STAPLES, Minn. — The crowd noise of those Minnesota section boys basketball games that Lynn Peterson coached rivaled any jet engine gassing for take off, or an intense full house for a North Dakota State football game. When Staples High School took the floor and Peterson was on the sideline, it was go time.
He retired from coaching in 2011 with 683 victories, which still ranks him 10th all time on the Minnesota career wins list.
He’s still trying to win in sports these days, only the surroundings are vastly different. At The Vintage golf course on the outskirts of Staples, it’s quiet with a woodsy feel of serenity, the tranquil Crow Wing River winding through the outskirts of the course. On a couple of holes, deer checked out my backswing. Above No. 3 green, a hawk flew by carrying a small snake for lunch.
This isn’t the old Concordia Fieldhouse tournament atmosphere.
Last year, Peterson took over as general manager and director of golf at The Vintage, with the aim of making the 18-hole layout a community treasure and a place for golfers to stop. If this is a retirement job, he sure picked a busy one.
“I think one thing I had to do was get some stability back into the course,” he said. “It was kind of at a point where anything goes. I mean, people have to understand you can’t play in a group of 11, you can’t play in a group of eight and so on. Try to get some integrity back and yet still make it a course for people to come out and enjoy themselves.”
Peterson did it without, in his words, pulling down the hammer. It can be a delicate balance, running a golf course, between customer service while requiring the rules of etiquette. It’s no different than demanding discipline from a basketball team, all the while keeping the players motivated.
Progress is being made, with play up 22% over last year. Members of the public course, Peterson said, now have to understand they have to make a tee time and not take openings for granted.
As for the course, the first few holes are pretty standard but from there, and once it gets farther from adjacent Highway 30, it gets interesting. The back nine grew on my group of four to the point where it felt Brainerd-esque at times.
There’s a reason for that. The original nine was built in 1929, but redesigned to 18 in the mid-1990s by the late noted golf course architect Joel Goldstrand. The first five holes are part of the original layout with the rest updated. There are a few holes that qualify as pure design beauties.
“Driving by on the road, you probably don’t get a true feel for the golf course,” said Peterson, who was a guest on my Saturday golf show on 740 The Fan.
Of course, it’s not a Goldstrand course without his signature double-tiered green like you’ll see at Moorhead Country Club No. 15, No. 6 at Meadows in Moorhead or No. 8 at Wildflower near Detroit Lakes. At The Vintage, that would be No. 16.
“There’s a lot of great scenery back there,” Peterson said.
Improvements need to be made. Peterson said the hope is to build a new clubhouse someday to replace the original 1929 model. Grass conditions on some holes, most notably tee boxes, need help, although it was a rough spring for most courses in the Red River Valley. A new well was built this year to help with the irrigation system.
But the price is right; it’s $35 including cart on “Throwback Thursdays.”
Walking the layout sure seems like a long way from those prep playoff fan fests. On a personal note, one of the more memorable games I’ve ever covered was Staples vs. Minneapolis North in 1995 back when the Minnesota state tournament went to a Sweet 16 format.
North was led by Khalid El-Amin, who had 17 points. Staples had Blaine Joerger, who had 28 points. A fascinating small vs. big school matchup out of a “Hoosiers” movie. North won 54-52 on a rebound basket with two seconds left.
These days, Lynn Peterson is answering a phone, talking with members, checking out his course on a golf cart and enjoying a quiet life on a golf course.
Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” April through August.