Here's a story from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal that posted online today.
Cragun's Resort in Brainerd is spending $10 million to overhaul its two 18-hole championship golf courses and add another nine holes, said General Manager
Eric Peterson.
Renovations include reducing the area covered by bunkers by half, from about 330,000 square feet to roughly 165,000 square feet. The remaining bunkers will be in more strategic locations with white sand. A few holes will be completely different, some will get new green complexes, and several additional tee boxes will be added to make the course longer, but also easier for the average golfer.
The new nine-hole course will include a housing development down the road.
The project should be in good hands.
Tom Lehman, Minnesota's most accomplished professional golfer, and his architecture firm, Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Lehman Design Group Inc., are the architects for the project.
The resort has been debating the renovation and expansion for years and finally decided to move forward, in part because the courses are about 25 years old and ready for a refresh, Peterson said. The resort's sales of stay-and-play packages are up about 140% from 2010 to 2019, too.
"We're looking at this as an opportunity to re-launch Cragun's golf," Peterson said. "We expect to have the best golf complex within Minnesota."
The resort will have 27 holes available at all times during the expansion and renovation since its tackling 18 holes at a time rather than doing everything at once. Cragun's won't touch its nine-hole executive par 3 course.
Work will start in the coming weeks and be finished by the middle of 2023.
Lehman said the two 18-hole courses are similar in style and play, and the goal is make them each unique.
"We want to give each golf course their own identity," he said. "In some places, that means fixing the greens. They have these big berms that force every ball into the same spot in the fairway. It's filled with divots." Lehman said the renovation will remove the berms while widening fairways so more shots land in different spots.
The $10 million price tag is in addition to the $20 million the resort is spending on a remodel and renovation of its other facilities, Peterson said.