Still working on Forest Hills G.C. before it opens

Course will be open with 14-15 holes to start

There’s still plenty of work to do on the reconfigured Forest Hills Golf Course before it’s unveiled fully. 

In fact, there’s work to do before the course is even open. 

“The challenge we’re having right now, is we’ve had to remove some ash trees over the winter, so we’re doing a lot of cleanup” course manager Keith Stoll said. “It’s a lot of piles of sticks. It looks like beavers have been on the golf course, piling up.”

The century-old, city-owned course in La Crosse is still months away from a grand unveiling. It’s new, 18-hole configuration won’t be open until mid-summer.

“You want it to be there, but the reality is you also want it to be good,” Stoll said. “So, we kind of have to bide our time and make sure it’s ready before we open it.”

The target date right now, the Fourth of July. The course will be longer and won’t straddle the railroad tracks. 

“In the two new holes in the far back, we kind of went into Hixon with, they are pretty spectacular,” Stoll said. 

The course will open for the season with 14 or 15 holes. An abridged 18 should be ready for play by Memorial Day. 

The reconfiguration of the course was paid for largely by Burlington Northern in an agreement with city hall over the second set of tracks that were built through the course last year.