What was a dream became labor of love

The Journal Sentinel staff

Hal Hoffman discovered Songbird Hills Golf Club in 1963.

Back then, however, it wasn't a golf course. Thirty-two years ago, Songbird Hills was 155 acres of rolling farmland, wedged between Highway J and a wetlands conservancy in northern Waukesha County.

The important thing was, Hoffman saw the golf course. It was there, in the ridges and contours of the land, just waiting to be built.

The farm wasn't for sale in 1963. Even if it had been, Hal, a high school math teacher, and his wife, Pat, a junior high school principal, could not have afforded to buy it.

So they waited.

Over the next two decades, Hoffman, who lives in New Berlin, stopped occasionally to visit with the woman who owned the land. She admired his enthusiasm and determination, and invited him to walk the farm whenever he wished.

"She told me, `Be patient. Someday, it will be yours,' " Hoffman says.

In the meantime, he studied golf course architecture. He did research on turf grass, on how to build greens, on irrigation systems. He kept meticulous files. And he saved money, and then invested it. Bonds in the 1960s, stocks in the '70s.

Someday finally arrived, a quarter-century after Hoffman first laid eyes on the property. The owner died in 1987, and her niece, who had inherited the farm, put it up for sale.

After so many years of planning and dreaming, however, Pat wondered whether it was wise to embark on such an ambitious project. After all, she reasoned, most people play golf courses when they retire; her husband wanted to build one.

"I said, `Is it smart to do this now?' " she says. "Hal's famous quote was, `When I am 85, 65 will look young.'

"We bought the farm in January 1988."

Four years later, Hal Hoffman realized a lifelong dream, opening the first nine holes of Songbird Hills on July 29, 1992. The second nine opened the next spring.

By then, he was 70 years young.

"Hal has always had a singularity of purpose," Pat says admiringly. "Our entire life together, he has had one major goal to do this golf course."

It might have been easier to buy an existing course, but to Hoffman, that wouldn't have been nearly as rewarding.

"I didn't want to buy a golf course I wanted to create one," he says. "I always compare it to being a composer. Composers don't go to the music store and buy sheet music. I wanted to be able to say, `I did it.' "

Songbird Hills, then, was a labor of love.

"I personally staked every green, tee and sand trap," Hoffman says. "I staked the ponds. I staked the water lines (where the irrigation pipes would be laid) on every fairway.

"There I was, 65 years old, up to my chest in marsh grass staking out the course."

Hoffman contracted out the construction work "No, I wasn't out there with a shovel," he says with a chuckle. But he did just about everything else himself.

The result is a delightful public course, 5,541 yards from tip to tip, with a slope rating of 110 and par of 70. The fairways are bluegrass and the greens, built to United States Golf Association specifications, are bent-grass. The course is fully irrigated.

Hoffman an avid golfer who carried a 5 handicap in his prime, still shoots in the 80s and has had six holes-in-one fit his course to the land, not the other way around.

"My philosophy is that the course should look like it's part of nature," Hoffman says. "I don't like a lot of gimmicks. I don't like greens that are elevated 8 feet. Blackwolf Run is beautiful, but it's not the natural terrain. They moved a lot of dirt."

Although Hoffman could not touch the wetlands conservancy, he turned that into a positive, building holes that require carries over the marsh. Two holes also call for tee shots over a pond, which includes a decorative fountain. Another personal touch is that the 150-yard markers are bluebird feeders (the Hoffmans are avid birders, hence the course's name).

"Our course is not long enough to hold the U.S. Open, but it's challenging," Hoffman says. "A lot of holes remind me of Merion in Pennsylvania, where you have to use your head."

His favorite hole is No. 14, a par-5 that doglegs to the right and can be reached with two well-played shots. Pat's favorite is No. 16, a par-4 that winds along the edge of the wetlands. Other notable holes are No. 17, a par-3 that requires a tee shot over a natural valley; No. 1, a par-4 with a picturesque, downhill approach; and No. 7, a par-3 over the pond.

While the course is a dream fulfilled, it also is a business. Counting the Hoffmans, there are six full-time employees of Songbird Hills Golf Club, Inc. Pat is the president, and Hal is the vice president and treasurer. Steve Allen is the course superintendent.

Greens fees are $11 for nine holes and $18.50 for 18 holes on weekdays, and $13.50 for nine holes and $22.75 for 18 holes on weekends. There are junior and senior rates, and season passes are available.

"The golf course has got to pay for itself," Pat says. "The wonderful thing is that it doesn't have to support us."

Copyright 1995
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