Pleasant View Golf Course (Woods/Prairie)| Middleton, WI | Par 72

The Woods/Prairie combo is a par 72 course, with the Prairie 9 using a 3-3-3 setup – three each of par-3s, par-4s and par-5s. Both 9s start you off with a par-5 that utilizes an elevated tee. Both courses move up and down through the property – if you like to walk, this one can be a bear – with large trees coming into play on many of the holes. Fairways and greens are generous throughout, making the course extremely playable for most skill levels. There aren’t too many penalty areas to worry about throughout the course – being blocked out by trees will be a bigger concern. There is a stretch of holes that have some water, but it really only affects four or five holes. There have been some changes/improvements to the entire property in recent years. This is not meant to be an all-inclusive list, but some of the changes I noticed include the addition of water behind the green and a bunker before the green of Prairie #6, a newly developed green on Prairie #8 and a redone green on Woods #9.

Pleasant View has gotten a face lift the past couple years, helping to improve an already well-conditioned course. The Woods/Prairie combo saw a little less than the work done on the Lake course, but I have yet to see the finished Lake product. The property continues to be in very nice shape, overall, and I like some of the changes/improvements I saw. Pleasant View has excellent turf throughout, as I don’t recall anything less than a quality lie in the fairways and first cut of rough. There are a lot of large trees, which can make keeping the grass lush in high areas of shade tough, but the course does an excellent job of that not being the case. Areas around said large trees is clean and allows you to find your ball and play a shot in most instances. Tee boxes and big and level, with more excellent turf that is consistent with the rest of the course. Greens are big and receptive. My most recent visit was after a lot of rain in the area, so I don’t want to put too much judgment on the speed of the greens, as they were definitely slower than I recalled. Similarly, the bunkers couldn’t be judged, as most were filled with a lot of rainfall, though I did manage to hit one shot from a greenside bunker.

Pleasant View has a good-sized range on one side of the clubhouse, and a medium-sized putting/chipping green on the other. The green has rough and a fairway area to allow you to practice a variety of short-game shots.

The clubhouse is pretty large, with an open bar/grill area that overlooks the Lake and Par 3 courses. There’s a good selection of quick order food, if you’re looking to grab a bite between 9s. The pro shop isn’t huge, but they’ve got a lot of good stuff in there, including shoes and local gear. You can get all the other basics you might need in there, too.

I’m not sure when it happened exactly, but I believe it’s since my last visit in May 2023 that Pleasant View added the tablet style GPS systems to their carts. That’s a definite improvement that should help improve the overall experience. The carts are otherwise very basic, but functional. There’s no club cleaner or cooler, but having at least some sort of GPS is big.

Pleasant View definitely feels like they are fully staffed. There were two people to help check people in in the pro shop, a starter to keep things moving on three separate nines, and a ranger to make sure pace of play holds up. The ranger working the day I played was a little overzealous in his requests of our pace, as we were well ahead of the group behind us, but he has obviously been instructed to really push pace of play. On a different day, I may have been more appreciative. There was a beverage cart, but we only saw it twice, and not until the 8th hole the first time.

Pleasant View marks probably the best value in the immediate Madison area, in my opinion. The course is in good shape, has a lot of beautiful views and has gotten some good renovations in the past few years. All that usually adds up to greens fees (with a cart) being over $75. Pleasant View utilizes dynamic pricing, so the prices vary from day-to-day, time-to-time, but in general, it is a solid value.

Pleasant View has a nice mixture of easier, wide-open holes and tighter, more challenging holes. There’s a lot of up and down throughout the property, so elevation change is prominent on all the courses. There aren’t a lot of penalty areas on the Woods/Prairie combo, but large trees frame quite a few holes, and you might need to get lucky if your misses get too off-line. A good punch-out game is usually a must for me when playing Pleasant View. The putting surfaces are pretty generous, and fairly straight forward. There aren’t a bunch of big undulations to contend with, and the speed is consistently on the tamer side of things. There are a few exceptions, of course.

I like elevation change, and I like variety on the courses I play, and Pleasant View does well in both those categories. There are a lot of good chances to score, and there are plenty of places that make you think and are more demanding. The course is usually in very good shape and has some really nice views. If Pleasant View were a little closer to my house, and I didn’t have to contend with Madison’s beltline traffic, I would play here a lot more.

As I will tend to do on a 27-hole course, I picked my favorite hole from each of the 9-hole courses.

#4 Prairie – this is kind of what I think of when I think about a “favorite” hole. A slightly elevated tee. A dogleg left with some room to miss on the right. A green framed by mounds. It’s just a visually comfortable hole, and I tend to play it well. Add in the large patch of pine trees are through the first part of the fairway, and a little extra beauty is added to the template.

#4 Woods – the par-5 4th looks relatively short on the scorecard, measuring only 500 yards from the tips, but that’s before you realize that the last 200 yards are severely downhill. It makes for something most players enjoy – a good chance to make better than par. Now, it’s not that the hole is easy. A good tee shot is needed to avoid the trees on both sides of the fairway. A great tee shot will get you to the start of the decline and possibly kick your ball down the hill, leaving a much shorter approach to the green. Depending on how you play the hole, you might end up with a downhill stance, which isn’t my favorite thing in the world, so focus is required if you want to give yourself a chance. If you can pull off both shots, birdie, or even eagle, is in play.

#9 Woods – the last hole of the Woods course does not take it easy on you, and “woods” are a big reason why. One of the longest par-4s on the property challenges you from tee to green. As someone that struggles to hit a controlled fade on command, the tee shot is a real struggle. There are trees on both sides of the dogleg right fairway, a fairway bunker on the left and OB even farther left. From there, the hole slopes down a hill before a steep incline in front of the green, making distance control of the utmost importance. Short shots will repel back, and long shots are, well, they’re just not a good place to be. The green is pretty treacherous, though I believe there was work done on it to make it a little less severe. Even still, this is a place where below the hole is the golden rule.

#8 Prairie – This might be written in memoriam of the worst hole on the course, because the par-3 8th on the Prairie course appears to have been fixed. It used to be an uphill, 190- to 200-yard hole who’s green was placed dangerously close to the #9 tee box. I don’t know about you, but I know I have hit plenty of long irons in my day that were nowhere near my intended target. I am guessing that is why they built a new green to the left, making it a much more manageable 130- to 150-yard shot. The old green is still there and looks to be in good shape, so I don’t know if there is any intention of possibly using it in the future.

My first round of 2026 with my full regular foursome, and it was a beautiful day. I was really impressed with how the greens rolled so early in the season, and overall, the course was in great shape. I managed to birdie the first hole of the day on the Prairie course and felt like the game was in pretty good order, especially for April. A long bunker shot on the 9th hole bit me and made the score much worse, but overall, I was pretty pleased. I played solidly on the Woods 9, too, but the highlight was on the final hole. One of my buddies wanted to play a one-hole match on the very difficult 9th hole of the Woods. Despite a poor tee shot, I was able to get back in position and hit my third shot to about two feet to win the hole. I am looking forward to a lot more days like this in 2026.