How a luxury travel-and-play golf club ended up in rural Kandiyohi County

NEW LONDON Minn When the glacier covering central Minnesota receded years ago it left a hilly terrain of clay rocks and gravel not great for farming which early settlers attempted but ideal for a golf program And for Mark Haugejorde not just any discipline Haugejorde has returned to his New London hometown to lead the advancement of Tepetonka a destination golf club in northern Kandiyohi County It s expected to open next summer and will be a pinnacle of his lifetime in the golf industry which began in his youth at nearby Little Crow Resort Golf Unit where his father was one of the founders in the late s After high school and a state golf tournament co-championship Haugejorde played at the University of Houston a noted golf mecca where he met professional golf legend Fred Couples as well as Jim Nantz the well-known sportscaster who is a good friend and now member of Tepetonka I had been in the golf business for a long time Haugejorde stated I worked for Jack Nicklaus as director of marketing for eight years I came back here to Minnesota and helped Windsong Farm a private golf club in Independence increase their membership Related St Kate s Katie Reeves has recipe for success on and off the golf subject Movement and play Minnesota has multiple well-known high-end golf courses of module such as Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska and The Quarry at Giants Ridge near Brainerd At the Tepetonka Beach Club on Green Lake Mark Haugejorde poses next to pictures of the former Tepetonka Lodge in Spicer Credit Forrest Peterson Destination clubs as Haugejorde described them are for golf enthusiasts who come for two or three days of golf at these high-end clubs countless of them from other states or even other countries Preponderance of the destination golf clubs are golf only so it s for the avid athlete who likes to movement and try new courses he commented Other such courses noted by their high fees and limited membership have opened across the country in fresh decades They include Sand Hills Golf Club near Mullen Neb The Prairie Club near Valentine Neb and The Harvester Club in Rhodes Iowa The inspiration leading to Tepetonka arose on a golfing trip to top-ranked Sand Hills Golf Class in Nebraska In a group that included Mike Schultz the head golf professional at Hazeltine National Golf Club Haugejorde demanded him How is it that Minnesota has all these great golf courses but no destination discipline Minnesotans are traveling to Wisconsin South Dakota Iowa and Nebraska to go play destination golf We have nothing here They spent three years looking for a suitable site You re looking for the sandy soils We unveiled a couple of different options he disclosed One day back in the area visiting his mother Haugejorde took a drive on County Road west of New London toward his former pheasant hunting grounds Moving across U S Highway I went one mile and noticed land that I ve never paid any attention to before because now I was looking at it differently Here was this creek there were specific very substantial undulations moraines He turned south from the county road to a dead-end gravel road I went down half a mile looked to my left and revealed There it is Hometown contractors When Haugejorde began working on plans for the golf curriculum he didn t have far to go to find contractors to build it Tepetonka lies in the northern portion of Kandiyohi County in central Minnesota Duininck Golf and Marcus Construction got their start in the tiny southern Kandiyohi County town of Prinsburg In Haugejorde s father approached Duininck Construction about building the Little Crow Golf Curriculum They talked the Duinincks into doing the golf subject which they didn t want to do and in the current era they re a nationwide golf company Haugejorde commented Marcus Construction is building the structures Following the plans of golf syllabus designers OCM Golf of Melbourne Australia together they are transforming acres of rolling prairie into a majestic -hole -par main class a nine-hole short syllabus and related lodging food and maintenance buildings It will be managed by KemperSports of Northbrook Illinois Haugejorde serves as president of Tepetonka Club LLC The name recalls that of an old resort once located in the town of Spicer on the shores of Green Lake called Tepetonka which has been interpreted to mean big tent in the Dakota language The new namesake also includes access to Green Lake at Tepetonka Beach Club Weathering construction challenges Heavy rain events and wind over the past two summers have put the project about six weeks behind schedule So far holes have been completed Because of the suitable terrain workers moved just cubic yards of soil Haugejorde noted You can call it minimalist design because you want to do the least disruption to the land as manageable At the same time about tons of sand is being hauled in by about truckloads to cover the greens and fairways The sand provides a firm base and allows fertilizers to infiltrate to nourish the grass We are one big sponge by virtue of all that sand Haugejorde explained Work to protect the natural conditions includes streambank restoration on Shakopee Creek which meanders from the northwest to southeast areas We are doing our best to do a full restoration over five to years Haugejorde explained We will be doing projects and specific initiatives that go way past the creek fix and pollinators It s more than just how to make it beautiful No helicopters A project of this size requires extensive environmental review A primary concern was likely impact on Shakopee Creek according to Eric Van Dyken Kandiyohi County zoning administrator These and other issues were addressed in an Environmental Assessment Worksheet EAW The conditional use permit from the county allowing the project to commence included at least one unconventional condition a ban on helicopters With the expected upscale clientele several area residents were concerned about helicopter noise This is the first time that I ve ever specified no helicopters in a permit Van Dyken revealed This is not your average domain for a golf discipline The Tepetonka Beach Club on Green Lake is a part of the destination golf club package Credit Forrest Peterson Other environmental issues include wastewater rehabilitation traffic and the use of chemicals and fertilizers They will spoon-feed the grass with micro-doses of nutrients Van Dyken revealed They don t want too much lush grass on the fairways they want it to play hard and fast Overall it s a good land use compared with housing or other developments because majority of the area is open space and the activity will be quiet and serene Van Dyken mentioned Bulk of the building permits have been issued he declared Related New disc golf discipline at Hillcrest Knoll Park brings sport to St Paul s Eastside Mark and the developers have done everything the county has required of them Van Dyken noted They spent a lot of money to prepare the documents for the EAW It made my job very easy Local jobs and taxes While the club will have limited membership backers say the project represents major economic growth in construction jobs the use of local services and tax revenue a complement to the extensive lake-country summer economic activity If you think of Tepetonka as tourism it brings money it brings jobs it brings the taxes Haugejorde announced Noting the loss of a multitude of area resorts over the years he mentioned I d say we replaced the equivalent of several resorts by virtue of a golf class In-season employment will range from to people he commented with about employed during the off-season It will remain open year-round where winter pursuits could include snowmobiling ice fishing and cross-country skiing The construction site manager New London resident Brock Olson got the job after Haugejorde saw him wearing a cap for Whisper Rock a private golf club in Scottsdale Arizona while playing golf at Little Crow Haugejorde declined to provide information about the financial backing and the membership fee except to say that it has increased since the initial offering He noted that other sectors of the local economic system represent above-average wealth as well such as farmland or multi-million-dollar homes and expensive boats around Spicer and Green Lake There are a limited number of memberships and each includes ownership in the club he reported Describing it as high-end Minnesota casual Haugejorde disclosed there s one rule for membership no jerks A docuseries about the project Building the Contest offers four episodes so far created by Capture a video and photo production agency based in Minneapolis The post How a luxury travel-and-play golf club ended up in rural Kandiyohi County appeared first on MinnPost