Feb. 1: Please note, I am leaving this original post from Oct. 26 intact. There is a significant update at the end of the post.

The past two weeks have brought news of one more Minnesota golf course that will close at the end of the 2019 golf season and another that is likely to close.

The former is Hollydale Golf Course of Plymouth; the latter is Willow Creek of Rochester. Both are public layouts.

Below are links to a Hollydale notice and a Willow Creek news story:

Hollydale notice.

Willow Creek closing.

The Willow Creek story leaves open the sliver of a possibility that another buyer will come along and keep the course open. If that does not happen, it will bring to 73 the number of Minnesota golf courses that have closed since the year 2000.

Here is the current list:

Minnesota’s lost golf courses, since 2000: The list of 85

Photo by Peter Wong.

Unrelated: In the coming months, I will be republishing a slightly revised, slightly updated edition of “Fore! Gone.” It will be in print-on-demand form. The book has proved to be especially popular as a gift for older golfers. Will let you know about it soon.

Update, Feb. 1: Willow Creek will remain open. New buyers have secured a three-year lease. Here is a link to the Rochester Post Bulletin story:

https://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/willow-creek-to-re-open-as-golf-course-this-spring/article_7b980ab4-443e-11ea-bdcf-e332ff9910d6.html

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Joe Bissen

Joe Bissen is a Caledonia, Minnesota, native and former golf letter-winner at Winona State University. He is a retired sports copy editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press and former sports editor of the Duluth News-Tribune. His writing has appeared in Minnesota Golfer and Mpls.St.Paul magazines. He lives in South St. Paul, MN. Joe's award-winning first book, "Fore! Gone. Minnesota's Lost Golf Courses 1897-1999," was released in December 2013, and a follow-up, "More! Gone. Minnesota's Lost Golf Courses, Part II" was released in July 2020. The books are most readily available online at Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble (bn.com). He continues to write about lost courses on this website and has uncovered more than 245 of them.

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