meadowbrook golf club

It seems a little silly for me to be writing about our latest round at Meadowbrook. This was just my second career appearance at the St. Louis Park staple, and my first in at least seven years. There was almost nothing I remembered about it, other than the staircase you were supposed to climb on the 17th tee, and the bell you’re required to ring after you cross the bridge over the creek on the 5th hole. 

Twig on the other hand, has played Meadowbrook as many times as almost any other course out there. If you haven’t gathered, he has played a lot of golf at a lot of courses. And none of them has he played more shirtless rounds. So a hearty congrats is due to everyone at Meadowbrook for that distinguished honor.

Stands to reason that he might have known that the marsh on the right side on the 17th hole sneaks pretty close to the fairway, or that the creek running across hole 5 is closer than you think. But if he did know, he certainly didn’t tell me and when I sent Callaways soaring toward both of those hazards, I got the usual, “you might be okay!”

I wasn’t. 

Yet, our day at Meadowbrook was more than okay. We had a picture perfect setting with temps in the high 70’s and zero humidity. It’s one of those days where you’re warm in your shorts and golf shirt, but you don’t even sweat the entire round (unless you’re walking like Twig and JP did and then visible crotch sweat is a given). 

Our special guest for this round was the character of all characters…Kevin Falness. You might recognize Falness as the studio host for the Minnesota Wild, or the Minnesota Wild PONDcast, or KFAN’s Beyond The Pond, or one of the punching bags on the Password Game on Common Man’s show. But he’s probably most well known for providing voiceover on the introduction of the Golf Loons podcast…which he did for free. 

The least we could do to pay him back for his services was to comp his round at Meadowbrook, a course he’s lived near his entire life and has played many times. Actually, he has counted every round he’s ever played since 2000 and his total in that time at the Meadow is now 23, which ranks fourth on his list. I desperately want to make fun of the fact that he’s kept track of every single round, but I secretly wish I had kept track of my rounds since I started playing as well. 

It’s been his course for a lifetime and he’s seen it through its toughest years. What I learned during our round is that Meadowbrook had to shut down for years due to severe flooding, and it very nearly didn’t survive. The golf community in St. Louis Park brought it back, and that just feels like a very Minnesota thing to do. 

That may happen in other states as well, but it seems that when a beloved community good (golf course, hockey rink or historic landmark) is in danger, enough good people work hard to make sure it’s not lost. 

I’m so glad that is the case for Meadowbrook. It was a pleasure to play it. 

Our early morning round started off on 10 rather than your assumed hole number one, and I blame that for my slow start. You can’t rattle me like that so early in the morning. And…we were staring right into the sunrise on 10 and 11, and that is just uncalled for and I’d like to know who is responsible.

I think my highlight from the round was on the par 3 13th, an easy 128 yard hole that is the 18 handicap, which I expertly played by putting a pitching wedge 100 yards past the green. How many of you have hit a 220 yard wedge? Not many I presume. 

The shot was aided by a double bounce off two different cart paths, and of course I loved hearing all three of my golf companions shout out “Ohhhhhhh!......Ohhhhhhhhh!” and then laugh at me as they merrily strolled to their balls on the green.  And then chuckled again when I had to pull out my range finder for my second shot. Again, thiis was a 128 yard par 3.

I still almost made a 3 so fudge ‘em all. 

There’s some cool features to Meadowbrook I want to mention. I already mentioned the staircase on 17 and the bell on number 5. I really like the set of Par 3’s. None of them are boring and all offer a fun tee shot in my mind. I’m never a fan of the long, flat Par 3. Hole number 2 at Le Sueur comes to mind, and I’ve made clear in the previous blog how much I adore LSCC. 

The Meadowbrook Clubhouse is very small, but I do love the windows looking down the first fairway. It’s ideal spot to watch poor souls launch a pressure filled tee shot to start the day.

The quaint Meadowbrook Clubhouse offers a front row view of hackers teeing it up on Hole #1. Think about spending a day here.

I also love the Cart Barn, which as a big sign that says “Cart Barn.” I was so enamored with it that I suggested it as the location for our Emergency 9 interview with Falness. That was the second worst decision of the day. The worst decision of the day was continuing on with the interview when one of the groundskeepers drove his mower to about 10 feet away from us and proceeded to spray it down with a power hose. 

A broadcast veteran (or anyone with half a brain) might pause the interview and just move to another location and start again. My solution was to just get an irritated look on my face and continue with the interview and forget about the fact that this would make our guest’s answers unintelligible. So if you listen to the podcast, there are about 5 minutes of absolutely horrible audio. To you the listener…my sincerest apologies. 

As for Falness, I don’t feel overly terrible about Kevin being drowned out. I can’t tell you the number of times that as my former co-worker, he removed the ball on my computer mouse or disconnected the cord from my phone headset at my desk and then called me. Funny guy that one.

Sure enough, he was up to his old tricks again when he was asked to take a photo of Twig and JP, and left these three gems on the phone. 

Thanks for the gift Kevin

So I do apologize to Kevin for the audio, but I’m certainly not going to call it sincere. 

But, I love that we got to play with Kevin, a true legend in the hockey broadcast world here in Minnesota. He may have embarrassed me on multiple occasions, but anyone who can manage Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid for 20+ years is doing something right.

As I mentioned in the pod, I’m pretty sure Kevin has interviewed every single Minnesota Wild player that has ever played at least one game. I’m betting there’s not many people in the world that can say that. That includes J.J. Daigneault, Dieter Kochan, Jean-Guy Trudel, Justin Kloos, Jujhar Khaira and of course, Zac Bierk (brother of Sebastian Bach).

If you’ve played a game for the Minnesota Wild, Kevin Falness has talked to you. He would tell you to “consider yourself lucky.”

Every player knows and loves Falness, as does anyone that’s worked with him. And, Kevin could use some help. He is trying to raise money for Usher’s Syndrome, which is a genetic disease that causes deafness and blindness. Kevin’s son Benny suffers from this disease, and because it is so rare, there hasn’t been a lot of research into a cure for it. So please do whatever you can to help Benny and others afflicted by this condition. You can join Benny’s Battalion by clicking here and there is also a walk on September 19 in St. Louis Park and I encourage you to reach out to @radiofalness on X to see how you can be there and support.

Kevin’s motto is “don’t be a dickhead,” so I’m fairly confident that if you support the cause, he’ll refrain from calling you that. But you should still keep him away from you phone.