Two courses in Ran's next 50 that I don't know much about?

[Jason Topp]

Crazy that there's no sand in that bunker on 1.

It would make that hole more intriguing from the tee ( your 1st photo?)

Looks like it's mostly a directional bunker, so they possibly took out the sand to save $.

Morgan:

I am sure it was to save money but the grassed in bunkers are still tough and this hole is 435 yards, sharply uphill for the approach shot and through a chute of trees.  It is a beast without sand in the bunker so I can see how a membership would not be crying out for a restoration.  Nonetheless, it would be so cool if they restored.

[Dan Moore]

This is a somewhat older aerial which should help in discussing current holes. 



With respect to the bunker on 1 it is a directional bunker off the tee and well short of the green and not at all in play on the drive so would only impact play of a weaker player so that might also be a reason to grass it in. 

[Jason Topp]

How about that shared fairway on the right side? No way is it like that now?  What is that? The current 3rd and 4th? 2nd and 3rd?

Current 10 and 8.  No longer a shared fairway and a trees in between.

[Jason Topp]

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

Some highlights of the listed history (which also appears on the club website):

1922: Wakonda Club, a 6,959-yard, par-72 course designed by William B. Langford, is founded. . . .The formal opening of the clubhouse on Dec. 16 was apparently ‘a great event’, where diners were set upon by a band of Indian masqueraders who performed a war dance among the tables.
...
1930: An underground watering system (possibly the first in Iowa) was installed on the golf course... at a cost that exceeded $20,000.
1932: Wakonda was the only one of the private Des Moines clubs able to get a beer license.
...
1938: The Board of Directors passed a resolution that male golfers must wear shirts.
...
1944: The club files a petition in U. S. District Court for insolvency. It took four months to reorganize...
...
1994: Record flooding the previous summer results in a major renovation project for the entire waterway system on the club’s grounds over a 12-month period.

2001: A year for improvements included a resurfacing project for the entire parking lot as well as a newly constructed 5th green.

2002: Improvements on the golf course continued with a new 17th tee complex and 16th fairway.

2008: Some environmentalists and club members are unhappy that 98 fully-grown trees are removed from the property to allow more sunlight on new turf. Several hundred new trees are planted.

[Adam Clayman]

For some reason, the tree hugging in Des Moines is more fervent than anywhere else I've been. Waveland is a fine example of that.

[Jason Topp]

For some reason, the tree hugging in Des Moines is more fervent than anywhere else I've been. Waveland is a fine example of that.

Adam - I think you are right about that.  Having grown up there, I played many country courses that were converted farm fields with a single line of young trees dividing the fairways.  It was a treat to play a course with big trees and in my mind the trees distinguished a good golf course from the rest.  I do not know whether or not that mindset is/was widespread but it might explain the attitude. 

[Morgan Clawson]

You can see 12 of the "several hundred" saplings in Dan Moore's last photo on the left side of the picture.

Eventually a nice long view over the pond will become closed-off.  Too bad.

[Sven Nilsen]

Dragging up this old thread to see if anyone knows why the map copied below was dated 1918 when the course wasn't built until 1922?