HANKINSON, N.D. - The neon sign hanging from a window inside the clubhouse bar reads "The 19th Hole." It's a confusing piece of decor considering there is a 19th hole on the golf course on the other side of that window.
At least the facility was appropriately named: Dakota Winds. Here, on a rolling plot of land along Interstate-29 next to Dakota Magic casino, director of golf operations Jeff Larsen estimates the air moves at 50 mph as often as it stands still.
Tuesday, however, the day the
27-hole, links-style course was to open, Dakota Wet seemed a more fitting title.
"At one time it was an island green," Larsen said, pointing to the 6th. "Not on purpose."
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In other words, the overflow caused by 6 inches of rain in two days this week, have begun to recede. What's more, both Larsen and designer Joel Goldstrand cite the course's drainage capability, bolstered, by several run-off ponds, as a strength.
Normally, 21 of the 27 holes - the back nine is reversible - incorporate some sort of pond or creek. That number is up like the sitting water, while three trees and a smattering of slumping hole markers are downed.
"It's going to be a while before she dries out enough to do any mowing," Larsen said, "let alone play."
This is only the most recent setback in what Larsen called "one of the toughest challenges I've had in my career."
Ground was broken on the $2 million project in 2002 with Larsen, whose past endeavors include Tom Lehman's GreyStone Golf Club in Sauk Centre, Minn., joining the team in March of 2003. Since then, "basically everything" has had to be reseeded - up to five times for some tee boxes and greens - due to wind or rain damage.
"It's a tough environment to get going," Goldstrand said.
Still, the fairways greened ahead of schedule this spring, shining like an oasis when the rest of the roadside foliage was yet brown and grey - shining like coins falling from a slot machine.
Business is good at Dakota Magic, Larsen said. Good enough to attract Jay Leno, Wayne Newton and the Beach Boys to the casino's 1,500-seat conference center. Good enough to warrant a three-stage hotel expansion. Good enough to fund a golf course on adjoining land.
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By chance, that once empty, rolling field was suited to host the mounds, native grasses and elevated tees of a links course. Two groves of trees in the center of the property, which borders North and South Dakota, proved an added bonus.
"The property is elongated," said Goldstrand, a Minneapolis-based designer with more than 70 courses to his credit. "You don't feel like you're playing out in an open field."
Goldstrand's touch made it truly unique.
With one additional green, nine extra tee boxes and 60 acres of fairways - twice the normal number - the back nine is reversible. Nos.
10-18 become Nos. 19-27 by playing down each fairway.
The clubhouse will rotate the direction of play twice a week and every day during the weekend, Larsen said.
Once the course is playable, that is. Best case scenario? Saturday or Sunday.
No matter. Larsen, raised in Southern California, isn't worried. He's calm by nature, he said, and the pace with which he takes a drag from a cigarette and blows the smoke out the side of his mouth supports that claim. As did the latest in a line of weather-related jokes.
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"We're trading the carts for pontoons," he cracked.
"Mother Nature and I have to be, well, not in tune, but I have got to be able to handle what she throws at me."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Terry Vandrovec at (701) 241-5548
