The new clubhouse at the Dave Tentis-designed Tanners Brook Golf Club in Forest Lake will be ready to open in about a month. Workers were very busy when we stopped in on our way back from the MGA Mixed Team Championship. The ground floor of the barn continues to serve as the temporary clubhouse until construction is complete.
Golfing in Minnesota will return later this season to bring you more news from Tanners Brook when the new clubhouse is open for business.
Jim and Donna Turner of Brackett’s Crossing won the Husband/Wife Division in the MGA’s 17th Mixed Team Championship for the second year in a row Thursday at Forest Hills Golf Club in Forest Lake. Their 70-67-137 was six shots better than the runner-up team of Dave and Claudia Pilot.
In the Mixed Team Division, Mark Aldrich and his sister Betsy Aldrich shot a 69 Thursday to finish the regulation portion of the competition in a three-way tie for first place at 134. They won a playoff with a birdie on the third extra hole.
Ross Hammann and Olivia Lansing followed an opening round of 66 with a 68 for their 134. This was the second time in nine days that Lansing has nearly won an MGA crown. She combined with Chelsea Gannon to take second place in the Minnesota Women’s Four-Ball Championship last week.
Finishing third were John Anderson and Hillary Gerster of Bunker Hills (68-66-134).
Full results can be found on the MGA website.
UPDATE: Corrected club affiliation of Jim and Donna Turner.
FORE! Minnesota, on Saturday, June 30, 2007 (9 am on KSTC-45):
Our coverage yesterday of the Junior Girls’ State Championship was also my first visit to Windsong Farm Golf Club, currently ranked the fifth best course in the state by Golf Digest. This John Fought/Tom Lehman design opened in 2003 to rave reviews. This same design pairing opened Somerby the next year outside Rochester, which I recently played with Greg Peterson.
Like I mentioned in my Somerby course notes, I love the work that John Fought has done, especially his projects with Bob Cupp. While I didn’t play Windsong yesterday, I walked most of the front nine and a few of the other holes as well.
My initial reaction is that while there are some holes that seem somewhat ordinary, there are also some incredible standouts that I think should be counted among the best in the country (the 340 yard par-4 third hole that was featured among Tad Reeve’s Dream 18 and the 550 yard par-5 eighteenth were both visually stunning).
Their website has interesting information on the Windsong Farm founding principles and club customs. I could tell that this club was a little different from your ordinary golf course by the Titleist Pro V1x range balls (complete with “RANGE” and “WINDSONG” stamps on them) and the zen-garden-like crushed rock paths between the very Midwestern-style pro shop, clubhouse and locker room buildings.
One last note: as Phalen Park’s Nora McGuire mentioned to me, Windsong is quite a haul from St. Paul (she was there officiating for the junior tournament). Located in Maple Plain directly across highway six from Pioneer Creek Golf Course, it takes about 30 minutes to reach downtown Minneapolis via highways six, twelve and I-394.
With MSHSL Class A champion Katie Detlefsen not in the field, St. Cloud Apollo’s Samantha Sommers was on her own. The Class AA champion beat the field by 14 strokes today to win the 62nd Minnesota Junior Girls’ State Championship at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Maple Plain. Her 73-69-142 (E) on the 5,729-yard John Fought/Tom Lehman course blew away the field under hot and humid conditions.
Here are the top 10 finishers in the Championship flight:
Photos from the event can be found in the 7MM Photo Gallery.
Jerry Zgoda is the latest Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter to get the blog treatment:
Jerry Zgoda is the Star Tribune’s golf writer as well as a handicapped golfer (fundamentally flawed swing mostly) whose notebook shorthand, even if nobody else on the planet can read it, is far superior to his short game. Join Jerry all summer long and share your thoughts about the world of golf, near and far.
The past few weeks I’ve been inspired by the TV show (and the ad campaign) that talk about things to do before you die. I’ve been very privileged to do the things I’ve done up to this point and would die a happy man right now, but it’s been fun thinking up new things to do.
