Windsong Farm Makes Minnesota Golf History With New Course Opening

Forbes

2 days ago

Windsong Farm has opened its second 18-hole course from John Fought, becoming the first private club ... More in Minnesota with two championship courses.
Windsong Farm becomes the first private golf club in Minnesota to offer two 18-hole courses with the official opening of its North Course, a modern expansion that harkens to the game's Golden Age of architecture more than a century ago.
The North Course debut is the culmination of a vision that began years earlier when club owner David Meyer challenged golf architect John Fought to create a second course that would be as good and as fun as the existing South Course, but markedly different. Members of the club, located on a former horse farm about 25 miles west of Minneapolis, now have two very distinct golf experiences that Fought says most golfers would be surprised to learn were designed by the same architect.
Windsong Farm's South Course – opened in 2003 -- is draped across 220 acres, stretches to 7,500 yards, and features large greens with subtle undulations and collection areas inspired by the work of Hall of Famer Donald Ross, who from 1912 to 1948 was widely considered the best-known and most active architect in America.
The new North Course, meanwhile, is a more intimate layout, a 6,500-yard par 70 routing on 125 acres, that pays homage to several Golden Age architects, most notably Seth Raynor. As such, the course features strategic challenges, broad fairways framed by wispy fescue grass, and Fought's take on a number of classic template holes, including an Eden green (2), Biarritz green (4), a Dell hole (8), a Redan green (17) and a Cape hole to close the round at the 18th hole. The 13th and 16th holes share a boomerang-shaped double green and most of the bunkers are rectangular in shape with grass faces.
The shared green at the 13th and 16th holes of Windsong's new North Course.
'The North looks like a golf course that came from the early 1900's,' says Fought. 'It's on a very small piece of land and I wanted to prove to people that length isn't the only way to add drama to a golf course.'
Fought notes the North is the most diverse course he's ever built, with six par 3 holes, four par 5s, and no repetition of holes by par until Hole 14, which is the first of three straight par 4s. The layout boasts views of Fox Lake and surrounding horse pastures, and is eminently walkable, with a Golden Age design nod that allows golfers to step off one green and virtually onto the next tee.
The North Course at Windsong Farm has a much different footprint than its predecessor, intimately ... More fitting within a 125-acre site.
Fought says he wanted to build a course that would force golfers to think. The massive Biarritz-style green with its signature trench in the middle does just that early in the round, as the green at the fourth hole spans nearly 17,000 feet – almost three times the size of a typical green – and challenges golfers to navigate its dramatic contours. The intent, Fought says, was for golfers to use a wide variety of clubs on the par 3s and think hard about strategy on the other tee boxes.
'You can't just get up and hammer it. You'll have to think, 'Do I want to hit driver here?'' said Fought. 'Some of the greens are tiny, and others are huge.
'We configured it to create the most diversity you can get on a golf course.'
Approximately 90% of Minnesota's golf courses are public, one of the highest proportions in the ... More nation. Windsong Farm stands out as particularly unusual, with two 18-hole private courses.