Bishops Bay Country Club

Bishops Bay Country Club is a private 18-hole parkland course situated on the north shore of Lake Mendota in Middleton, Wisconsin, just minutes from downtown Madison. Designed by Bob Lohmann and opened in 1995, the course spreads across more than 220 acres of rolling terrain and plays to 7,160 yards from the championship tees with seven tee positions accommodating all skill levels. The club offers first-class golf, dining, tennis, and aquatics in a lakeside setting.

Bishops Bay Country Club in Middleton, Wisconsin, was founded in 1995 by Madison entrepreneur Sam Jacobsen on the shores of Lake Mendota, occupying a property anchored by The Manor — a 1933 family home that was sold to the Catholic Diocese of Madison in 1946, where the first Bishops of Madison lived before the Diocese sold it to Jacobsen to create the club. The name Bishops Bay honors this Episcopal history while celebrating the extraordinary Lake Mendota setting that defines the club's character. Jacobsen engaged Illinois golf course architect Bob Lohmann to design the parkland-style 18-hole championship course, focusing on utilizing the natural beauty of the Lake Mendota shoreline and the varied terrain of the Middleton property.

Lohmann created a layout that integrates the lake views and natural water features of the site with strategic bunkering and demanding green complexes suited to competitive golf. The course's lakeside setting provides visual drama throughout the round, with Lake Mendota framing several holes in spectacular fashion. The Middleton location gives Bishops Bay access to Madison's prosperous professional and academic community.

Middleton, consistently ranked among Wisconsin's most desirable cities for its quality of life, schools, and proximity to the state capital, provides the club with a membership drawn from University of Wisconsin faculty, government employees, technology industry professionals, and the business leadership of the greater Madison metropolitan area. The Manor clubhouse, preserved from its 1933 origins and thoughtfully updated for private club service, provides an elegant and historically rooted social environment that complements the contemporary championship golf Lohmann designed. The combination of historic architecture and modern golf creates a club of unusual character in the Madison market.

Bishops Bay Country Club has hosted Wisconsin State Golf Association events and competitive play that have established it as a quality venue in the Dane County private golf community since its establishment in the mid-1990s. Today Bishops Bay Country Club continues to serve the Middleton and Madison community as a respected private golf destination, combining Bob Lohmann's championship course design with the historic Manor clubhouse and the magnificent Lake Mendota setting that makes this one of Wisconsin's most distinctive private club environments.