I’ve added a new box to the top of the home page that displays a random list item each time the page is loaded. Also, the sidebar now lists my personal best times at various running distances. I plan to work on lowering these in the next few years as I pursue the list item “Qualify for Boston.”
Maybe I’ll make that namesake goal of seven minutes miles after all…
The talented Minnesota-based golf photographer Peter Wong is featured in a new Minnesota tourism campaign I saw on TV this afternoon.
The Explore Minnesota website has a section called My Favorite Minnesota with a golf link on top that displays a nice section on Peter, samples of his work, his favorite Minnesota courses and a fun video.
Here are Peter’s 18 Favorite Picture Perfect Golf Courses in Minnesota:
On our way back from Fortune Bay, we drove through Eveleth past the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. With all of the talk about it closing or moving, we weren’t sure if it was still open. Their website says it’s closed and the parking lot only had one car in it. Good thing we actually stopped to check–they are open and will apparently stay in that location.
We paid our admission fees ($8 for adults?) and had the place to ourselves. There was a ton of great stuff to see there for hockey fans–I’ve uploaded some pictures to the photo gallery here.
My favorite thing was the mock rink and goal they had on the third floor with real sticks and pucks. I’m pretty sure I’ve never shot a real puck before–makes me want to take skating lessons all the more now.
If you are in the area and like hockey, stop in and support this great museum.
Almost forgot to post this picture…
When I was at Izatys a few weeks ago to cover the state golf tournament, I saw this guy buzz my head a few times. He was hiding behind this tree branch and flew away when I tried to get a better view.
My wife decided it was a red-headed woodpecker, which appear to be somewhat rare in these parts now.
Fun to see–very vibrant and distinct colors…
FORE! Minnesota, on Saturday, June 23, 2007 (9 am on KSTC-45):
This afternoon we took the girls to tour the Soudan Underground Mine State Park in northern Minnesota. We took both tours offered: the historic tour and the physics tour.
Both involve taking a cage tram down a half-mile shaft (2341 feet down, 689 feet below sea level) at a top speed of 10mph (that felt much faster). You could fit about ten people in each cage and I was a bit claustrophobic during all four rides.
The mine was in operation from the late 1800s until 1962, when it was donated to the State of Minnesota. The historical tour was fun–it reminded me of all those childhood trips to Knott’s Berry Farm and the Mine Train Ride. The reality of working in a mine during this period must have truly been awful. Makes my work issues seem easy by comparison.
The physics tour had my head spinning. The University of Minnesota has a $150 million laboratory on that same level of the mine as the historical tour–one of several labs that have been used over the years.
The large one we got to see (pictured above) houses an experiment called Minos (Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search). This thing is basically a gigantic magnet that tries to capture neutrinos sent from Fermilab outside of Chicago (450 miles away). You can watch the live data capture here (screen explanation here). They only get one or two successful captures a day.
They also have another lab with an experiment called CDMS (Cryogenic Dark Matter Search) that maintains an environment near absolute zero, but we did not get to see that area. It amazes me that everything in those labs had to be brought down the same narrow mine shafts that we took to get down there.
Very, very cool nerd toys set among old steel history…
I spent the past two days playing the multiple-award-winning Wilderness at Fortune Bay course in Tower, Minnesota. The weather both days was mixed–rain, wind, sun, hot, cold–typical northern Minnesota variety, I guess.
The difference between the blue tees and the white tees is substantial (6772 versus 6147). I played the longer tees the first day and the shorter ones today. My score wasn’t all that different, but it does make a big difference on a few holes.
The course was in decent shape, but the rain made it very soggy and they top-dressed the greens during my early morning round today.
We had a play and stay package, but it turns out you don’t save very much on your rounds. Lots of issues with the hotel as well–they are adding 58 rooms and there is too much construction noise. Add in the relatively thin walls to begin with and we ended up having to move rooms.
