Mike Nelson called it an accident. His friends called it crazy.Last spring, the golf course superintendent was playing in his Sunday night hockey league (against guys half his age) when an opponent's stick got lodged in the boards and caught Nelson's side, pole vaulting him off the ice. Ouch. The pa...

Anybody can fall in love with golf in the desert or on the coast. But try giving your heart to the game in Alaska.  Zac Gavlak, Mapletøn Golf Club's new General Manager, grew up swinging 4,000 miles north of the equator (and less than 2,000 miles from the North Pole). In Palmer, Alaska, seasons...

At first light, a black Silverado truck slows to a stop on Slip Up Road. Johnny Christiansen turns into the 210-acre dirt playground that will soon transform into one of America's best new golf courses. By 6 a.m., with the birds chirping overhead, the 62-year-old shaper fires up his D3 bulldozer, ig...

The history defies logic. How could so many epic golf courses originate in such a short span of time? Pine Valley, Pebble Beach. Cypress Point, Shinnecock Hills, Augusta National, Fishers Island, Los Angeles Country Club, Riviera, Winged Foot, Seminole, Crystal Downs, Cal Club, Shoreacres, San Franc...

Every great golf journey has its signature scenes. The moments in a four-hour round that prompt deep breaths, wide smiles and photos. Mapletøn Golf Club's prime views will be a great surprise to members, but one of the best spots — spoiler alert — is right where you start. From the back of the clubh...

The call came in October 2022. Trent Bruce didn't know the topic of Danny Amundson's meeting request, but he had a hunch. A decade earlier, the DGR engineer had lived next door to Amundson. He knew Amundson as a golf fanatic and a visionary. Now Amundson wanted DGR Engineering's help to execute a pl...

Lucas Schroder calls it a "sickness." Building a golf course from scratch may feel like a two-year marathon, but once you complete the mission? Once you finish that 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle? You can't wait to do it again. Schroder, a general superintendent for Landscapes Unlimited's world-class co...

A simple gravestone in Woodlawn Cemetery marks an extraordinary life. Ralph J. Scoular lived 95 years and nine months — 1925-2020. The left side of the rectangular stone illustrates his World War II service in the US Army Air Corps. The right side shows a Sioux Falls project to which he contributed ...

Tom Jansa knows the local golf landscape like his own family tree. The executive director of the South Dakota Golf Association has done it all: Managed golf courses. Designed and built courses. Coached golf teams and standouts. He's a steward of the sport. Recently Jansa visited the state's top dest...

Five miles from downtown Sioux Falls, on the bank of Slip Up Creek, a cow pasture eases out of winter. Snowdrifts melt into dormant native grass. Deer hurdle barbed-wire fences. Birds shriek from towering cottonwoods. Near a ramshackle farmhouse, 50 years abandoned, a landmark stands tall. A silo. T...