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