Yesterday we drove the twisty Minnesota state highway 1 from the north shore through Ely to Tower and the Fortune Bay Resort on Lake Vermilion. I had a 2pm tee time on the Wilderness course, while the girls spent most of the evening in the swimming pool. We had dinner in the casino cafe, which makes a mean batch of cheese curds.
The hotel is adding 58 rooms and we had an older room right next to the action. We moved rooms today, so hopefully this one will be better. I played another round this morning at 8am, the girls are at the Heritage Center now and we leave for two different Soudan Mine tours in an hour. More video poker action tonight (I’m down $8) and then we head home tomorrow.
Here are the items I submitted to Apple this year as feedback on the conference:
Good Stuff
Suggestions
Overall, I was happy by the end of the week (after a not-so-great start). The keynote may have been a candidate for “Worst-Keynote-Ever,” but mostly it just lacked the wow factor so common in Steve’s best. Leopard will be great, but the timing of the new release for education is just plain awful. And I tend to agree with those who are still looking for a real iPhone SDK (although we should be able to do some cool things until iPhone 2).
The Saturday leaders were all chasing the early clubhouse leader, amateur and Stanford NCAA Division I Champion Jamie Lovemark, who stormed up the leaderboard by shooting a 7-under-par 65 Sunday. Chris Riley caught him though, forcing a playoff that went two holes.
Both players parred the par-5 eighteenth hole, while Riley’s par on the par-3 seventeenth was enough to earn him the victory and a $90,000 winner’s check (which I guess he’d get either way, eh?).
Edinburgh USA pro Don Berry shot 69-69-73-70-281 (-7) for the tournament, which earned him a tie for 37th.
Made it to Grand Marais yesterday to pick up the girls. I skipped out on covering the Nationwide event outside of Rochester when I found out there was a rain delay, so we basically drove non-stop to see the girls.
We ate at Sven and Ole’s for dinner, although in hindsight, I would have gone to Chez Jude (from my seven in ’07 dining list). Turns out they are only open Tuesdays through Saturdays, so I missed my window there. Pizza at Sven and Ole’s is always good though.
For Father’s Day, I wanted to sleep in, eat chocolate-covered donuts from the World’s Best Donut Shop, eat at Chez Jude (oh well), play nine holes of golf with the kids at the Grand Marais nine-hole course, then head to the Grand Portage casino with my dad. It rained most of the day, so golf was also out.
The girls got me a couple of books–one on Everest and one on Isle Royale. We ended up eating lunch at the Angry Trout Cafe, where I tried something other than fish for the first time. The grilled chicken sandwich was very sloppy, but tasted good. Not sure where we are headed for dinner tonight…
Nice last day in San Francisco today. Most of my sessions today were focused on the issues I have with the new school in Los Angeles. The quality of sessions today restored my confidence in WWDC–up until today, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to come back next year. Now, I’ll have to re-think that decision.
We walked over to a new restaurant I’ve wanted to eat at for two years, Zuni Cafe at 1658 Market Street. They were crowded, but we lucked out yet again and got a nice table near the bar and right next to the window.
Zuni reminded me of both Barbette and Vincent in Minneapolis, with a little bit of St. Paul’s Heartland thrown in. They locally source most of their ingredients and the quality was really high. I ordered a fancy hamburger with gruyre cheese and super skinny fries, while Jake had a huge pork chop. Luckily, our orders came just before smoke started billowing out of the manhole cover down the street and they lost power and hot water to the kitchen. Pricey, but very, very good.
My last session is just finishing up and WWDC07 will be done. Our red-eye flight on Sun Country doesn’t leave until 12:40am Pacific time, so we are planning to eat dinner near Moscone, catch 28 Weeks Later at Metreon, then head out to the airport. Arrive home at 6am, drive to Somerby to cover the Nationwide event, then up to Grand Marais Saturday night. Must. Sleep. Soon.
