Royal St. Patrick’s Golf Links | Wrightstown, WI | Par 72

Royal St. Patrick’s Golf Links has a wide-open layout on a relatively flat piece of land. There is an attempt to use mounding like you’d see on a links style course, but it’s not overly prevalent, leaving a pretty tame design. That said, the course is visually very nice, even with the not-so-great backdrop of factories, apartment buildings and new construction. The course eases you into the round with an extra wide opening fairway that has additional room on both sides before some fescue grass pops up. From there, you’ll probably notice a good amount of water to contend with, especially off the tee. 13 of the holes have water legitimately in play off the tee, but the course gives you the space to safely play away from it most of the time. A unique feature is a 19th hole, allowing you to get one more swing in before your round is over. It’s a short par-3 that, not surprisingly, is over water. Royal St. Patrick’s really plays up the Irish theme, using Irish names. Whether it be the tee colors or the holes, it adds a little extra to your experience here.

Every aspect of the course’s condition at Royal St. Patrick’s felt above average to me. The turf was excellent across the board, and fairways rolled so smoothly. Tee boxes were in great shape and provided a level start to every hole. The greens were very consistent and receptive, and rolled at a good pace. They weren’t overly fast, but they weren’t slow either. The sand in the bunkers I found was great, with a nice density to it, which I prefer. This is a course that won’t feel like you got smacked in the face by it, but after you’re round, you realize how well-conditioned everything was.

Royal St. Patrick’s has a nice long range near the cart garage that provides good targets and space to practice or loosen up. There’s a short-game area closer to the clubhouse that is really good sized. The green is on an incline, so you can practice uphill and downhill chips and putts, and it has longer rough and fairway areas to allow you to practice a variety of chips and pitches.

The clubhouse really stands out when you pull up, and from many areas out on the course. It’s crazy that there was major damage to it in 2023, when a windstorm peeled the roof back on the building. Everything appears to be back in order now. The pro shop is a pretty small portion of the clubhouse and has the basics, along with a decent selection of logo merchandise. The largest part of the clubhouse is dedicated to the bar/restaurant. It’s been too long since I’ve eaten there for me to comment on the food, but it’s a nice setting for relaxing after playing a round at an excellent golf course. They offer an excellent selection of drinks to enjoy there or out on the course.

The carts run just fine, but they are bare bones. It looks like there may have been GPS in the recent past, but they were pulled out of the two carts my group used. I’m not sure if there are plans to replace them or not, but I am a big believer in GPS elevating a course. The carts have no coolers or club cleaners, either. Finally, something that became a big deal to me while I was there last – the carts have no front windshield. That was glaringly obvious as a cold rainstorm poured on us during our last visit. A very small thing that turned into a big thing.

Staff in the pro shop was friendly, offering big smiles upon checking in. There was a starter that did a great job of keeping everything organized on the first tee, which can seem like no big deal until things get out of whack, so I appreciated that. We had to come in the golf cart garage during a rainstorm, and the staff there were helpful in getting us where we needed to be. There wasn’t a beverage cart out while we were on the course, and I’m not really sure why, because it was midday and I saw the cart itself parked near the clubhouse. That was my only real complaint.

Royal St. Patrick’s is a wonderful, well-maintained property that has a lot going for it. For around $70 to play 18 with a cart, it’s a really good value. And you actually get 19 holes thanks to the additional par-3 they tacked on to the end of the course. More golf is always a good thing. I will say that the cart fees are pretty high when you break it out – $24 for a cart for 18 is steep.

Royal St. Patrick’s is a wide-open course that doesn’t try to trick you too often (see Worst Hole below, though). Water is the feature that will grab your attention the most, as it comes into play on 13 of the holes. Seven of those holes will bring water into play on more than one shot. Keeping your ball dry is priority number-one. There are plenty of bunkers and the long grass on many holes will cause havoc if you have to hit out of it repeatedly. Teeing areas are generous, so keeping yourself in play is very doable. Greens are on the larger side, and reasonable in terms of slope and break. One thing that will crank up the difficulty is the wind. Thankfully it was down my last visit, but there isn’t much in the way of protection there, so a stiff wind will make controlling your golf ball a lot tougher.

I enjoy courses that try to be a links style. I wouldn’t say Royal St. Patrick’s is overly “linksy”, but I enjoy the visual of the wide-open areas and the fescue grass that frames many of the holes. The course is playable, but, especially on the back nine, there are some holes that will challenge you. One of the most fun things I experienced was seeing a bald eagle that I believe has a nest near the tee of the 17th hole. Seeing a majestic animal flying around really enhanced my time on the golf course. The addition of a 19th hole is a cool idea. Who doesn’t want to play just one more hole after finishing up their round?

I’m going to show some bias when selecting my favorite hole due to my personal experience, because there are plenty of holes that I liked at Royal St. Patrick’s. Hole 17, named “Wynde Haven”, is a big bending dogleg left par-5 that encourages you to try and cut the corner a bit. A safe shot up the fairway leaves you with a longer distance to the hole, but less chance of hitting into the penalty area. Any layups are to a wide fairway, with a pond only coming into play to the left of the green. My group had seen a bald eagle swooping around the green on the par-5 14th hole earlier, and it was an amazing sight. The foreshadowing didn’t occur to me until later, after I chipped in for eagle on the 17th hole from about 20 yards short right of the green. All things put together made this a very memorable hole.

“Shannon’s Crossing” is hole #10, and it is one of the most daunting tee shots on the course. Water down the right side of this right-bending par-4 makes you look to the left to keep your ball safely dry. However, when checking it out, the left side offers just as much trouble. A fairway bunker, followed by some of the thickest long grass on the course (I know, because I was in it), then finally, out of bounds. Bottom line is that you need to hit a good drive here. The hole is long enough that you can’t lay back too far, either. Get your ball in play, and the majority of the hard work is done, but it’s going to take some focus.

The 9th hole, titled “Sinder Moorland” is not a bad hole if you know what you’re doing. I can safely say my group did not. On a course that doesn’t really have a bad hole, this one stood out a bit because of that. It’s a par-4 with water dividing the fairway around 100 yards short of the green. The fescue grass (and lack of knowledge) makes it difficult to tell what you need to do to clear the water. With no GPS, it’s a mistake waiting to happen. Turns out, you should just go ahead and hit less than driver (not a feature I usually enjoy) on the hole and leave yourself a little longer shot into the green.

Almost exactly a year since my last time, I got back out to Royal St. Patrick’s. I thought the course was in really good shape, minus a few wet low areas. On several occasions I noted how great the fairways were. They had nice cushion and bounce that can instill a lot confidence on shots around the greens. The weather went from amazing to unbelievable, as it was beyond calm, something I am sure is a rarity out on the wide-open property. We got paired up with some nice guys that told me of their plans of starting a podcast about golf courses, so we had a lot to talk about and I enjoyed the round with them immensely. It’s not exactly close to home, but when i am int he Green Bay area, Royal St. Patrick’s is definitely a place I will look to get back to.