By Sam Duininck, Duininck Golf
(BRAINARD, Minnesota) – Cragun’s Resort on Gull Lake – Duininck Golf continues 45-hole renovation at Cragun’s Resort, that will take, Minnesota Resort Golf to the next level.
General Manager of Cragun’s Resort, Eric Peterson, says, “We didn’t take these decisions lightly—to undertake such a major project and, especially, to put it in the hands of PGA legend Tom Lehman and acclaimed builder Duininck Golf. Thankfully, we’re getting exactly what we hoped for … and more.”
Cragun’s Resort, long recognized as one of the premier golf destination resorts in northern Minnesota with two award-winning, eighteen-hole championship courses—Bobby’s Legacy Course and Dutch Legacy Course—both designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. is getting a major overhaul. Lehman Design and Duininck Golf were brought in to modify the two championship courses. “Bigger and Better,” Eric Peterson says, summing up the goal, then expanding on it, “We aspire to have 45 holes of World Class Golf—The Dutch 27 and the Lehman 18, and to be considered the preeminent golf resort in Minnesota. No doubt we will achieve this goal.”
Duininck Golf welcomes the lofty expectations. Chris Kleinsmith, Duininck Golf’s Project Manager states, “A project of this size with so many components and such an aggressive schedule requires all parties to be on the same page in construction and communication. The opportunity to build “new” golf is always welcomed.”
Tom Lehman’s new 18—a course Eric Peterson promises will be “like nothing else in Minnesota”— “Tom is an accomplished player, with a gift for visualizing what each hole can be long before it is built. It is always very exciting to work with a designer that started out as a tour player”, says Chris Kleinsmith. Project Superintendent, Jacob Cooper, agrees, “It’s always fun to see what architects see, and to listen to them talk their way through their visions.”
36 holes of new golf will be open by August of 2022—including the new Lehman 18—and the final 9 holes of the Dutch 27 to open in the summer of 2023.