Senior Tour at the Wakonda Club

[Buck Wolter]

Saw on TV that the Senior Tour will be in Des Moines next week and the tournament has moved to the Langford Designed Wakonda Club. Golf Channel Coverage it looks like.

http://www.principalcharityclassic.com/wakonda-golf-club.php

I've never played it but caddied a couple times for USGA qualifiers 25 years ago. Should be more fun to watch than the typical tour stop.

[Terry Lavin]

Buck,

Thanks for the heads-up. IIRC, this is on Ran's Next 50 list. I'll make sure to tune in.

[J_ Crisham]

Buck,  I played Wakonda last September and I found it to be very good. Very nice movement to the property . Not sure how much Langford is still there. I hope Brad Klein will chime in because he is quite knowledgeable re: Wakonda and what their long term goals are. My recollection is that the Champions tour has been there before. Some great par 4's at Wakonda.

[Dan Moore]

With the exception of 1 or 2 par 3's the routing is essentially still Langford (using 18 of the original 27 holes) as are most of the greens I think.  Most of the L/M bunkering however has been lost to the trees which have significantly narrowed the course.  A rambunctious property and a fine golf course.  This is year 2 for the Principal Charity Classic at Wakonda.  Last year there was some grumbling about too many blind shots, hopefully that will be less of an issue not that they are familiar with the course. 

[Jim Hoak]

I grew up on Wakonda, so I'm sure I have blinders on about it.  But I have always thought it is one of those hidden, underestimated gems.  Nicely rolling land.  The best soil in the world, so great turf and trees.  Classic design.  A few blind shots, but not many in direct play.  US Am was there in 1963.  Won by Deane Beman.  The Americas Cup was held first, and the USGA had the rough to their normal height.  Scores were very high because the USGA forgot the quality of the soil, which produced thick rough impossible to hit from.  The rough was cut back for the Am.
The course would be one of those outdated by technology, but very nice for the Senior guys.  Beautiful course.  People always underestimate the beauty of Iowa itself.

[J_ Crisham]

I grew up on Wakonda, so I'm sure I have blinders on about it.  But I have always thought it is one of those hidden, underestimated gems.  Nicely rolling land.  The best soil in the world, so great turf and trees.  Classic design.  A few blind shots, but not many in direct play.  US Am was there in, I believe, 1963.  Won by Deane Beaman.  The Americas Cup was  held first, and the USGA had the rough to their normal height.  Scores were very high because the USGA forgot the quality of the soil, which produced thick rough impossible to hit from.  The rough was cut back for the Am.
The course would be one of those outdated by technology, but very nice for the Senior guys.  Beautiful course.  People always underestimate the beauty of Iowa itself.

Jim,  great call on underestimating golf in Iowa. Coming from Beverly in Chicago I didn't expect to see a course that if properly restored and deforested could easily be top 100 Classic US. Cedar Rapids CC could be top 200 after their restoration by Prichard - I watched the work being done there and intend to return later this year. Great rolling terrain. Nothing like it in Chicago .

[Buck Wolter]

I grew up on Wakonda, so I'm sure I have blinders on about it.  But I have always thought it is one of those hidden, underestimated gems.  Nicely rolling land.  The best soil in the world, so great turf and trees.  Classic design.  A few blind shots, but not many in direct play.  US Am was there in, I believe, 1963.  Won by Deane Beaman.  The Americas Cup was  held first, and the USGA had the rough to their normal height.  Scores were very high because the USGA forgot the quality of the soil, which produced thick rough impossible to hit from.  The rough was cut back for the Am.
The course would be one of those outdated by technology, but very nice for the Senior guys.  Beautiful course.  People always underestimate the beauty of Iowa itself.

Jim,  great call on underestimating golf in Iowa. Coming from Beverly in Chicago I didn't expect to see a course that if properly restored and deforested could easily be top 100 Classic US. Cedar Rapids CC could be top 200 after their restoration by Prichard - I watched the work being done there and intend to return later this year. Great rolling terrain. Nothing like it in Chicago .

Waveland Muni in Des Moines has some similar terrain-- well worth a stop if you're in the area.

