le sueur country club
Le Sueur Country Club is the perfect example for why Twig and I started doing this podcast.
The goal of Golf Loons is to play and review as many courses as possible. Obviously we are heading to a lot of the well known, top rated tracks. And we want to get to some of those courses that will never make Top 10 lists but are are unique in their own way.
But people have heard of The Wilds. They’ve probably played Chaska Town, and Loggers and many others.
What excites me, and hopefully you, the listener/viewer/watcher, is discovering courses that you don’t often hear about and they blow away your expectations.
That is one reason why LSCC will always hold a special place in my heart.
I had a great friend named Mike Ryan. Mike and I became friends through Bloomington youth hockey, where our kids played and he was the high school coach for the girls team. Tragically, we lost Mike in 2020 when a person I refuse to dignify with a name cowardly sucker punched him outside of a bar, sent him down a flight of concrete steps, and ended his life. It was a devastating loss to so many, especially in Bloomington where he lived, played, coached and parented. I still really miss him, and the way we lost him still pisses me off to no end.
If not for Mike Ryan, who we lost tragically in May of 2020, we may never have found Le Sueur Country Club.
It’s often talked about how making friends as adults is hard, especially in Minnesota. We tend to be petrified to venture out of our bubble of high school or college friends.
That wasn’t the case with Mike. He was always good with adding another friend to his ever expanding crew. He drew people in with his humor and easygoing attitude. He never made you feel like you had to earn your way in. With him, you were already in.
Mike had the perfect day job too. He was a rep for Callaway. And because of the fact that everyone he did business with loved him, Mike was able to get us onto a lot of courses, typically in his territory – the South Metro. We played the usual go-tos, with some rounds at The Wilds, Deer Run, Chaska Town, Bluff Creek, Brackett’s Crossing and others sprinkled around. We typically wouldn’t find out where we were playing until the day before, or sometimes the day of. You’d get a text, “golf tomorrow morning. Will let you know where.”
One morning, Mike sent a group text to let us know we were playing at Le Sueur Country Club, and my immediate thought was, “maybe I should actually go into work today.” I mean, I’m never one to turn down a free round of golf, but I only knew Le Sueur as the hometown of the prostitute in Fargo who eventually transferred to White Bear Lake to root on the Bears.
Of course, you’re reminded as you enter town that it’s also the home of the Jolly Green Giant. You can say hello to him before exiting 169 and then winding your way through some cornfields and wondering what the hell kind of golf course could be in this part of the state. And oh…my…heavens, I soon began wondering where the town of Le Sueur had been all my life.
I quickly realized this Country Club was special. Or at least in my mind it was. And shame on me for judging in the first place.
I had a blast, and playing with Mike was a part of the reason. But with every hole, I loved it more. I immediately told Twig about it, who has played damn near every course in the state. It’s extremely rare for me to play a course that Twig has yet to conquer. I needed him to get out there and verify that my infatuation with the course was well founded. He and I played it, and he agreed! I was right!
Since that day, I’ve been going to LSCC at least twice a summer. Sometimes more. Also since that day, I’ve failed to shut my yap about it whenever people ask me what courses I like to play. Sooner or later, I’m going to wreck it for everybody and it’s going to become increasingly difficult to get a tee time. Until that day comes though, I’m going to fawn over it like my teen daughter does with Jude Bellingham.
I won’t spoil the whole thing for you, but I’ll highlight some of my favorite features. First, if I haven’t mentioned this on the blog yet, I’m a huge Field of Dreams fan. You can tell me how cheesy and unrealistic that move is, or that Kevin Costner is kind of a douche, and it won’t change my mind in the slightest. I love it. The ending is brilliant. The trip to Chisholm is great, even if that wasn’t really Chisholm. The voice is haunting. Terrence Mann’s speech is incredible. Costner nails the role better than he nailed…nevermind.
And the corn fields…how can you not love cornfields after seeing that movie?
When I got to the fifth hole at LSCC and saw an entire corn field along the left side, I was smitten. The vast field stretched for a couple more holes and I thought Francis Ouimet might step out of them.
Note: when Twig and I played LSCC last week, the corn fields were nonexistent. Due to crop rotation, it was a soybean year, so the views were still cool, but less spectacular. Shoeless Joe didn’t disappear into soybean plants. So don’t be mad if you go this year and there’s no corn.
There’s also a great little river (name unknown and the mystery might never be solved) that touches numerous holes throughout the course, but my favorite interactions with it are as it slides by the 10th green and provides a great little nature scene behind the tee at 16.
This little stream runs right through much of the course, but it’s especially beautiful in front of the 10th green.
Golf Loons resident course expert Mike Terwilliger will rave about several holes at LSCC, most notably 13. A huge dropoff after the tee reveals an awesome approach shot into a green nestled into a hill with a sizable backboard. Twig often says he would like to go to that hole and just hit an endless bucket of balls at the green. Totally normal behavior.
As a kid growing up caddying at Northland in Duluth, I came to loathe uphill holes like 3 and 10. Twig? He loves ‘em. So he will also rave about LSCC’s number 4 and number 11.
Personally, I’m a huge fan of numbers 6, 15, 16 and 17. I’ve been told by a member that 16 is referred to as “The Dolly Parton hole” and that the dropoff to the right of the 17th green is affectionately known as the “Devil’s Vagina.” Again, no spoilers so I’ll let you determine why those names are applicable.
I’m not sure if they’re being crass, but the members at LSCC refer to Hole #16 as “The Dolly Parton Hole.”
And speaking of the members, I get the feeling that the 19th hole might be the best in the state. But I’ve yet to play it.
But really, I like all the holes from number 3 until the end. Again, I could describe these in far more detail, but that’s what the podcast is for, and that’s what playing a new course is for!
Yes, there’s too many trees in inconvenient positions. And yes, you can get penalized on numerous holes for hitting decent shots. In our most recent round, the greens were like Cambria tabletops with three putts abounding. All ingredients for a course to fall down my rankings.
Won’t happen. There’s too many outstanding features to this course. When you happen upon a beautiful golf course that is on very few people’s radar, and you can get there in 30 minutes without setting in traffic, you give it the benefit of the doubt. And, when it brings back memories of one of the greatest people and golf buddies you cold ever have, you’re always going to look at it fondly.