Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence, Minnesota, has hired architect John Fought to design a second course at the club just west of Minneapolis.
The original course at Windsong Farm – also designed by Fought and opened in partnership with Tom Lehman, then renovated by Fought in 2015 – ranks No. 6 on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in Minnesota. It ties for No. 140 on the list of all modern courses built in the U.S. since 1960.
“I generally don’t like to do the same thing with my projects, so this one will be really different from any of my other courses,” Fought said in a media release announcing the new course. “It’s a unique piece of land with lake views and rolling terrain, and we will be doing what it allows us without having to move a lot of dirt. It will be the perfect complement to Windsong Farm Golf Club.”
Plans are for Fought and course-building company Duininck Golf to break ground as soon as the ground thaws out this spring, with an opening planned for summer of 2024. The second course will make Windsong Farm the lone 36-hole private facility in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro market.
The new course will feature six par 3s, eight par 4s and four par 5s for a total par of 70. Thirteen of the holes will have views of Fox Lake, and the entire course will play shorter than its 7,550-yard predecessor at the club but, Fought said, not necessarily much easier.
“This second course will play tougher than people might think as length is not the only factor in determining difficulty,” Fought said. “Playing strategies will very much come into play here. Plus, the 18th will be a ‘Cape’ hole — a long, 483-yard par 4 that plays around the lake.”
Fought said he took inspiration for the new course, which will include several famous template holes, from Seth Raynor’s Shoreacres Golf Club near Chicago.
“This will be like creating a course from the early 1900s but with a modern infrastructure,” Fought said. “This is open, rolling land with natural, native areas that are fescue and gives us the opportunity to integrate several old-style holes into the mix. I’m thrilled to be working with the talented teams at Windsong Farm and Duininck Golf on what promises to be an exciting addition to the Minnesota golf scene.”
“This is really exciting for our members because they’ll be able to play two completely different, high-quality golf courses,” Jon Dailing, superintendent at Windsong Farm, said in the media release. “John knows this entire property so well and has done a great job studying where the new course will be built. He’s very creative and there will be a lot of history built into his design.”
