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