Another new course for Nebraska

[Joel_Stewart]

Saw this today:  Anyone know the architect?

http://www.yankton.net/articles/2011/10/14/community/doc4e97a22add764078114433.txt

SANTEE, Neb. — On Thursday, atop a windswept hill on the south side of Nebraska scenic highway 12 — approximately 2 miles east of the existing Ohiya Casino — a ground-breaking ceremony was held for the Santee Sioux Nation’s new Ohiya Casino and Lodge.

“Today is a beautiful day,” said Roger Trudell, chairman of the tribe.

He wasn’t just commenting on the weather.

Trudell added that council and community members alike had held a vision for this day for many years.

“The benefits Knox County will get from this will be like none that they’ve had for a very long time,” he said.

With the help of a hefty $20 million loan from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) of Minnesota, Santee is planning a 25,000-square-foot casino; 47-room lodge with two luxury suites, a banquet facility and conference center; a convenience store and gas station (to replace the existing Feather Hill gas station); and an 18-hole golf course and club house.

[Dan Kelly]

“Today is a beautiful day,” said Roger Trudell, chairman of the tribe.

Last night, my wife and I watched "Little Big Man" -- in which Old Lodge Skins teaches Jack Crabb that, when the time is right, it is always "a good day to die."

I hope it is not just a beautiful day in Nebraska, but a good day for golf-course architecture there.

Let us all hope that the new course will be considerably more fun to play than the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community's own course, The Meadows at Mystic Lake (architects: Garrett Gill and Paul Miller; cf. http://www.mysticlakegolf.com/course/about-architects).

[Davis Wildman]

I believe Paul Albanese & Associates are the design firm for this project...we provided aerial mapping for this site a few years ago...glad to see it is back on track.

[Ron Farris]

I am quite familiar with this area as I spent two years in Yankton.  Where I was is a minimum security correctional facility.  When I was there it was a college most famous for Lyle Alzado having played football there.  I went to school with Meadowlark Lemon's son, who couldn't make the basket ball team, but probably bedded more blondies than anyone I know. 

How many nickels does it take to make 5 million dollars?  Good luck in making this project work.  I would build push-up greens out of dirt if I was the owner.  Dramatic hillocks with cedar trees spead around.  I have even stopped and taken pictures of this area thinking it would make a dramatic golf course, but how to make the numbers work is a hardship.  Subsidize is a word that comes to mind........ala nickels.  Not a high roller area.  Yankton is a golf loving community for what it is worth. 

Best of luck and the best part of this project is that it is in Nebraska and not South Dakota, IMHO.

No pixs --- it was before digital!

[Mark Johnson]

great to see another project get kicked off.

I am still skeptical of how many top courses this area can support.   Hopefully i will be proved wrong.

[Joel_Stewart]

Yankton looks like it is a long way from the Sand Hills region.  I looked on Google and it's a 3 1/2 hour drive to Valentine. 

I hope they use an architect that continues the movement that Sand Hills started.

[Ron Farris]

Don't confuse this project with the Sand Hills of Nebraska!
One should think more along the lines of Sutton Bay, both in terms of character and soils.
I am not sure if the project takes advantage of the river.
I will do a shout-out to my wife's cousin who lives in Yankton.

[Joel_Stewart]

Don't confuse this project with the Sand Hills of Nebraska!
One should think more along the lines of Sutton Bay, both in terms of character and soils.
I am not sure if the project takes advantage of the river.
I will do a shout-out to my wife's cousin who lives in Yankton.

I consider Sutton Bay to be in the Sand Hills mold, minimal, using the terrain to dictate the holes, wide open expanses, etc. 

What I am not hoping for is a lush, Fazio, Shadow Creek type golf course or even worse, some type of low budget, poorly mounded cheap muni.  Possibly (doubtful) the developers understand that if you build something unique, golfers will come.