The Bull at Pinehurst Farms     Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin      920-467-1500  1-800-5-THEBULL
 
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Reprinted from The Sheboygan Press
Thu 8-Jun-2000

Golden Bear meets The Bull
Nicklaus views site of golf course he's designing in Falls
By Dave Lubach
of The Press Staff

With a portion of the proposed The Bull behind them, golfing legend Jack Nicklaus, right, and David Bachmann discuss business at Pinehurst Farms Wednesday in Sheboygan Falls. Bruce Halmo photo
SHEBOYGAN FALLS - Dave Bachmann Jr. experienced a feeling many have had before, like the nervous anticipation of introducing your parents to a new boyfriend or girlfriend.

Only for Bachmann, the parent was golfing legend Jack Nicklaus. And what Bachmann eagerly wanted Nicklaus to approve of was 418 acres of land near the intersection of state highways 28 and 32, land slated to become Sheboygan County's latest golf palace.

"I didn't sleep too much (Tuesday) night," Bachmann said. "In all honesty I wanted him to like the property. He's seen it on maps, and I've worked in his office with him. When I see the property, I don't know what (Nicklaus) sees. I look around and see my whole life in front of me."

After touring the Pinehurst Farms site - which has been in the Bachmann family since 1910 - for the first time Wednesday, Nicklaus discussed his latest design project with members of the state's media.

If Nicklaus' comments mean anything, Bachmann can start sleeping comfortably once again.

The Golden Bear came away from his first trip to the Sheboygan County project impressed with the land which one day will become The Bull, a Nicklaus Signature Design Championship Golf Course.

Construction is expected to begin in August with a scheduled opening of spring, 2002. Plans are to keep greens fees below $100.

Among the many features of the property that persuaded the six-time Masters winner to take on the project was the rolling land, which includes 80 acres of wetlands, 75 acres of trees and a 70-foot change in elevation on the site.

Another factor was the Kohler Co. courses at Blackwolf Run (located a couple of miles from The Bull) and local excitement surrounding the 2004 PGA Championship, which will be played at Whistling Straits in Haven.

"Look at what Kohler's done," said Nicklaus, winner of 20 major championships during his career. "There's some excitement in this area related to golf, so we're delighted to be here."

Jack Nicklaus answers reporters' questions during a visit to Pinehurst Farms in Sheboygan Falls Wednesday. Bruce Halmo photo
Nicklaus Design, started in 1973, has 209 courses open for play in 26 countries and 32 states. Nicklaus teamed up with Pete Dye to construct the Briar Patch in Lake Geneva, his only other course in Wisconsin, which has since been redone and renamed.

Three of Nicklaus' designs, Muirfield Village (Dublin, Ohio), Harbour Town (Hilton Head, S.C.) and Shoal Creek (Shoal Creek, Ala.), annually are ranked among the top 100 courses in America.

Even with three world-class Dye courses already located in the county, and a fourth slated to open this summer, Nicklaus said their reputation and styles won't be a concern in designing The Bull, named as a tribute to the award-winning Holstein cattle raised on the Bachmann farm for more than 90 years.

"It's like a piece of canvas," Nicklaus said of course designing. "It's the same way I play golf really, by looking at the golf hole and picturing what the hole should do and how to play it. I see a piece of ground and I do the same thing."

If The Bull gains half the fame Nicklaus did during his epic battles with the likes of Palmer, Player and Trevino, the project will be a good one.

Nicklaus began designing courses more than 30 years ago to supplement the income he earned on the PGA Tour. Despite his legendary status and 70 victories, Nicklaus never made more than $305,000 in one season on tour.

Players today sometimes earn that amount just by finishing second in one tournament.

"I got into golf design as an avocation, and it became fun," Nicklaus said.

"You made your name in golf and then got into something else. After four years, a guy working for me said: 'Isn't it time you turned your avocation into a vocation? You've been doing this for more than 10 years and you haven't made a dime yet.' "

That conversation led to the development of Nicklaus Design, paving the way for Nicklaus to become one of the top course designers in the world.

When Nicklaus was beginning his second career, Bachmann was growing up on the Pinehurst Farm, with visions of golf dancing in his head.

"I started thinking about (a golf course) here when I was 11," said Bachmann, 41, who carries a 5 handicap. "I didn't envision anything on this grand a scale; I didn't know what a good course was other than what was on TV."

