Greetings from the cold and snowy north. I have not posted anything in quite some time but thought I would provide everyone an update on Sutton Bay. There have been many discussions in the past about the course, the club, the issues we have had with our land, etc. I will try and give everyone the facts so as we get into the 2013 season there will be no confusion as to what has been done and where we are today.
We open May 15th this year and when we open we will be doing so with a completely new 18 hole golf course designed by Graham Marsh. The ownership group, in the early spring of 2011 decided that is was necessary to build a new golf course as we were not winning the battle with Mother Nature and the land shifts on the original course just continued to get worse. The owners felt it was their responsibility to provide the members with a world class golf course because that is what we told all of our members we would have. Thus, we built the new course and a new halfway house (Swampy's Shack) without doing any sort of an assessment to the membership. The project was about $4 million to complete and we are going to build a complete practice facility this year very near the new course so that our members will have a place to work on their short games as well as pound balls. This project was completely funded by the ownership group of Sutton Bay.
This was not an easy decision as we were all vested in the original course and the uniqueness and quality of golf it offered our members and their guests. However, as the slips progressed the quality of golf was diminished to a point we had no choice. None of us wanted this to happen nor did any of us ever think that we would build a new golf course and have it open for play within 11 years of opening the club. You can ask all the questions you want about why it happened. The constant changing levels on Lake Oahe played a part, the fact that the land where the golf course sat was prehistoric "rubble" played a part, and the irrigation of the golf course played a part. Nobody could have foreseen the rate at which the shifts took place and sometime you have to just come to the conclusion "shit happens", deal with it and move on. Move on we have, and we and all of our members are excited about the future of golf at Sutton Bay. By the way, the club had its best year in 2011 followed by its best year in 2012, even with the golf course issues, thus solidifying in our minds that Sutton Bay is a private destination club that offers golf, hunting, fishing, lodging, great food, and many other activities and amenities.
Graham Marsh designed the new course on the mesa above the original course and Landscapes Unlimited constructed the new course. The design was intended to retain some of the features of the original course and also take advantage of the opportunity to "build" a new course as opposed to "finding" a course as we did originally. We moved about 250,000 cubic yards of earth to create the new course but it feels very natural. The front nine retained the feature of an "out and back" nine where the first 5 holes run to the north and the last 4 run back to the south. The back nine holes run in all 4 primary compass directions and take advantage of the natural elevation changes and the uniqueness of the prairie. There are extraordinary lake views from many of the holes as well as new sweeping views of the prairie and of the clubhouse. The course is very walkable which the first one was not. The course has no rocks on it as opposed to the original course having millions. The new course has 360 degree views whereas the old course was limited in the directions you could see. The new course is designed in such a manner that the ground game is in play, and in fact, the green surrounds are planted in fescue so we can maintain the grass in such a manner that you can putt from 20-30 yards or further off the green. The new halfway house is truly a halfway house and sits in a place that offers a spectacular view and the 18th finishes just below it. There is a drivable par 4 on each nine, there is a long par 3 on each nine, there is a wide variety of lengths of par 4's and par 5's, and depending on the wind, some will play like the other certain days. The original course was very challenging off the tee and many players lost a large number of golf balls throughout the round. The new course offers plenty of room and has less elevation change which enables people to keep the ball in play more easily. The old course had greens with tilt but not a great deal of undulation, the new course, because it is built on a more level piece of ground, has many more undulations in the greens and the green surrounds. All of these things in total will offer our members and their guests a fun golfing experience and at the same time will offer the low handicap player a challenge.
We opened 9 holes of the new course this past July and 3 more holes in early September. The final 6 holes will open for play when we open on May 15th this year. As with all new courses there are areas that need more attention and will take some time to get grown in so that we have high quality playing conditions. The greens are already in excellent condition and were running 11-12 last fall and were fairly receptive to shots. The entire course was aerified and top dressed this past fall which will help immensely this year. The biggest challenge we have in front of us will be establishing the native grasses in the areas where we had to plant them. 2012 was the driest summer in the history of South Dakota thus making it impossible to establish all the native areas as we would have liked. Realistically it will take 2-4 years to get all the native established the way we want but the low mow blue fairways and tees, fescue surrounds, and T1/Alpha greens should be in very good condition this year.
I would welcome discussion about the process and will be very up front with everyone with my answers. I will post a few pictures of the new course that will at least give you a flavor of what the new course looks like and the challenges it has to offer those who tee it up. I confess that I do not know how to post pictures to this site so if someone could submit a simple set of directions I will post 5-6 pictures.
For those of you who like to travel, and I know many of you do, I would welcome you to call or email me (605-359-6911 cell or 605-264-5530 office, email - mamundson@suttonbay.com) and I will try and work with you to find a time to visit Sutton Bay this year and play the new course. I hope this post will answer some of your questions and stir up some questions and discussions in the coming weeks.
Regards: Mark Amundson