Founder developer Bob Lang has agreed to sell Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin to Andrew Ziegler, boss of the Milwaukee-based Artisan Partners investment fund.

Erin Hills, designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, with Golf Digest architecture editor Ron Whitten as consultant, will host the 2011 US Amateur, and is believed to be a front-runner in the race to win the 2017 US Open.

Lang’s statement said: "After 11 years as the owner and developer of Erin Hills, I welcome and support Andy Ziegler, who has the commitment and resources to take Erin Hills to the height of her potential.”

Ziegler told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he planned to ban golf carts to help improve playing conditions on the course, which is one of the few in America to have fescue fairways. “The fescue in the fairways and rough and the natural areas will look better. We're going to let it heal up from the construction that was done last year. It's just imperative not to have carts on that course," he told the paper.

Lang will continue to be involved with the course as a consultant.