Bakker Crossing Renovation Proves to be a Big Success

Anyone who has played golf in Sioux Falls, S.D., knows that golfers there have several options for places to play. In such a strong market, differentiating a course from the competition can be difficult. That was the challenge facing golf course architect Kevin Norby when the owners of Bakker Crossing Golf Course hired him almost four years ago.

"We started with a master plan geared towards improving revenue, increasing rounds and finding Bakker Crossing's niche in the market," the Chaska, Minn.-based Norby said. "It had nice routing and, at 6,900 yards, the course was a pretty good test of golf for the low-handicap player."

But, according to Norby, the site was very flat with only about 12 feet of elevation change. The contractor who built the course back in 2002 excavated numerous shallow ponds to facilitate drainage and generate soil to construct greens, tees and other features. As a result, the course many forced carries, with 16 of the 18 holes containing water hazards and cattails, making the fairways very narrow and far too intimidating for the average golfer.

In the local market there are two private clubs, two regulation-length city courses and a handful of other regulation nine or 18-hole layouts. Bakker Crossing lacked a real brand of its own. "We wanted change that," Norby said.

Following the master plan, the third, seventh, 10th and 12th holes were rebuilt to eliminate forced carries and reposition the landing areas. The third hole was rebuilt with a split fairway and a centering bunker.

"We consolidated ponds, repositioned bunkers and changed the angles of approach to challenge the better golfer while at the same time making the course more fun and more playable for the average golfer," Norby noted.

In 2014 the bunkers were reconstructed using a unique timber facing. "This is such a flat site that it's hard to see the sand without flashing it up; that creates maintenance concerns," said the architect.

"It seems like the wind blows all the time at Bakker Crossing so the timber facing allowed us to keep the sand flat while at the same time allowing the golfer to see the hazards," added Norby, who recently completed master plans for Hillcrest Golf Course in Colorado and Waveland Golf Course in Des Moines.

The other thing it did was create a unique look which, combined with the other improvements, made a bold statement about the quality of golf at Bakker Crossing.

According to owner Donn Hill, "The master plan changes have been a huge success for us. Our course is unique and is much more fun to play. Rounds are up 40 percent from 2011, and we are seeing a lot of new golfers."

For additional information about the course, visit www.bakkercrossing.com. For more about Herfort Norby Golf Course Architects, visit http://golf-course-designers-architects.com.

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