The lost golf course books, and more

Website and blog by Joe Bissen, author of the books “Fore! Gone. Minnesota’s Lost Golf Courses, 1897-1999” and “More! Gone. Minnesota’s Lost Golf Courses, Part II.” My books bring to life many of the more than 240 golf courses that have disappeared from the state’s landscape. Featuring photos by Peter Wong, Minnesota’s premier golf photographer. Both are available on Amazon.com and BN.com (Barnes & Noble).

Come back for more news about the book, tidbits about Minnesota’s lost golf courses, miscellany and oh, I don’t know, ruminations about the uncanny similarity between Shane Lowry’s apparent exercise regimen and mine.

33 thoughts on “The lost golf course books, and more

  1. Joe:

    How and or where can I buy the book? I reside in Kentucky however, I grew up in Duluth…about 500 yds over the hill from Enger Park.
    Thank you,
    Mike Peterson

    1. Mike, thanks for the inquiry. I spent 15 years in Duluth, and Enger Park was my old stomping grounds. I miss the place.
      I hope to have the book in print by November or early December. I’m guessing there will be information on pre-ordering within about a month.
      However, there is a way to essentially pre-order the book at a slight discount. I have a fundraising campaign going on Kickstarter.com, with various pledge levels offering various rewards. The pledge commitment doesn’t go into effect unless and until I reach my fundraising goal.
      There is info elsewhere on this blog to get you to the Kickstarter site, or go here:
      http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1578228330/fore-gone-minnesotas-lost-golf-courses-1897-1999
      Thanks!

  2. My brother bought this for my mom as a Christmas gift. I can’t wait to see it. I, along with my brother, and many high school friends worked at Joyners Brooklyn Park Golf in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Mr. and Mrs. Joyner were great people to work for. I am sure you captured the essence of Mr. Joyner and the course in the chapter on him. Not many high school kids can say they worked the concessions, “pro shop,” tee times, mowed the greens, managed the range, gave lessons, handled irrigation, and chased trespassers off the property in a circa 1970’s Cushman all within the same week of work.

  3. Joe, I just purchased your book for my husband. I’m trying not to read it too much before I give it to him. I checked whether our library was carrying your book and typed Fore! into the search box. It returned “Fore!” which was printed by Augsburg Publishing House in 1929. It’s 82 sketches of Minneapolis golfers — a lot of them from Minikahda and Interlachen. Have you seen it? It’s at the Minneapolis Public Library.

    1. Thanks for buying the book. I hope your husband enjoys it. (You could always buy a second book for yourself — OK, probably not practical.)
      Interesting note on the old Minneapolis golf book. I hadn’t heard of it; I’ll have to check it out. The Minikahda-Interlachen connection is worth checking into, because some of the members pictured in the book likely matriculated from Bryn Mawr, which is a chapter in the book.

  4. Dear Joe,

    Thanks for the great book. I learned to play golf in the early 1970s at Orono Golf and the Warroad golf course to which you refer near the end of your book.

    The Warroad course was 9 holes and, as you point out, had sand greens. Each green had a lead-pipe rake to smooth the sand. There was no clubhouse or building of any kind; instead, there was a post between the parking lot and first hole that had a sign attached with the course rules and in big letters FEED THE PIPE. There was a slot in a cover on the top of the post into which you could shove your greens fees. The course was abandoned when Warroad Estates Golf Course opened.

  5. Joe-

    Book has been ordered through Amazon and 5 Star Sales. Looking forward to the Winona section. Thanks again for your help with the hole in one also.

    Jim Januschka

    1. Jim:
      Thanks so much. Sorry it took so long to respond. My website is overrun with spam comments, so the legit ones get buried where I can’t find them. Best wishes.

  6. Hi Joe- I live on the former Westwood Hills GC grounds. Received your book for Christmas and have really enjoyed the chapter on my neighborhood and other former MN golf courses. I’m wondering if you’d be able to help me figure out which hole my home is on? I found the map on the historic aerials website you referenced and can see I’m on a fairway- but not sure which hole! Address is 1661 Virginia Ave S.

    Thanks!

