Folks:
Thanks for the replies. Here's the deal:
This is land located just a bit north and west of Windom MN, a small (pop. 4,600) county seat in southwestern Minnesota -- about 30 miles north of the Minnesota-Iowa border and 60 miles east of the state's border with South Dakota. This is true "Little House on the Prairie" country -- a small town not far from here celebrates Laura Ingalls Wilder with a pageant and festivities every year.
I know the area quite well, as I return here a couple times a year with family. It's my wife's hometown, we were married there, and her parents still live there, quite near these parcels of land. Interestingly, the land is literally a stone's throw from the town's fairly pedestrian and flat 9-hole golf course, where I've enjoyed many a round with my father-in-law. The nearest cities of any size are Sioux Falls, SD, about 75 miles to the west, and Mankato, MN, home to a state university and about 60 miles to the east.
As some may know, southern Minnesota is home to some of the most productive farmland in the country, as the soils are rich and get plenty of annual rain, and the land is fairly flat, making for easy crop production. But this parcel of land, unusual for the area, stands out for its rolling topography. A mile or so west of here, or south or north, and the land returns to the flat terrain used in crop production and some livestock grazing. It's not overly large -- perhaps 300 acres? -- but easily large enough for an 18-hole golf course.
In a way, it reminded me a bit of the land of Erin Hills -- not as dramatic, but in the way that Erin Hills sits among the rolling lands of the Kettle Moraine area of Wisconsin, which is distinguished from the rest of the state by the dramatic contours of the land:
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,45966.0.htmlI'm not sure why this Windom land stands out from its surrounds, although my guess is that the winding Des Moines River, which borders the eastern edge of these land parcels, may have played a role. The glaciers that flattened much of Minnesota's southern farmland may have just left a bunch of deposits at this particular spot -- similar to how the land at Erin Hills was created.
Adam: These parcels of land are crossed and bordered by some roads, including a quiet two-lane state highway that forms the southern border.
Paul, Mark, Matthew, and Lester: Good guesses -- the southwestern corner of Wisconsin, northwestern corner of Illinois, the northeastern corner of Iowa and southeastern corner of Minnesota form what's known as the "Driftless Area" in these parts, where the glaciers parted and didn't flatten everything. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driftless_Area I've always wondered why this area, where I've traveled extensively, doesn't include more or better golf courses, and I think in a lot of cases the land is too abrupt.
Brandon: On my travels from California to Wisconsin, I drove through the Flint Hills, which would make any GCA wingnut drool. Kansas looks to have some really good land for golf.
JC: Your post is really one of the reasons I posted these photos. Often you hear the refrain: "All the good land for golf is gone." Having traveled from California to Wisconsin (through the Texas panhandle and Kansas), as well as much of South Dakota and the Upper Midwest, I'd argue the opposite. There is a ton of great land for golf still out there. Whether or not, as Philippe suggests, that can be turned into a viable golf operation, is another question, of course. The Sand Hills courses of Nebraska and their ilk suggest perhaps -- that remoteness doesn't prohibit the creation of something worthy (and may enhance it in many ways).
(For anyone interested in seeing an aerial of the land -- which doesn't do it justice -- google-map "Windom Country Club" and follow County Highway 15 west. The land depicted in these photos is contained in a rectangular piece of land bordered by Co. Hwy 15 on the north, 440th Ave. on the west, MN state Hwy 62 on the south, and the Des Moines River on the east. Most of the really good land is on either side of 423rd St., which bisects the land.)