Located about an hour south of Luck Golf Course is Cumberland Golf Club. A popular course for locals between Eau Claire and the twin cities, but certainly not known to be a must play in the area. The course sits right outside the town of about 2,500 people.
My impressions going in were modest, but were blown away after playing. Similarly to Luck, Cumberland has a very fun layout, but it is the small details that make it a great property. I go through those details and the holes below. Enjoy!
- Great variety of holes
- Excellent land
- Good use of doglegs
The Good
The Bad
- Fivesomes
- 9 green is too close to clubhouse
- Fairways can be a bit thin in spots.
1st Hole – Par 5
The first tee is located a short drive from the clubhouse. Once you arrive you are greeted with a blind tee shot. The hill in front of the tee is quite close, and will require you to drive up to confirm the fairway is clear. Not an ideal start for a course, but once you crest the hill you’ll see why it was done. The 2 pictures below are where most players will be hitting their 2nd shots from. As always pictures do not do it justice, but the view is of severely rolling land with a pond situated on your left and the green perched high above. Hit a shot right of the pond on your 2nd and hit a wedge on the green to make a par on this short par 5.
Cumberland is odd in one respect that 15 out of the 18 greens are similar in style but they do have 3 holes(1,9 and 10) where the original or older greens are still used. #1 is one of those holes. The old greens are round push up greens with 2 of which having “ear bunkers”. None of the 3 are particularly good greens, but the great land that 2 of them occupy makes up for them. As you can see from the pictures the first green is the one without bunkers.
The other 15 greens on the other hand, are good but not great. Looking at satellite images of the greens before arriving I was worried that the bunkering would be poor. The bunkers I’m referring to sit away from the green surface and sit at same level as the green surface instead of being below the greens and creating some depth to the view of the green instead of the bunker hiding the surface. I much prefer the green on the right then the one on the left. To me the left green looks flat and uninspired versus the one on the right, which has shoulders that work into the green and more of a penalty with bunkers below the greens surface.
2nd Hole – Par 4
2 is an example of how the course ties enough of the tighter, shorter 9’s features into the more open front 9. The tee shot is played into a narrow opening lined by large specimen trees, and may be less than driver for a good chunk of players. The hole then tumbles down a hill to the left leaving a 8 iron or less to a green that slopes away from the player. A unusual concept, but one that you have to factor in when playing the hole.
3rd Hole – Par 3
Now at the bottom of the hill after your approach on 2. The 3rd tee is in a flat spot with the first 100 yards of the hole covered in marsh. Once the marsh ends, you are left with a wide fairway that works left to right. Hit this fairway and you are left with a middle iron approach to one of the better greens on the course that bends right to left with a relatively deep bunker built into the front left. This hole utilizes a concept that Pete Dye uses quite a bit which forces a player to curve the ball one way on his tee shot and the opposite on the approach. If you watched(or were at) the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits there are many, many examples there.
4th Hole – Par 3
Drive up the hill behind the 3nd green to find the 4th tee. A short par 3 with a peninsula green, the 4th is a pretty hole with a large bailout area to the right. Enjoy the view of your ball on the green after your tee shot, 2 putt and move on to the 5th
5th Hole – Par 4
From here to the turn is the most open part of the property, but certainly not the worst! Large rolling hills are ever present on this stretch. A elevated tee to an elevated fairway greets you on the 5th. A brawny hole that is well over 400 yards from most tees. There is a bunker benched into the hill on the left side of the fairway. Make it over that or into the fairway on the right, and you are left with a long approach to a green that is open in the front but with bunkers flanking the sides. I really like greens like this on long par 4’s. Not everyone can hit a 180 yard shot that stops on a dime, but with a green like this it lets the lesser player bounce one on.
6th Hole – Par 4
The 6th is a nice change of pace considering the 2 holes that sit before and after it. Downhill, the 7th is again fairly long, but unlike the 6th or 8th there is water to contend with. The water starts about 120 yards from the green. I love the green on this hole. It gives every player the excitement(or disappointment) of hitting over water, but doesn’t provide too much challenge as the water sits 20 yards away from the front edge of the green. At the same time the green isn’t a flat pancake laying in the open, but instead is elevated slightly from the collar in the front. Not fancy, but a fantastic green!
7th Hole – Par 4
A very similar hole to the 5th. The 7th also features a heroic tee shot across a valley onto a fairway that rises quite dramatically. Hit one far enough and you’ll have a view of a receptive green. Hang back on the hill and you’ll have a long blind approach. Most will take bogey on the 5th and 7th and feel ok.
8th Hole – Par 5
On to the long par five 8th. The tee shot is mostly blind to probably the widest fairway on the course. Drive over the hill to the expanse below.
An aspect I really like about Cumberland is the width of the fairways such as the 8th. These fairways are wide, wide, wide as you can see in the picture below. I think many people think that this makes a course easy, and I think it does allow for better scoring chances since you will be hitting more shots off of short grass. However, I think the beauty of a course like Cumberland is that the difficulty is not from having to hit out of 6 inches of rough, but instead by hitting blind tee shots or off of a side hill lie like on the 8th. These sort of challenges are difficult for all players, unlike rough, which is not terribly challenging for higher swing speed players, but can be almost impossible for others.
As you will see the wide cuts are even more important on the back 9 as the penalty for missing them gets more severe.
9th Hole – Par 3
The 9th is probably my least favorite hole on the course. A mid length par 3 over water. The hole features one of the old greens which slopes heavily back to front and has 2 bunkers at it’s sides. The green sits a little too close to the clubhouse for my liking. Making any shots over the green a little stressful.