    1. Brian: Thanks for the note. I’m afraid I don’t have an answer for you. With everything I found out about Westwood Hills, I never came across a routing of the course. I’m sure there are plenty of them out there. Let me do some digging and get back to you.

    2. Brian:
      Sorry I never got back to you (for one thing, I’ve been busy tracking down a handful of courses I missed). I’m afraid I still don’t have an answer for you, as I still have not seen a routing of the course, holes 1 through 27.
      But here is an exercise that might tell you a bit about your homesite. Go to historicaerials.com and type “Saint Louis Park MN” in the search field. Click and drag the map to get it on the old Westwood Hills site. Zoom in or out as desired. Then — this is the fun part — find the green tab that reads “Compare (Off)” and click on it to get more options. Click on “slide,” pick a year on the menu on the left (I would suggest 1957 in this instance), and you’ll wind up with a “slidable” photo that will show the current land on one side of the screen and the historic view on the other side. Great way to see what used to be in the neighborhood. Without spending a lot of time on it, it appears to me that your home is right in the middle of what used to be a fairway.

  7. Joe-

    I saw on your map that I live near what used to be a golf course, Maple Grove Golf Acres, in Hermantown. I’ve tried reaching out to my local historical society to no avail. If you could shed some light on it for me i would appreciate that very much. I love what you do and give you many thanks for enjoyment throughout the years.

    Thank You

    1. Sam, thanks for the note. Maple Grove Acres was one of the courses featured in my book, albeit in a relatively short chapter. The Wollacks, the family that owned the course, were one of the most prominent families in Twin Ports golf during much of the 15 years I lived in Duluth. Jim and Pat Wollack’s four daughters worked on the grounds and were terrific players for Hermantown High School and into college. They also operated a restaurant, Ye Olde Sawmill. There is more (not a lot more, but a bit) in my book. The course operated in the 1970s and briefly into the 1980s.

      1. My name is Mark Beynon, I worked as Jim’s Golf Course Superintendent for the par 3 course – I also was a bar tender for years at the Saw Mill. Great memories.

        1. I’m 2 years late to the game here, but had to reply to Mr. Beynon. Mark, if you still check in here, I’m assuming you’re the guy who was head pro at Proctor Golf Course circa 1975-76 or thereabouts? If so, I bought your old Top Flight irons, 2-PW (my first full set… remember 2 irons?), when I was 14. We all thought Mr. Beynon was a god… he could play, back in the day.

          And Joe, you probably don’t remember me, but we used to play Enger Park together occasionally when you were a sportswriter for the News Tribune, back in the days of persimmon woods and balata Titleists, maybe 1985-86? I’m almost 60, so you guys must be really old. Anyway, Joe, congratulations on your books; I’ll certainly check them out.

          1. I love the post, Brad. Thanks for weighing in.
            This is tough to admit, but your name only very slightly rings a bell. Those were the days, though – I was at Enger about five days a week, trying to hit the green in regulation on the old No. 7. Never was particularly good at that. Yep, Titleists and persimmon woods. I loved my old Powerbilt 5-wood.
            Where do you play now?

  8. Joe ,

    I joined HCC in 1985 after 3 years at Dellwood and 1 year at Sawmill. At that time the club was still considered a Jewish club , but there were many non-Jewish members. The club was struggling for members as the St Paul Jewish Community could not by itself support the club. I remember that food was only served in the upstairs dining room and Sundays were family days on the golf course and pool.

    I became a Board Member a couple years after joining and served as Club President in 1991-92. I was 2 times a Mr and Mrs Club Champion, Club Champion in 1994 after multiple runner up finishes. I won the King of the Hill, played City League and Senior league during my 25 years of membership. Because of my involvement with HCC, I became a Director for the MGA in 1991. While no longer a director I continue to volunteer as a Rules Official for the MGA, USGA and other golf organizations.

    Most importantly HCC is where I taught my son the game and where he and I spent many hours together. Those are moments I will not soon forget.

    At HCC I developed friendships and business relationships which still continue today. While may have played my last round there , I will not forget the greens, the fairways and routing as long as I play this game.

