The photos below are of The Minikahda Club, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Minikahda Club is steeped in golfing history. It played host to the 1916 US Open, won by amateur Chick Evans. In 1927, Bobby Jones defended his US Amateur title with an 8 and 7 win over the same Mr. Evans. The Club has hosted three other USGA events, including a Women's Amateur in 1998 and Curtis Cup in 1998.
The course was designed in 1906 by Robert Foulis and Willie Watson. Donald Ross made major revisions in 1917. Other work on the course was done by Ralph Plummer (1962) and Mike Hurdzan (1990). Most recently, Ron Prichard undertook a significant restoration of the course in 2002-2003, restoring the greens to the orginal sizes as designed by Ross, restoring bunkers and, most important, removing hundreds of trees. The result is striking in my opinion, with many recovered pin positions and bunkering that is much much better. I think the course is beautifully routed by Ross on a rolling property where Ross nicely varied the siting of his greens, from the beautiful par 3 3rd, which sits in a hillside bowl, to the skyline par 5 9th to the downhill par 4 10th, and he used a couple of steep hills that bisect the course to good effect on the par 5 4th and short par 4 5th to create blindness on the second shot and tee shot, respectively. Unfortunately, highway construction robbed the club of several holes many years ago, and the final 4 holes detract from the overall aspect of the course.
The photos below are post-restoration July 2003. Apologies for the quality as I'm a neophyte with the digital camera. Thanks to Brad Swanson for his assistance and patience with the photos.
The par 3 3rd. Ross used his high to low to high design on this great par 3, and it's a wonderful greensite. The deep bunker greenside left front was restored, and as the next photo depicts Prichard restored the green to its original size so there are now terrific pinnable areas behind the left bunker. One can see the hill bisecting the par 5 4th in the background.
View from behind the 3rd green. Prichard restored the greens to their original size, and it shows here via the contrast between the darker new section and the lighter old section.
View from the fairway landing zone for tee shots on the par 5 4th. This hole again shows Ross's hand in using the hill to traverse the fairway, creating a blind second shot and lending much more interest to the hole. The fairway bunker in the hillside left is restored. This hill also bisects the short par 4 5th pictured below.
5 green from hill. This short par 4 demonstrates Ross's skill with short holes. One has many options--a drive with a mid iron to the top of the hill and this great look at the green from 100 yards or a blind drive that must miss the now-restored fairway bunker about 50 yards from the green on the right and generally must be properly placed to enable the second shot to hold the tiny, sloped, elevated and well-bunkered green. The greenside bunkering restoration here and elsewhere is excellen--deeper and reshaped.
7 tee Looking down the fairway on this 500 yard par 5 dogleg right, one can see Prichard's hand in removing trees that had encroached almost to where the new bunkers are, and the thinning he did to the rest of the tree grove to the right of the fairway.
7 green
The par 3 8th. This is Ross's long par 3, about 220 yards, to a large green. Prichard greatly improved this hole by recontouring the green, redoing the bunkers and adding a terrific chipping area behind the green from which players going long will have a myriad of options.
The view from about 80 yards short of the par 5 9th. This skyline green was beautifully located by Ross. One must not be timid here because shots hitting on the front of this green can end up at or beyond the spot where this photo was taken! Similarly, putts can roll off the front of the green to the same fate.
The long downhill 10th. Prichard restored the bunkering to the right of the fairway and the greenside bunkering was deepened and reshaped. A beautiful golf hole.
The approach to the 10th green. A running approach is possible but must be precise.
Greenside bunker to the right of the 10th green. Shortsiding is not a good result on this course due to the depth of the bunkers and the slope of the greens.
The par 3 11th. Again, bunkers were deepened and reshaped here. With this small and steeply sloped target, they are truly hazards.
View from the tee of the downhill par 5 13th. Prichard restored all of the bunkering you see here and removed a lot of trees along this hole.
Approach to the par 5 13th. Prichard removed a forest that resided behind this green, which opened up the golf course view considerably as one goes down the hill toward the green. He also doubled or tripled the size of this green, and it is now huge. Not sure if that's how Ross had it, but I suspect so.
