Tom Brakke on Hazeltine Golf Course

Our Speaker on August 4th was introduced by Tom Anderson. Tom Brakke is a local businessman who was raised in Luverne, MN., and has become the historian for Hazeltine Golf Course. He gave us a bit of insight into the club, and the Open happening this month. Hazeltine was the idea of Todd Heffelfinger; highway changes and other developments made Minikahda Golf Club members nervous about the future of their club location by Lake Calhoun, and Todd was responsible for the purchase of the land in 1961, and originally the course was to be owned by Minikahda. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones (and recent modifications have been made by his son, Reese Jones). The course was designed to host championship golf and golfers (the club motto is "The Home of Championship Golf"), and the course has been on TV many times as the host of Open Championships for both men and women. The course is now closed in preparation for the Open, when they expect more than 40,000 golf fans on site to watch the pros play the course. The PGA championships are each multi-million dollar businesses, with the proceeds of the event shared by the PGA and the sponsoring club. After this tournament, the club will tear down the current clubhouse, and build a new one. The next major event at Hazeltine will be the Ryder Cup. Carl Zinn outbid the others to purchase the 2 member passes that Tom brought, with the proceeds going to our scholarship fund. Jeremy H. asked too many questions, and the membership committee will soon be working him over to join the Hazeltine golf family. (Story by Tad Shaw)