    Rob Tennant

  9. Do you know anything about Bunker Hill in Mendota Heights? I used to live in the neighborhood that was built on it.

    1. Hello. Yes, I wrote about Bunker Hills Country Club at some length in my “Fore! Gone.” book. It was an 18-hole public course, 1933-42. Approximate boundaries (current) were Dodd Road, Marie Avenue, Minnesota 110 and Interstate 35E.

  10. I work with folks who do GIS for the city of Coon Rapids. They showed me a map the other day….I don’t have your book yet, are you aware of a 9-hole course that was near the Mississippi River in Coon Rapids?

    1. Hi, Dave. Yes, the course was called Mississippi Golf Course, also known as Jake’s, and it lasted from 1931-36, with three holes fronting the river. Had to have been a remarkable view. I wrote a chapter about the course in my book.

  11. Joe,
    I have your book Fore!Gone but didn’t see any mention of a couple of courses in a list I have of Minnesota course slope ratings. I had a goal to play every golf course in the state and that old list which I think was from the 70’s had 282 courses listed. Little did I know when I started, how many courses were actually out there. 70 that I played are now closed. On Sat I will complete that goal of playing every golf course in the state by playing my last course #567 at Wayzata.

    In that first original list there were 3 courses I never found. The list didn’t say what town the courses were in and never got a match when searching on the web.
    These are the course names as listed;
    Country Hills Golf Club,
    Crow Greens Public Golf Course
    Victoria Hills Golf Course.
    Ever hear of any of them? Possibly renamed to something else or just Gone!

    1. Amazing quest, Dick. Congratulations. I might try to catch up with you sometime and have you tell me about your experiences.
      Yes, if you thought there were 282 courses in Minnesota — and I can understand why you would have — you probably got yourself into more than you bargained for. But your determination is most commendable.
      I can’t help you much. I have heard of a lot of golf courses in Minnesota, and including the lost courses that I know of, there are well more than 700 all time. I bump into “new” lost courses constantly and am having a hard time keeping up. The only course on that list that I know of is/was Crow Greens, which was listed in a 1974 Minneapolis Tribune golf guide as being nine holes, between Watertown and Delano.

  12. Every year my wife asks me what I want to do on Father’s Day. I always reply that “I’d like to go to Hillcrest and play in the Fathers and Sons tournament with my Dad”.
    My Father passed away in 2004 and Hillcrest hung on until 2017.
    This year I thought I would drive out to Hillcrest one last time. I wanted to play the old 3rd hole (or the 12th hole, depending on the routing one is accustomed to) once more before it was plowed under. The course was completely fenced and posted with “No Trespassing” signs. I took one last photo of the remains of the old 2nd green and 3rd tee from outside the fence. I drove away with tears in my eyes.

    1. That’s a sad story, Charlie. Wish you could have gotten on the course.
      I’ll have a chapter on the origins of Hillcrest in my new book, which should be out in a couple of weeks. Or I guess you can cheat at look at this website for the longer version. Cheers.

  13. I saw that you had Lone Pine on your list witch became the Meadows at Mystic Lake. Did you know that before The Legends was in Prior Lake, there was a 9 hole course on the same land called Scottdale. I believe it closed in 1999 or 2000 and to my knowledge the owners of the course lived in the clubhouse

    1. Great subject to bring up. Thanks for commenting, Kevin.
      I know Scottdale was there before The Legends. I have gone back and forth on whether to include it as a lost course, but your parallel with Lone Pine makes a lot of sense. I also have Tartan Park (now Royal) in Lake Elmo and Shattuck (now Legacy) on my list. My standard, loose as it may be, is that the old grounds had to have been very significantly repurposed – routing, green sites – for it to be considered “lost.” My impression was that maybe Scottdale/Legends didn’t fit that criterion, but I admit I’m going purely off secondhand or third-hand knowledge. As I look a little closer, it appears Scottdale was completely remade into Legends by Garrett Gill.
      I’m going to strongly consider adding Scottdale. I could use some help, though, if someone can tell me whether there are many common elements between the courses.

        1. One of the links didn’t fully come through, but yes, I can see the layout now. I went to historicaerials.com, which is a good way to compare aerial views from different eras, and distinctly see different fairways, greensites, etc. I’ll add Scottdale. Thanks.

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