(Arnolds Park) Emerald Hills golf course is working with Spirit of Okoboji to make some improvements. It will still be an 18-hole course. Drew Hage, who is the Director of Development with Spirit of Okoboji talks about the importance preservation has played during this process of making these improvements…
“Emerald Hills is known for its trees and you know having news holes like 18 through the trees coming back to the clubhouse, really nice closing hole. New hole 1 with the new ponds. You know we increased our water storage so we can kind of hold our water before just putting it down stream. Those things have been nice. With the property to the east same thing, there were three tiles that went through that property you know those now go to ponds where we get to store that water, hold it longer and then release it. That is a nice water quality project for Minnewashta.”
Hage talks about a new feature on hole number three which is next to one of the wetlands…
“You get to look at a 240 foot rock wall with natural field rock that was on the property. So, as we kind of worked the property we found a rock pile and that rock pile turned out to be a very big rock pile and getting to use that on a par 3 will create a really cool landscape for that hole.”
There are also 57 acres that could possibly be developed at some point but Hage says that isn’t their main focus at this time…
“So definitely want to you know look at opportunities down the road with the 57 acres of developable property on the golf course so that’s what is also created as part of this and not just maintaining 18 holes but creating developable property on the golf course.”
Part of the new design was adding a par 3 practice hole and lengthening the driving range, therefore there will be no more impact on holes 2 and 18 from the driving range. There will also be new cart parking on the north side of the clubhouse which will create a better flow, especially during tournaments. You can hear the entire interview with Drew Hage attached to this story under the news tab at exploreokoboji.com
Click the play button below for the full interview with Drew Hage.
