Red at Lacoma Golf Club

Lacoma Golf Club's Red Course sits in East Dubuque, Illinois, a small Mississippi River town perched on bluffs where Illinois meets Wisconsin and Iowa. Designed by Gordon Cunningham, the course occupies terrain characteristic of the Driftless Area, a region that escaped glaciation and retains its natural topography of steep hills, ridges, and valleys. The routing works with this rolling landscape, offering elevation changes and views across the river corridor.

Cunningham, a regional architect active in the Midwest during the mid-twentieth century, designed courses that typically emphasized playability while incorporating natural land movement. The Red Course reflects this approach, with holes that follow the contours rather than impose dramatic earthwork. Players encounter uphill and downhill shots, doglegs shaped by the terrain, and greens positioned to take advantage of natural plateaus and slopes.

The club operates in a region with a modest population base, serving golfers from the tri-state area including nearby Dubuque, Iowa. The course provides a traditional golf experience shaped by its river-valley setting, where wind, elevation, and seasonal conditions influence play. East Dubuque's location on the Mississippi gives the property a distinctive sense of place, with the river and surrounding bluffs forming the backdrop for the round.