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“ The golf course is, as always, in pristine condition. “ The perfect spot for that not-so-far from home weekend getaway. Since 1922, Nippersink has been a premiere Midwest golf destination with rolling terrain and mature trees.
Designed by 1896 U.S. Open champion James Foulis and opened in 1922, Nippersink (an Indian word meaning "little waters") winds through ancient oak stands and over hills and dales that were created by Mother Nature. Foulis didn't have bulldozers at his disposal, so everything here is au natural.
Then Las Vegas and Palm Springs sprang up in the desert, jet travel made weekend getaways to Monte Carlo possible, and places like Nippersink receded into the bucolic background. Jerry Zwolak knows the resort can never again be what it was in the 1940s and 50s, but he sees no reason why Nippersink can't recapture some of its faded glory.
BLOOMFIELD – The Nippersink Golf Club and Resort is approaching its 100-year anniversary with a sense of rebirth under new owners Dennis and Chris Holian. The couple purchased the 171-acre resort in 2017 with dreams of upgrading the facilities and restoring Nippersink to its once-grand past as an attraction for people from Wisconsin and Illinois.
Nippersink resort in Bloomfield recapturing past magic. Dennis Holian, from left, joins his wife, Chris Holian, and Kevin Krause outside the Nippersink Golf Club and Resort in Bloomfield, which the Holians have renovated and restored.
Kathleen Messmer, who recalls happy summer vacations at Nippersink with her family in the ‘70s, remembers employee-vs.-guest softball games, children movie and popcorn nights, and Saturday dress-up nights.
Since acquiring the property, the Holians have restored the golf course, improved the guest rooms, removed old cottages, replaced a wedding reception dance floor, and expanded wedding facilities. Trees removed during the renovation process have been converted into a bar and tables in the clubhouse.
Albert Huddleston. Which brings us to 212 acres in Carrollton that Huddleston now owns. In July, he plans to officially open a golf course with high ambitions indeed. Its name is a portmanteau of his wife’s childhood moniker: Maridoe.
Huddleston bought his land in 2014 and then did things with it that signaled he doesn’t give a damn about making money on this deal.
In all this storm and stress, Huddleston has had a happy place: the golf course. That is the key to understanding him. For not only is he a very good golfer, he is a golf nut of the highest order. For purists like him, the simultaneously solitary and social pastime is as much religion as sport—probably more.