GOLF
NISSWA AREA GOLF COURSES EXPAND
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he Brainerd Lakes Area offers some of the top golf courses in the country. And some of the courses had expansions and redesigns over the past year. Here is an update on some of the course changes. The Pines course has a new look The 27-hole golf course that opened in the early 1990s recently went through a renovation project that started in the fall of 2022. “It’s been about 30 years since The Pines opened,” said Adam Haugen, director of golf at Grand View Lodge. “Courses get tired and greens get expanded as they are mowed and organic material gets on there. The idea was to touch it up and give the course a little bit of a face lift. We want to give the course better material to introduce to the golf course. The main focus was also the playability and maintainability of the golf course to help the growth of the golf course and freshen things up.” The Pines has three 9-hole courses: The Lakes, The Woods and The Marsh. In 2023, The Lakes and The Woods courses were finished with bunker 60 | Nisswa Chamber Guide 2024
transformations. Some bunkers were removed while others were improved and newly added. Ohio white sand will be brought in and used on the bunkers with playability, drainage and overall surfaces on the courses improved. The Pines also emphasized tree removal to make the course a little more open. “We know we are a resort facility and get a lot of players who are higher handicaps,” Haugen said. “We are trying to make the course a little more playable for them. We got rid of a lot of trees on the outskirts to make it a little more
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playable. We didn’t want to make it too easy because we have a lot of good players in the area as well. We wanted to get it challenging, so we moved some bunkers a little strategically to make people think about their shot a little more. We wanted to bring some shot value and strategic thinking well, keeping it easy for resort play.” The Marsh added new bunkers, like the other two courses, and the tee boxes, greens and cart paths touched up. That project was expected to be completed in the spring of 2024.
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WWW.WILDWEDGE.COM 218.568.6995 2 MILES N OF PEQUOT LAKES ON HWY 371 NEXT TO AMERICINN
