Bendelow.
The master plan enhanced strategic interest and challenge for the skilled player, while introducing greater forgiveness for higher handicaps. This was achieved by widening playing corridors, thoughtfully situating tees, and repositioning bunkers to better capitalize on the terrain and increase options for players of all skill levels. Most notably, rerouting holes 12 through 14 refined the flow of the course’s routing and created a more adventurous and engaging playing experience. The project also addressed key infrastructure needs by expanding pinnable green space and re-grassing all playing surfaces. To improve aesthetics, several Norway spruce trees will be removed to reveal long views and beautiful mature oak trees. The enlarged practice putting green provides more hole-location flexibility and improves foot traffic circulation to reduce concentrated wear patterns.
The expanded range tee creates operational flexibility, allowing staff to rotate hitting areas more effectively and preserve turf quality. And the sandy hollows, integrated with restraint, add contour and character without increasing maintenance complexity or altering the course’s classic identity. This most recent work concludes a multi-phase master plan that began in 2024 with a general focus on heightening competitive interest while broadening everyday playability.