[Jim Hoak]

When I was  young, I loved golf.  I didn't realize till later that what I really loved were golf courses.
I read an article years ago that stuck with me on the elements of a great golf course.  The article said that the first element of a great course was to begin with a beautiful, naturally, gently rolling piece of land.  Not too sharp angles of land, not too high, but not flat either.  That was Wakonda.  One of the best natural sites I have seen in my life for a golf course--and covered by the most wonderful soil on the planet.
Wakonda is special--and I think it would be whether or it were wrapped in my formative years or not.  And, I agree, the Des Moines muni, Waveland, where we played high school golf (sometimes while it was snowing), is a similar piece of land.
People occasionally say to me, when I tell them I grew up in Iowa, that they had driven through the state and they remember the flatness.  I correct them and tell them they are thinking of Nebraska or Kansas--that Iowa is rolling farmland where everything grows.  Definitely not flat.  Great golf course land.

[RJ_Daley]

http://www.pgatour.com/champions/news/2013/04/10/wakonda-club-history.html

An interesting history of the club.  Did Jeff Brauer do some work there?  The bit about the environmental group protesting the tree thinning, only to be appeased"with planting hundreds more"  got my attention.   

[Tommy Williamsen]

I was in Des Moines this past week and got to Des Moines CC. I was amazed at the terrain.  Very hilly and two very good Pete Dye Courses.  I wanted to see Wakonda but didn't have the time. 

[Jeff_Brauer]

RJ,

I never did any work there, but am a big fan. I have never learned to post pics here, or at least the function seems to have never worked for this site on my computer, but I do have a JPEG of the original Langford routing if anyone wants to email me and post it here.

I think Dave Gill did the 18th green in the 70's, and Nugent did the 9th in 1984 after I left, and in conjunction with the clubhouse renovations.  A local landscape architect did a landscape plan and those ponds.  May have worked with Nugent on that as well.  In about 2000+ Roger Rulewich was there.   Not sure if it is ongoing or how much he did, but recall the 14th and fw bunkers on 11 being done when I looked at the place.

As  a result, only partial LM remains.

[Jeff Shelman]

This will be worth watching on TV.

I played Wakonda and Des Moines North on the same day last summer. I thought it was pretty good with a bunch of interesting holes/green complexes.

[Andrew Buck]

http://www.pgatour.com/champions/news/2013/04/10/wakonda-club-history.html

An interesting history of the club.  Did Jeff Brauer do some work there?  The bit about the environmental group protesting the tree thinning, only to be appeased"with planting hundreds more"  got my attention.   

Yeah, that's sad.  I also like that they had a resolution that men should wear shirts.

There was an AJGA even their annually in the early 1990's.  I remember it was a very good course, but definitely could use some tree thinning.  Actually, it was a much longer version of CC of Peoria, and after seeing how well CC of Peoria turned out when they removed several hundred trees, I'm sure that Wakonda would be even greater if you could open the views across some of the vistas on that property.

[Jason Topp]

As  a result, only partial LM remains.

With the caveat that I have not played there since 1984, I remember there was plenty of evidence of the gigantic bunkers LM built as well as those dramatic green complexes, particularly on the first few holes.  I wonder how good that course could be with a great restoration.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Jason,

There are many remnants, mostly grass bunkers on holes like 8.  I went out and measured the slopes, highs and lows, etc.  Really cool stuff.  1.5 to 1 bunker bank slopes, for anyone wondering......

[Shane Wright]

I was able to play Wakonda for the first time less than a week ago.  

As I've heard Pat Mucci state many times about many world beater golf courses, at Wakonda, I wanted to run right back to the first hole and play it again.  It is such a good golf course.  The tree management is very impressive.  The playing corridors are very wide.  The movement of the fairways is dramatic and the green sites are excellent.  I can't help but wonder if Wakonda was located in the Twin Cities or Chicago how much more recognition it would probably get.  

It is clear that many of the green sites are originals.  Many of them certainly felt like historical artifacts.

[Buck Wolter]

On the golf channel now for another hour tonight, 4-6 central over the weekend.

[Joe Bausch]

Here is the Langford routing that Jeff mentioned.  He was kind enough to send it to me and I'm hosting it on my server.  Jeff also tells me:

"From memory, the line drawing is the actual LM drawing, but someone at the club had the colorization done later."

The figure is 'clickable' leading to a very large size:

[Jason Topp]

The current holes all follow the old corridors.  2 is reversed from the drawing although the upper green is likely the same green as in the original drawing.