2010 Mille Lacs Golf: Courses Posturing.

As I googled around Mille Lacs lake to my favorite golf sites, Fiddlestix and Izatys Resort both popped up again. Harley at Fiddlestix does a great job of energizing his player base early, usually being the first to get his leagues setup each spring. As a way to maintain ties to his southeast shore golfing base, Harley has setup and run a simulator golf league this winter. I have heard he has done well and drawn many to his usually dormant establishment this time of year. I expect to be receiving my eblast soon from Harley, announcing league meetings and projecting the club opening for sometime in late April. It's usually first out of the gate in the area.

Up on the northwest side of the lake, the question is will Hardwoods come back from its near death knell of a year ago? The web site is down and the domain name is up for either renewal or a new customer when you search on Google. This isn't surprising as last year the course came out of the gate very late, losing one of its men's leagues to Izatys because of poor playing conditions and questions about it even opening (which it did, late). At one time, things were looking up for this course, that has a very nice layout but has fallen on hard times and been unable to move alot of townhome property, rebuild its club house and cash in on its proximity to Mille Lacs Grand Casino and a potential plethora of golfers who might frequent its 550-room hotel.

That leaves both Izatys and Higbees on the south shore. Izatys speculation has a new buyer taking over soon, envisioning a reopening of the nine original holes on Sanctuary in 2011, making it a 27-hole course with Blackbrook. No confirmation of this potential sale has been announced yet, however. For those who played Blackbrook last year, it was in its best shape in about four years. Sand traps were redone, with stump removal and cart path repair left for this season... Higbees continues to get decent play and its low cost appealed to the budget conscious in 2009 as rounds climbed and the course got another year of maturity under its belt. Both appear postured to rebound further if the economy to bring more folks to Mille Lacs in 2010.