Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2017 - 20

Spring
M A K E O V E R
middle of the fairway and they weren't true tee boxes. Now the
inexperienced player is going to have the same experience playing
from an elevated tee box and looking at the holes from the
same perspective as anyone playing from the back does. "
North Carolina architect Richard Mandell, who renovated
St. Paul's Keller Golf Course in 2014, has found an equally
beautiful piece of property at Braemar.
" Bulk earthwork is defi ned as making cuts and fi lls with
dirt, " Mandell says of his design philosophy. " Cutting high
points to fi ll low points is the goal. But with
such an interesting topography as Braemar,
relatively little earthwork is actually necessary,
as my goal was to utilize as much of the natural
ground as possible to infl uence my design
decisions. "
Abood is excited about the par 5s that Mandell
is creating. A couple have split fairways,
prompting risk/reward decisions on the tee.
" The old No. 23 is going to be the new No.
the golf facility and the park and recreation department, and
replacing it with a 37,000-square-foot building with an extra
13,000 square feet of outdoor public space.
The new two-story building will house park and rec on the
second level and golf on the fi rst level. It will include a state-ofthe-art
golf shop, locker rooms, a year-round restaurant with a
full bar, banquet rooms, multiple decks, a senior center, a twostory
kids play area, several multi-purpose meeting rooms-
and " spectacular views over the 18 and nine greens. "
Building a facility that could be the focal point
11, " Abood says. " As you get farther down the
fairway, you are going to have to choose a fairway
to basically decide whether you want to
risk it and go the shorter route. "
Longtime Braemar patrons will still detect some familiarity
throughout the entire grounds (an updated clubhouse included),
but generally they are in for something exciting and new.
" You will be able to recognize a little bit of the golf course
from the past, but it is going to be new, " Abood says. " It is a
good mix of old and new. "
BROOKVIEW GOLF COURSE
The clubhouse at Brookview Golf Course in Golden Valley
has a long history. It was there in the 1920s when the course
was private and named Superior Golf Club, during the '40s as
Brookview Country Club, and fi nally for Brookview GC, when
the city of Golden Valley purchased the property in the '60s.
" It's been expanded and remodeled several times over, "
Brookview general manager Ben Disch says. " It's certainly
served its purpose, but it's an aging structure. "
After a few decades of considering renovation, the city will
be tearing down the 19,000-square-foot building that housed
It's a huge
deal for the
city. You can
feel the buzz
in the air. It's
an exciting
time.
of the community was " what the focus was from
the start-what would serve the needs of today's
Golden Valley? " Disch says. " And that's really
where the discussions stemmed from. What is
Brookview? What do we want Brookview to be?
It's really capturing every age and offering something
for everybody. "
While the building project is a major undertaking,
Disch is adamant that play at
Brookview will not be affected. In fact, the
old building doesn't come down until the new
one is in place.
" There is no impact to the golf course because this is not
a golf course project; it's a building project, " he says. " So, the
course isn't being impacted whatsoever. The golf course is
open. We're here. There is signage everywhere. We're under
construction, but we're open. "
Nonetheless, there are some course changes in store. The former
long and narrow putting green has moved (to make room
for the new building) to the front end of the driving range-
changing to a more oval-shaped green. The starter shack and
putting green at the par 3 course will be torn down and moved,
and the lawn bowling area moved and rebuilt.
Last season, the putting green was moved and re-sodded,
plus more parking was added in phase one of the project; the
new building is currently under construction in phase two
(to be fi nished in November); and the par 3 green and lawn
bowling area will be phase three after the old clubhouse is torn
down, scheduled for completion in 2018.
" It's a huge deal for the city, " Disch says. " You can feel the
buzz in the air. It's certainly positive. It's an exciting time-and
certainly fun being a part of it. "
Although it wasn't part of the current project, the regulation
course had 90 percent of its bunkers replaced in 2016. The
bunkers were renovated with new drainage tile and sand-and,
according to Disch, it was very well received.
" You have to keep going after those things because we have
a beautiful piece of property that's been here a long time, " he
says. " You have to invest. Things can get tired if you're not looking
at ways to always improve and keep moving forward. "
BROOKVIEW GC
THE ROYAL GOLF CLUB
3M, the former owner of Tartan Park Golf Course, exemplifi
es innovation and creativity in everything it does. And that
20
MINNESOTAGOLFER Spring 2017
www.mngolf.org
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2017
