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Braemar Golf Course, MN

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Tommy Williamsen:
Has anyone seen Rich Mandel's work there?

Tyler Kearns:
I believe a few of the Minnesota GCA'ers played there a few days ago, hopefully they will report back.  If it is anything like the transformation at Keller, it should be fantastic.


Tyler

Jason Topp:
A number of people played a preview round last week.  I missed it but have reviewed the plans and watched the construction.  Richard was very creative in the way he reimagined a 27 hole course into 18.  I will be very interested to see the finished product.  The original 18 hole course was fairly boring on interesting land with a goofy additional 9 holes added.  The result of the project to add 9 holes was that the original 18 got worse and no one wanted to play an 18 hole combination that included the extra 9.   


Many of the holes will now be played in reverse and, in my imagination, it seems that they will work better that way.

Tommy Williamsen:
I played the course when I was in Seminary at St. Paul: that Keller and the U course. The course was pretty new but I don't remember much about it except that it was crowded and not as good as the other two.

Morgan Clawson:
Tommy,


I played the course this week including 9 holes with Rich Mandell himself.


The new course is a vast improvement of the old one.  Despite living nearby, I has essentially given up on the old Braemar due to design and conditioning malfeasance.  The new Braemar is now in the conversation of the best publics in the Twin Cities. 


Rich and his lead shaper, Brian Ross, have created a solid course that is mostly wide and has a nice set of greens with interesting slopes.  Rich and Brian took advantage of the width and crafted some nice centerline bunkers and bumps. These bunkers and bumps will often obscure the view of the green.  This provides nice strategic options for the player.


Only 1 of the 18 holes is essentially the same as an old one.  It’s a drop shot par 3 (#13) with the tee located at the top of a high hill.  The new green here is excellent with the back half on a lower tier than the front half.


Most of the trees were removed, and I was pleased that I didn’t hit one during my round. And of course, the tree reduction has opened-up nice long vistas and allowed the wind to blow.


Super Jeff Mold has done a great job growing the course in.  The greens hold shots very well and balls landing on green approaches were bouncing onto the putting surface.


The course will open to the public on May 15, 2019. 

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