A few weeks back I played a twilight round at Highland National in St. Paul for a grand total of $20. My friend and I managed to get in 18 holes just as darkness fell on the course with the Snoopy bunker.

I haven’t played the course in a few years, but overall, I still feel the changes that were made by Paul Miller and Garrett Gill in the big re-design were a success. Not everyone agrees, but the course was pretty full for a weekday afternoon. The starter said rounds played this spring are up and they are happy with the design.

A little follow-up work is in progress: the putting green was re-built and the first and tenth tees have been modified slightly. I also heard that someone dumped a few goldfish in one of the new drainage ponds and now they are everywhere.

While we weren’t able to make it on site for this year’s Minnesota State High School League golf championships, here are the top three finishers in each of the events:

Class AAA, Bunker Hills, June 2-3, 2009 (Full Results – Girls | Boys)

Girls Team

• 1, Lakeville North, 83-85-88-96, 80-82-86-92, 692
• 2, Woodbury, 85-87-88-93, 80-83-86-91, 693
• 3, Edina, 80-90-93-95, 78-84-87-89, 696

Girls Individual

• 1, Betsy Kelly, Junior, Forest Lake, 77-74-151 (+7)
• 2, Steffi Neisen, Junior, New Prague, 78- 77-155 (+11)
• T3, Gretchen Huhnerkoch, Senior, Burnsville, 75-82-157 (+13)
• T3, Sara Detlefsen, Freshman, Eastview, Apple Valley, 80-77-157 (+13)

Boys Team

• 1, Wayzata, 75-77-77-78, 71-71-78-79, 606
• 2, Forest Lake, 76-77-77-80, 71-75-76-79, 611
• 3, Eden Prairie, 75-76-76-78, 75-77-78-82, 617

Boys Individual

• T1, Joe Petrulo, Senior, Eastview, Apple Valley, 71-77-148 (+4)
• T1, Paul Moberg, Senior, Forest Lake, 77-71-148 (+4)
• T3, Blake Vettel, Senior, Wayzata, 78-71-149 (+5)
• T3, Ty Liljander, Junior, Cambridge-Isanti, 72-77-149 (+5)

Class AA, Ridges at Sand Creek, June 3-4, 2009 (Full Results – Girls | Boys)

Girls Team

• 1, Minnewaska, 74-75-76-79-83-97, 72-73-75-86-90-104, 610
• 2, Red Wing, 82-85-88-90-90-91, 79-83-84-86-88-94, 677
• 3, Crookston, 85-86-90-92-99-105, 86-90-91-99-102-115, 719

Girls Individual

• 1, Emily Roering, Minnewaska, Senior, 74-72-146 (+2)
• 2, Allie Ostrander, Minnewaska, Junior, 75-73-148 (+4)
• 3, Cydney Hasselberg, Staples-Motley, Senior, 73-77-150 (+6)

Boys Team

• 1, Orono, 72-78-79-79-80-82, 73-74-75-77-78-79, 607
• 2, Hermantown, 75-78-79-80-84-86, 74-75-77-80-80-80, 618
• 3, Rochester Lourdes, 74-78-80-82-83-88, 74-80-81-82-83-84, 631

Boys Individual

• 1, Mark Giorgi, Red Wing, Senior, 71-74-145 (+1)
• 2, Patrick Johnston, Orono, Sophomore, 72-74-146 (+2)
• 3, Nathan Hoefflin, St. Cloud Cathedral, Senior, 76-72-148 (+4)

Class A, Pebble Creek, June 3-4, 2009 (Full Results – Girls | Boys)

Girls Team

• 1, Mounds Park Academy, 85-87-89-95-97-98, 76-87-90-91-101-115, 700
• 2, Mahnomen, 91-96-96-114-115-138, 89-90-97-105-116-136, 778
• 3, Lanesboro, 96-97-101-104-109-120, 89-100-103-109-112-115, 799

Girls Individual

• 1, Anna Maria Tarazona, Madelia, Senior, 77-77-154 (+10)
• 2, Sarah Utz, Providence Academy, Senior, 78-79-157 (+13)
• 3, Natalie Lansing, Mounds Park Academy, Senior, 89-76-165 (+21)

Boys Team

• 1, Rushford-Peterson, 75-79-81-84-87-88, 79-84-86-87-88-91, 655
• 2, Hawley, 77-82-83-86-88-97, 81-83-84-84-91-93, 660
• 3, Springfield/Comfrey, 74-85-87-88-92-105, 70-86-86-89-92-94, 665

Boys Individual

• 1, Dillon Schultz, Springfield/Comfrey, Sophomore, 74-70-144 (E)
• T2, Conner Christoff, Providence Academy, Senior, 70-81-151 (+7)
• T2, Will Lage, Mounds Park Academy, Senior, 73-78-151 (+7)

Congratulations to all of the participants!

Colleen and I attended an open house for our friend and attorney Kevin Johnson last week at the ASI Jet Center in Eden Prairie. His firm, Fafinski Mark & Johnson, is celebrating ten years in business this year.

I first met Kevin while working as a credit manager at Northwest Airlines. He worked in the law department there, before heading to a firm in downtown Minneapolis. Shortly after that, he joined Bob Fafinski and Donald Mark to create their own firm in Eden Prairie. Kevin served as my corporate attorney for Golden Links Publishing and 7 Minute Miles, Inc. and also helped me when I left NWA.

Kevin writes some of the best lawyerly letters I’ve ever read and continues to focus his practice on the aviation field (although I think he’d be great on anything). His firm has prospered during these past ten years and it looks like FMJ is now up to 28 attorneys. If you are looking for a good lawyer, I highly recommend contacting them.

The party was great: five or six planes in the hanger (including a Citation CJ1 business jet that you could walk through), cool lighting that changed colors every few minutes, an open bar, delicious catering by David Fhima’s Zahtar, an awesome ice sculpture in the shape of their logo, wonderful conversation and nice customer appreciation gifts (wine bottles and USB key drives).

Congrats Kevin – you deserve it!

Theodore Wirth Golf Club is changing. Last year was a remodel of the outside of the clubhouse. This year, it was a remodel of the inside. Throw in some nice service enhancements and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has a pretty nice product on their hands.

We knew something was up when we drove into the parking lot and an employee pulled up in a cart asking if we wanted our bags driven to the clubhouse. That’s never happened before. Also new were the friendly (and effective) on-course rangers that kept play moving on both nines – without being rude.

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Last night we visited Canterbury Park in Shakopee to celebrate our friend Gina’s birthday. Our group had two reserved tables on the upper level just off the finish line. I’ve never been up there before and I thought it was really nice – table service and bet runners meant you never had to leave for anything all night, if you didn’t want to.

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