Oak Hill and Eagle's Landing are 2 of Central Minnesota's best golf courses: Lieser
Jim Dahl and Roger Petersen are Central Minnesota entrepreneurs who started golf courses near Rice and Little Falls decades ago.
Oak Hill, south of Rice, opened in 1989 and Eagle’s Landing, north of Little Falls, opened in 2000. Both courses are successful operations located on busy highways that have served golfers especially well over the past three COVID-19-plagued years.
Dahl, 76, purchased all the shares from Petersen in 2016 and he now owns both courses. After a recent trip to Oak Hill, here are some observations that came from our conversation.
According to Dahl, COVID-19 was the best thing that happened to the bottom lines of golf courses since the emergence of Tiger Woods in the late 1990s. COVID increased the participation in golf since golf is played on wide open spaces where other sports venues were shut down or restricted.
COVID helped to rescue golf courses that were near financial ruin and it made them profitable the past three years. He added, “We did nearly 38,000 rounds last year at each course, and 90% of the rounds we did at Eagle’s Landing were daily green fees and at Oak Hill we have about 50% daily green fees.”
“Eagle’s Landing is at or near the top in Minnesota for rounds played on a public course," Dahl said. Much of that is a result of two things, he said, including being on a busy highway on the way to the “big buck” courses in the Brainerd Lake area and having the same price for golf and a cart every day.
This year's prices will be $45 at Eagle’s Landing and $42 at Oak Hill. Dahl went on to say as a result of increased revenue they will be able to make more changes at Oak Hill’s front nine.
"Last year we altered some things on our 6th hole as we took out 50 trees on the left side of the fairway, added and expanded some tee boxes and added a new bunker right of the green and berms on the left," Dahl said.
This year he has plans for the par-five second hole. The green on this 550-yard hole will be doubled in size with the green addition being expanded on the right. Berms will be added to both sides of the fairway and a bunker will be located in front of the green. These changes will add definition to the hole.
Finally, Dahl is going to build a new pro shop so that the dining area and the pro shop will have a distinct area. The club plans to expand the dining area since the food and beverage operations have boomed in the last few years.
More: St. Cloud golfer Bernadette 'Bernie' Brown reflects on the 50th anniversary of Title IX
Dahl has kept much of the day to day operations in the family. His son Nick is running Oak Hill and his other son, Josh, runs Eagle’s Landing. As Dahl quipped, “my wife Diane is the 'boss' of both operations.”
Dahl concluded that good people make a golf course run smoothly and he praises his two course superintendents and their staffs — Phil Poepping at Eagle’s Landing and Brian Timmer at Oak Hill. And who can forget Oak Hill’s factotum Mike Canfield, who is the personable course ranger and ambassador who keeps play moving with sternness combined with wit, charm and tact.
For the 350 members at Oak Hill and for the 150 members at Eagle’s Landing, Dahl, his family and employees have developed two course that are some of the finest in Central Minnesota. Give the courses a try this spring.
Golf notes
If any reader wants to enter a lottery to watch in person the 2023 Masters in Georgia, here are the steps. First, go to the website tickets.masters.com. Fill out the application and/or create and account, one application per person. An applicant must be 21.
Practice rounds are $75 per the days of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The application must be completed by June 21. An applicant will be notified in mid-July if you won the lottery. Good luck!
Grantland Rice, the most prolific and popular sportswriter of his day, wrote an estimated 67 million words in his 53-year career. In 1925, when other newspaper writers were happy with a weekly salary of $50, Rice was making $1,000 a week, about the same as Babe Ruth. Rice’s favorite sport was golf. He wrote, “golf is 20% mechanics and technique. The other is philosophy, humor, tragedy, romance, melodrama, companionship, camaraderie, cussedness and conversation.” Amen!
Mitch Gothier is the new store manager at Austad’s in St. Cloud. He replaced Nate Koeck, who left to be a sales representative for Srixon-Cleveland-XXIO, the clubs used by Ernie Els.
The Albany Golf Club and the Skalicky family hosted a “Remembering Norm” outing on April 30. Norm Skalicky (1934-1921), was a member of the club and purchased a majority interest in the Stearns County Bank in 1964. Skalicky’s four children include Cheryl, Jan, Jeff and the youngest child Kelly. As Kelly said, “each one of us kids spent a lot of time at the Albany Golf Club with our dad. His mantra 'get the job done' infused all of us with entrepreneurial spirit and a culture of success. It’s our goal to continue building his legacy.”
Rich Aulie, executive secretary of the Minnesota State High School League Golf Coaches’ Association, announced the Hall of Fame inductees for 2022. The two new members are Vern Strandemo of Mahnomen and Pam Schmillen of Chaska. Kudos!
Former ROCORI boys’ golf coach Brian Schmucker has returned to Minnesota after residing seven years near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Schmucker was a club fitter at the Pinehurst courses and is now doing Callaway club fitting at the PGA Superstore in Minnetonka. His daughter Amy won two MSHSL state championships for ROCORI and graduated from the University of Michigan. Schmucker and his wife Catherine live in Chaska and are members at Olympic Hills GC in Eden Prairie. Olympic Hills GC will host the 119th MGA Men’s Amateur July 18-20.
— This is the opinion of Times golf columnist John Lieser. Contact him at Jgl1943@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Oak Hill and Eagle's Landing are great Central Minnesota golf courses
