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Rhodes, Iowa
IF THE CROWDS IN EXCESS of 45,000 that flocked to the weekend
rounds of the 1999 U.S. Senior Open in Des Moines are any
indication, golf is huge in Iowa. Trouble was, the area's
accessible courses were just fair to non-existent. That
problem was fixed last year by Dickson Jensen, a former
engineering professor at Iowa State turned developer who
scoured the area for four years before happening upon an
unlikely pocket of hills in the corn-belt flatness 30 minutes
northeast of the capital city. Given the bold landforms
on site—heaving slopes, long ridges, sweeping valleys—designer
Keith Foster took inspiration from early American pioneer
C.B. Macdonald and built a big, broad-shouldered course.
Foster moved little dirt on the rolling pastureland, opting
to carve fairways, bunkers, and greens into the landscape
to accentuate existing features. A shotmaker's course with
risk-reward options, the 7,240-yard, par-72 layout, home
of Iowa State's men's and women's golf teams, has a 60-acre
lake, smaller ponds, wetlands, creeks, specimen oaks, and—outrageous
for Iowa—an 80-foot elevation change. Foster gets down
to business on the second hole, a short uphill par four
that tempts players to carry a long, cavernous trench cut
into the side of a hill with the green above it; or aim
safely to the left and pitch on from there. The par-three
third drops from an elevated tee over a pond to a natural
peninsula green the size of a skating rink. Hitting it is
one thing; two-putting is another. The finish is thrilling.
The short par-three 17th is a pretty piece of poison, its
slim green flanked by water and a pair of deep bunkers,
one cut into a hillside, the other sunk below green level.
The par-five 18th is a gambler's delight, a hairpin-shaped
hole where players who drive close to the water's edge on
the right can go for the green. The green fee—$48 for
walkers, $60 with cart—is high by Hawkeye standards,
but most natives are sticking with last year's thresher
in order to play this modern classic again and again.
GOLF
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