Edinburgh USA professional Don Berry made the cut at the Nationwide Tour’s Showdown at Somerby in Byron. He followed his first-round 69 (-3) with another 69 to place him in a tie for 24th–two strokes better than the -4 cut line. Golfing in Minnesota will be on site for Saturday’s round–watch for photos in our tournament gallery this weekend.
UPDATE: Due to the Saturday morning weather delay, we will not be able to provide photos of this year’s event.
At Oakmont, Minnesotan Mike Berg started his second round on the wrong foot, quadruple-bogeying the 435 yard par-4 tenth hole. He rebounded to birdie the par-3 thirteenth and par-4 third holes, however, on his way to a 75. His T114, 81-75-156 (+16) was only six shots away from the final cut of +10.
Congratulations Don and Mike!
Tonight was the “Campus” Beer Bash at WWDC–now moved from the Apple Campus to Yerba Buena Gardens atop Moscone Center. I wasn’t sure I’d like not being in Cupertino, but I sure didn’t miss the bus ride down and back. Overall, I think it was a good move.
We snuck in the back way and didn’t have to wait in line for food. They had tables set up by regions of the world, including Japan, China, Italy and Mexico. Lots of drink servers, a few ice cream carts and several desert tables equaled (or maybe exceeded) the catering options of beer bashes of old.
The musical entertainment turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The past few years have been major let-downs, especially considering the clout Apple now has in the music business. This year’s act, Ozomatli, was featured in one of the iPod ads. I’m glad we stayed for their set, as they were energetic, talented and fun. As they apparently do at many shows, they ended their set by parading through the audience playing, singing and interacting with the crowd.
Earlier in the day, we had lunch at House of Nanking in Chinatown. We ate there last year and it was well worth the mile walk up Kearney Street to this award-winning restaurant. We lucked out yet again–no wait and we got a great table by the window. Jake and I both had sesame chicken and enjoyed seeing the owner being his usual crabby self.
WWDC 2007 (also know as SausageFest) wraps up tomorrow.
Lots of action to watch today: Michael Berg at the U.S. Open and first-round play at the Showdown at Somerby in Byron. Here are some direct links:
Showdown at Somerby Live Leaderboard
UPDATE: Berg finished his round with an 81 (+11), two shots better than his 2003 U.S. Amateur performance.
FORE! Minnesota, on Saturday, June 16, 2007 (9 am on KSTC-45):
This afternoon we left WWDC early and headed out to Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco for a twilight round. The non-resident rates have been increased significantly since the American Express World Championships were held there in 2005, so we elected to wait until 5pm when the cheaper rates kicked in. We ate at the new clubhouse before the round, where I ordered fish and chips that were hot and fresh.
I was a little rusty out of the gate, but had a chip-in birdie later in the round and finished with an 89. We played the 18th hole in the dark, but did get the round in by hustling at the end and pushing the slower groups in front of us.
I felt like a superstar after the round–the driver our hotel arranged for us arrived right on time in a shiny black Mercedes. He was very polite (calling me “sir” is just too cool) and had bottles of water for us. Great end to a great afternoon of golf.
This morning Jake and I had breakfast at Sears Fine Food, located at 439 Powell Street in downtown San Francisco. Open since 1938, they claim to be “world famous for little pancakes.” Couldn’t pass that one up, so we both ordered 18 silver dollar-sized Swedish pancackes with bacon. Very tasty, with great service and atmosphere. We didn’t even have to wait in line and got a perfect table right by the front window. Recommended.
The July 2007 issue of Golf Digest ranks their Top 40 Casino Golf Courses and three Minnesota courses have made the grade.
At number two is Jeffrey Brauer’s The Wilderness at Fortune Bay in Tower, which we will be visiting next week to play and take pictures for the photo gallery.
In a tie for 15th is the Rees Jones-designed Dacotah Ridge Golf Club in Morton, associated with Jackpot Junction Casino.
The Garrett Gill/Paul Miller Meadows at Mystic Lake course in Prior Lake was tied for 21st.
Congratulations to these three great facilities!
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