10th Hole – Par 4
On to the back nine the 10th is straight forward with a tee very close behind the clubhouse. Looking out onto the wide fairway looks as if you looking out into the ocean, as the hole features very rumpled land. The approach is to the last of the original greens with 2 bunkers at its side. This green works quite well though, as it is pitched severely from right to left making it imperative that you hit your approach right of the flag. As you can see from the pictures the green is also perched from the fairway requiring a ball that carries all the way to the surface.
11th Hole – Par
The 11th is the first hole in the more wooded and watery portion of the course. Looking at the pictures below, you can see the difference in aesthetics compared to the front nine. My expectations for this area of the course were that it was going to be flat considering how much water it has . Luckily this was not the case.
11 consists of a downhill tee shot, more so then it looks from the picture, with a pond to the right. You can lay back and hit it left of the pond or if you’re feeling more aggressive you’re able to hit it past. The angle the fairway sits at makes the play with the driver tricky, so it is definitely a risk. The approach is then hit to a green fronted by water making the 11th one of the toughest on the course.
12th Hole – Par 4
This area of the course is squeezed into quite a small area so the tee for the 12th is situated just a few paces to the left of the 11th green. A slightly uphill par 3 greets you. They’re are 2 ponds between you and the green, however their is a good 20 yard buffer between the green surface and the pond. The green can be tricky as it narrows the deeper you hit into it. All of that being said it should be an easy par.
13th Hole – Par 4
A short dogleg left the 13th will remind you of the 11th just curving the opposite way. A fairway wood or long iron is all you will need as you hit your tee shot downhill through pines. The green then sits in an opening with marsh to your left and the same road behind the 12th tee behind you. It is in this area of this green that Cumberland feels quite cramped, but I will elaborate on that more in the next few holes.
14th Hole – Par 5
One of the flatter holes on the course the 14th is the first of two par fives on the back nine. The layout of the hole is a bit odd as a pond sits in the middle of the fairway forcing a lay up for longer hitters. If you can accept the need for a layup, the 2nd half of the hole winds through woods and tumbles down slightly as you get toward the green. Certainly not a bad hole, but not the most memorable.
15th Hole – Par 4
On to the tightest holes on the course the 15th is very straight without much room on either side. Large trees line both sides of the hole with the pond from 14 hiding in the left trees. The only respite on 15 is if you are able to hit it far enough as the hole starts to open up at about 100 yards from the green. As you get to the green, you sit in the most claustrophobic part of the course. Within 100 yards you have the 14th tee, 15th green, 16th tee and 13th green. With how little land they had to work with they really did a nice job, however the atmosphere does leave something to be desired.
16th Hole – Par 4
The 16th is a shorter uphill par 4. The tee shot is narrow, but does have the look of hitting into a halfpipe which helps widen the hole. Condition wise the landing area does seem to get beat up a little bit because of this.
To quickly touch on condition, it was quite good. Definitely better than average. Fairways were full for the most part when we played. It does get thin in parts that are more wooded/less sunlight or exceptionally hilly but that is to be expected for a course at this price point. The more open parts were very good. Greens were aerated when I played which is expected in fall, and should not be an indictment on the course as they looked healthy otherwise.
The approach on 16 plays about a club uphill to a figure 8 shaped green. If you’re able to hit the fairway it should be a par.
17th Hole – Par 3
On to a hole I really like, the 17th is a short par 3 sitting in a cut out area of the woods with multiple tees scattered about. They do a very nice job both building the tee up as well as the green making it a hit it or else type of hole. I don’t think its a unreasonable ask on a hole of this length. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a picture, but hope to do so on a return visit.
18th Hole – Par 5
To the finishing hole at Cumberland. A long par 5 in which you hit your tee shot out of a chute of trees. It is not particularly tight however, as the hole opens up quite a bit on the right side. As you can see in the bottom picture the hole moves up a small hill. Notice the fantastic land movement in this portion of the property. You must hit your 2nd shot over that hill to have a clear view of the green for your 3rd. Hitting one over that hill will leave you around 75 yards, as the hole turns sharply to the left after you crest the hill. Not a bad hole, but a dauting one considering the length to get to a position to not hit over trees for your approach.
A couple of negative that need to be pointed out before wrapping the profile up. There were quite a few five-somes out on the course when I played. My guess is that most of these may be their pass holders. Pace of play wasn’t too bad considering the five-somes and that I played at 11ish on a weekday. Based on fairly remote location, I can understand wanting/having to keep your core players happy and coming back, so I can see why a course operator would ok them. As an outside observer this doesn’t help pace of play, and in terms of recruiting new golfers to your course I would think it would be more of a hinderance than a draw. it would be nice for them to phase them out, but again, I can see the need to keep them. As for myself I will just play earlier in the day.
Final Thoughts and Grades
I played Cumberland on a trip where I was planning on playing “high end” courses that in summer are pushing $100 during prime time. What shocked me is that the layout, course conditions were on par or better at a Cumberland! If you want to drive up to the bag drop, and have someone take your clubs and put them on a cart for you or have your clubs cleaned after the round you’re not going to get that here. In my opinion most people don’t care for those things anyway considering the associated price. However, if you enjoy playing the game on an interesting course, friendly people and, reasonably priced food and drink places like Cumberland and Luck are just what you are looking for. I encourage everyone to go and support these business.