Reimagining and Reinvesting in Odana Hills Golf Course
The City of Madison Parks Division is excited to announce a new partnership with Michael and Jocelyn Keiser and the Madison Parks Foundation. Through the Keisers' philanthropic vision and generous donation, we have an opportunity to reimagine, redesign and reconstruct Odana Hills Golf Course. The community may recognize the Keiser name, as this new partnership builds on the proven successful collaboration to transform The Glen Golf Park.
Madison Parks Superintendent, Eric Knepp said, “We are fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the Keiser family and the Madison Parks Foundation to support our community’s future by giving Odana Hills the investment this amazing public park deserves. Generations of memories have occurred at Odana and this work will ensure that there are many more years of memories made at this special place.”
In 2021, Michael and Jocelyn Keiser approached Madison Parks offering to donate their professional knowledge, expertise and construction services to provide a redesign of the Glenway Golf Course. The reimagined Glen Golf Park reopened in 2022 and exceeded expectations. The number of golf rounds played, and revenue generated at The Glen increased by more than 40%. Specialty programming created opportunities for the community to enjoy non-golf events by shifting the mindset and creating space for yard games, movies, live music and fitness. From an ecological standpoint, The Glen’s redesign increased native area plantings by over 1000%, which substantially improved the quality of natural habitat, while reducing the amount of land intensively managed as turfgrass.
Stephanie Franklin, Madison Parks Foundation President and Executive Director said, “This is the kind of transformational investment that will benefit our golf program, our broader park system, and the Madison community for generations to come. The Keisers’ continued belief in Madison Parks and their willingness to act on it with such generosity, is a testament to what's possible when passionate philanthropists and a world-class park system come together.”
Today, we have the opportunity to explore the possibilities at Odana Hills Golf Course on a larger canvas. The proposed Odana Hills project would follow a similar model as The Glen yet be a more comprehensive project. The course redesign and construction project, involving the tees, greens and surrounds and some course routing, would be supported entirely through private donations from the Madison Parks Foundation led by the Keiser family’s generous donation. The extent of improvements will depend on final cost estimates and additional donor support, but the baseline of improvements will be consistent with The Glen project. The project will commence in Fall 2026.
The project opens the door for the City to leverage the private donation from the Keisers to make much-needed investments in public infrastructure within and around the course. Staff are pursuing opportunities for interagency collaboration that would allow for stormwater and multiuse path improvements that have been long planned for the area. Along with the course work there is the potential for redesign and redevelopment of the eastern portion of Odana Hills, which includes the clubhouse, parking lot and park area to better serve the needs of the community and park users.
“I'm excited about the planned investment in Odana Hills Golf Course, which will enhance the natural landscape, restore wildlife-supporting ponds, expand native prairie habitat for pollinators and preserve the course’s mature tree canopy while improving stormwater management,” shared District 11 Alder Bill Tishler. I am especially pleased that the project includes a new year-round clubhouse for community gatherings and a safe bike route connecting the Southwest Commuter and West Beltline paths, making Odana one of the city’s most accessible courses for walking and biking.”
Madison Parks will present an outline and timeline of the proposed project plans at the Wednesday, March 11 Board of Park Commissioners meeting. Interested parties may join virtually starting at 6:30pm.
Follow along on the Odana Hills Golf Course and Park project page.
