Meadows of Six Mile Creek | Waunakee, WI | Par 72

The look of Six Mile Creek gives off a wide-open feel. There aren’t a lot of trees, and the course is very exposed to the wind. However, there are many tee shots that are more demanding of accuracy than you might first think, as you can quickly leave yourself in a bad situation if you’re offline. In all, there are 12 tee shots where you’ll contend with water or swamp area. These are some of my favorite greens in the area, as I see the lines well on the large, undulated surfaces. They roll consistently well, straddling the line between fast and slow quite nicely. The course allows for multiple strategies to attack, depending on your confidence in driver. This one will help you get your steps in, as it’s a good jaunt from the first hole of each side to the other side of some railroad tracks where the bulk of the course is found. There are quite a few instances where holes are too close together, causing shots that are just a little offline to be entangled with other players. I’ve seen a few occasions where two people claim the same ball.

Course condition at Six Mile Creek is always solid. I find I never leave with any real complaints. The turf is good, and the greens are nice. The rough isn’t especially long, but is challenging to hit out of or even find your ball. The bunkers tend to be on the packed, dense side, which I prefer. A well-conditioned course is something you might not even notice until after you’re done, and you realize everything was in good shape.

The practice green near the clubhouse and first tee is large with plateaus and ridges to mimic what you’ll see on the course. There’s plenty of room to hit some pitches in the rough, which you might need to do to loosen up, since there is no driving range. I don’t always hit balls to loosen up before a round, but it’s nice to have the option if I want, so not having a range is a downer. If you’re someone that absolutely wants a range to use before you play, this rating is probably too high.

The pro shop is quite small, but it’s attached to a nice bar with a good amount of seating for relaxing after your round. They offer quality food options, and, to my understanding, they have the best Bloody Mary mix of any course around.

Six Mile Creek appears to have replaced their entire fleet of golf carts in 2026. They’re still basic models with no real frills, but they run better than the old ones and have the nice big console to put all your stuff while you play. You’re still definitely going to be thankful for when you realize how far the second tee is from the first green.

The staff in the pro shop is friendly, and have been responsive when I have reached out via email or phone. The beverage carts are pretty well stocked and do a nice job of covering the course.

For a while, Six Mile Creek was overcharging, in my opinion. Now that greens fees in Dane County have exploded after COVID, they’ve normalized and are much more reasonable. The best deal you’ll find is a Bucky Book coupon good for two rounds of 18 with a cart for $80 – that’s $40 a person! And it’s valid ANYTIME. That’s a value rating of 11 in my book.

Six Mile Creek can be a sneaky challenging course. At first glance, it seems pretty wide open, which it pretty much is, though there is a good amount of water and swamp to maneuver around. You just have to know where you cannot miss. There are some longer par-4s, as well as some shorter ones, but they’re no cake walk. If you can get off the tee well on this course, you’ll really have a chance to do well. All that can go out the window if the wind is blowing, though. The course is basically unprotected, so when it blows, it really blows. Heavy wind and a lot of holes with water can be a bad combination.

I went several years without playing this course, but now that I have come back, it’s one of my favorites. Something about it suits my eye, and I have had some of my very best rounds there. It’s challenging without being unfair, and I enjoy putting the greens. There are several risk/reward holes, and if you play it a few times, you’ll learn where to push your luck and where to stay conservative.

Hole #9 is a medium-length par-3 with the right mixture of challenge and welcoming when you see it. There’s water short and trees long of the large, tiered green, but it is framed in a way that makes it feel very accessible. The course can get creative with pin placements on this green, too, making shot placement a priority on certain locations. A pin in the back right is likely going to be on a little shelf that is very challenging to get to, making a two-putt even more difficult.

Hole #5 is a par-5 that snakes back and forth between two large ponds, requiring either a bold line off the tee or precision in your approach. If you have length off the tee, you can cut the hole down to size rather easily, but if you fail to pull it off, you’re going to be dropping and still a long ways back. Playing it safe can result in leaving yourself a shot between two ponds, with a penalty area on the left. You want to be aggressive enough to have a short shot in for your third, but the landing area gets narrower the more aggressive you are, not to mention everything kicks towards the water on the right. It’s a good hole that greatly rewards bold shots and punishes poor ones.

I don’t really think hole #13 is a bad hole, but the tee shot is one I always struggle with. I have played Six Mile Creek many times through the years, but I still struggle with the best line to play off the tee. With marsh all down the right side of the dogleg right par-4, you can’t be too bold in your attempt to cut off yardage. Playing safe to the left can lead to you running out of fairway, or even dry land if you’re a longer hitter. I have found a long iron of this tee to the fat part of the fairway is the best way to attack, but I am not sure I will remember that the next time I pull up to the tee.

As I was driving to Waunakee, it seemed like all the flags I saw were barely move, signifying a pretty calm day. Once I got to the course, the wind steadily increased. Anybody that has played at Six Mile Creek knows that the wind is usually worse there, and it can cause some major challenges to controlling your golf ball. While it wasn’t anywhere near the windiest day I’ve seen there, the 20-25 mph wind was definitely something to take note of. The highlight of my day was a birdie on a nemesis hole for me, the par-3 14th – my third birdie of the day. After struggling mightily on that hole for years, I have now parred it and birdied it in my last two attempts.