Two separate barn fires in 1983 and 1994 got Bachmann to think about getting out of the farming business and into the golf industry.

Bachmann, who sold most of his award-winning cattle herd to help pay for the project, contacted many famed designers but settled on Nicklaus for obvious reasons.

"He's the greatest golfer ever and one of the best designers," Bachmann said. "I'm asking for his interpretation of golf with respect to the history of it and what the future might be."

Building world-class courses doesn't give Nicklaus a rush like winning the 1986 Masters at age 46, but it's clearly where his golf focus has switched.

"I don't get the thrill from anything else that you get from playing," he said. "Playing is the fun part of the game. Obviously, designing will be here long beyond my golf game in my lifetime. It leaves a legacy for what I believe in how the game could or should be played on that piece of property.

Obviously, it's not to do a job for Jack Nicklaus. ...

"It's not my job to build monuments to myself. What tickles me is when I do a course and an owner exceeds his expectations and becomes a success."

Reprinted from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Nicklaus to design public course in Sheboygan County

By Gary D'Amato
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: June 7, 2000

Sheboygan Falls -- When David Bachmann Jr. was 11 years old, he saw an advertisement in The Sporting News for grass seed to grow home-made putting greens.

Bachmann placed an order, hoping to build his own green on the family's 418-acre farm in Sheboygan County.

.

The green didn't take, but the dream never died.

On Wednesday, some 30 years later, Bachmann walked the same property with Jack Nicklaus, going over the routing for what will become a Jack Nicklaus Signature Design golf course.

"I tried not to cut myself shaving this morning," Bachmann said. "I didn't sleep well last night. In all honesty, I wanted Jack to like the property."

Nicklaus, 60, generally considered to be the greatest golfer of all time and the designer of more than 200 golf courses, thought the property was just fine. He had seen it only on topographic maps before Wednesday.

"It's a nice piece of ground," he said. "It's got the (Onion) river that runs through it. It's got some nice trees on it, some nice glacial knobs and things that the glaciers left.

"It's going to be a really nice golf course."

The public course, to be named "The Bull," will be located less than two miles from the highly acclaimed Blackwolf Run and will become the fifth high-end daily fee course in Sheboygan County.

The Kohler Co. owns the 36-hole complex at Blackwolf Run (the River and Meadow Valleys courses) and Whistling Straits in nearby Haven, which will become a 36-hole facility with the opening of the Irish Course later this summer.

Those courses are nationally renowned golf destinations, and Whistling Straits will play host to the 2004 PGA Championship.

"I don't think you can compete with Kohler in any way," said Bachmann, whose family owns farms, a motel and a cow-breeding business. "Everything they do is wonderful. I'm proud to live here because of what they've done. I think they're an inspiration for what I'm trying to do.

"I think we're competing for entertainment dollars out there, whether it's people playing Kohler courses or doing other activities."

The Bull, named in honor of the grand champion Holstein cattle that were a mainstay of the farm for more than 90 years, is scheduled to open in 2002. Bachmann said his goal was to keep green fees under $100.

The land already has been annexed into Sheboygan Falls. Permitting is not completed, but Bachmann hopes construction will begin around Aug. 1. The plan calls for an 18-hole, par-72 championship course with five sets of tees that stretch it from 5,095 yards to 7,085.

The plan also calls for a housing development.

Bachmann grew up on the farm that will be transformed into a golf course and said he would have been content to run the family business indefinitely. But in 1993, a fire destroyed a barn that had been rebuilt after a previous fire. That's when Bachmann started thinking seriously about the golf course.

"In 1994, I sold most of my cattle and used the money from that to pursue this," he said.

Bachmann, 41, considered hiring Greg Norman, Johnny Miller and a few others to design the course, but Nicklaus always was his No. 1 choice.

"I did look at other (architects), because I thought I needed to," Bachmann said. "I had always hoped I would see what I wanted to see in Jack's courses, and I think I did. He's the greatest golfer ever, and I think he's one of the finest designers, too."

Nicklaus is intrigued by designing a course in the shadow of the Kohler Co.'s golf empire.

"With what Kohler has done up here, you've got some excitement in this area relating to golf," he said.


Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on June 8, 2000.