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):

• Course Tour: Gopher Hills (Cannon Falls, MN)
• Great Moments in MN Golf: US Open 1991 (Payne Stewart)
• Stories of Golf: Shjon Podein (Team 25 Children’s Foundation)
• Tad Reeve’s Dream 18: Edinburgh USA #17
• Pro Strategies: Mark Dolan (Albion Ridges)

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.

7MM Windsong Farm Photo Gallery

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:

• 1, Samantha Sommers, 73-69-142 (E)
• 2, Katie Bolling, Hillcrest GC, 78-78-156 (+14)
• 3, Steffi Neisen, New Prague GC, 82-75-157 (+15)
• T4, Gretchen Huhnerkoch, University, 77-82-159 (+17)
• T4, Elizabeth Carl, Mendakota CC, 81-78-159 (+17)
• T6, Julie Pouliquen, Bearpath G&CC, 84-76-160 (+18)
• T6, Natalie Samb, University GC, 82-78-160 (+18)
• T6, Ali Nelson, Village Green GC, 80-80-160 (+18)
• T6, Devon Harteneck, Lake City GC, 77-83-160 (+18)
• T10, Aubrie Nelson, Edina CC, 80-81-161 (+19)
• T10, Maggie Leland, Alexandria GC, 81-80-161 (+19)

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.

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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…