2015-10-06_PR Comm Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Out of the rough: Golf's exceptional year Great weather, renovations have helped the market rebound. By David Peterson Star Tribune SEPTEMBER 26, 2015 — 9:26PM Elizabeth FloresBeverly Collova took some practice swings before teeing off at the Keller Golf Course, Friday in Maplewood. Sensational weather in the spring and summer has Minnesota golf heading for perhaps the fastest year-over-year rebound in the nation, with growth running at 15 times the national average. Sensational spring and summer weather has Minnesota golf heading for perhaps the fastest year-over-year rebound in the nation. And there are other signs that a seeming decadelong death spiral is being reversed as courses — including many public tracks — scramble to punch their way out of the rough. Ramsey County’s historic Keller Golf Course is overrun with golfers after an award-winning renovation. Woodbury’s Eagle Valley has pulled out of a long tailspin after a country-club-esque clubhouse makeover. Chaska is luring crowds of nongolfers to dine in its clubhouse. Edina is building what is being billed as the area’s biggest driving range in a bid to bring back the bucks after a slow-motion collapse and a course closure. “It’s just a different world,” said Eden Prairie-based golf course architect Kevin Norby, who reports that his firm is having its best two years in a quarter-century. Much of the turnaround is just the flip side of the slide. A shakeout in which more than a dozen private and public courses closed in less than decade has strengthened some of the survivors. The most recent figures available for public and private golf this summer place Minnesota, and notably the Twin Cities, at or near the top nationally in growth in rounds played, compared to 2014.