From farm fields to the world's stage: A history of Hazeltine

When the Ryder Cup, the "Super Bowl of Golf," heads to Minnesota this week, all eyes will be on Chaska's Hazeltine National Golf Club.

The west metro-area course, one of the state's highest-profile, is no stranger to the spotlight. It's hosted a number of national championships. In fact, it was created for that very reason and has thrived for much of its 54 years.

But it wasn't always that way. After the 1970 U.S. Open — during which it was the target of one of the most infamous golf digs ever — there was a long period when Hazeltine's viability was in doubt.

Founder Totton P. Heffelfinger, former president of the United States Golf Association, realized that land — or rather, lack of it — was becoming a problem for the sport by the 1950s.

Though Minnesota's courses had already hosted several PGA Championships and U.S. Opens by then, "Heffelfinger noticed that there was a new era of golf beginning post-World War II in that these golf courses that they were hosting major championships on in the cities were going to become too short to host the best players in the world," said Kyle Molin, chair of the heritage committee at Hazeltine.

"They're still fantastic golf courses even today for 99 percent of the golfing public — they're wonderful, but for the best players in the world who hit the ball so far and are so good, that was going to be a problem because those courses are landlocked," he said. "Heffelfinger, what he wanted to do, was make sure Minnesota still had a venue appropriate for hosting national championships."

So he decided to build one.

Initially announced as the Executive Golf Club of Minnesota on June 8, 1961, Heffelfinger said of the course that would become Hazeltine, "We hope within a few years to bring the National Open here." It was later renamed for the adjoining lake, when the executive club idea, which involved reciprocal membership, was dropped.

In 1966, just four years after opening, Hazeltine hosted its first national championship, the U.S. Women's Open. It was won by Sandra Spuzich.

The success of that tournament opened up the door to another tournament — the 1970 U.S. Open.

The insult heard 'round the golf world

The course was only eight years old in 1970 when it hosted that year's U.S. Open, and by many accounts, was still relatively immature.

"A lot of the features that actually became attractive really weren't in play at the time," said Rick Shefchik, author of "From Fields to Fairways: Classic Golf Clubs of Minnesota."

It was also a very difficult course that earned the ire of many pros.

As part of Heffelfinger's championship vision, he wanted a course that was tough enough to challenge the world's best. Architect Robert Trent Jones, who shared that vision, made it happen. Unfortunately, he did it a little too well.

Doglegs — holes with angled fairways — dotted Hazeltine so players couldn't see the landing area. A few pros even took to calling the notorious 17th hole "Farmer Jones' practical joke."

"It was an incredibly unpopular way of stifling the pros with the pros themselves," Shefchik said. "They really didn't like the golf course."

During the 1970 Open, runner-up Dave Hill made headlines when he said the course "lacked only 80 acres of corn and a few cows to be a good farm" — and that Jones "had the blueprints upside down."

He was fined $150 by the USGA for the comments.

Minnesotans did not take kindly to the insult. According to The New York Times, "spectators voiced their opinion of Hill not with boos but 'moos' and the clanging of cowbells as he walked the course."

For what it's worth, he wasn't the only pro to publicly knock Hazeltine's doglegs — even golf great Jack Nicklaus did.

The backlash led to a number of course changes over the years, which later won over even Hill.

But the damage had been done. In the years following the 1970 championships, the negative publicity took a toll on Hazeltine.

Uncertain times

Chaska is approximately 35 minutes west of Minneapolis, hardly in the heart of the metro. Its distance was especially clear when it first opened in 1962, making it difficult to draw out enough golfers that far west.

One pro said, during that 1970 U.S. Open, "I'd withdraw, but I don't know how to get back to town," said Shefchik.

Those early negative reviews from the pros didn't help.

And then, in the mid-1980s, the course needed some major reseeding and regrassing.

"It was a huge capital expenditure and they needed to rely on a fairly small membership to come up with the funds to do that," Molin said.

But that project became the turning point for Hazeltine.

"When membership decided to come up with the money to do the reseeding and recontouring of the greens and fairways, that was enough to interest the USGA again and they were awarded the 1991 Open," Molin said. "The 1991 Open is what indicated to everybody that Hazeltine made it."

When tragedy struck Hazeltine

The '91 tournament was hugely successful. Minnesotans, having gone without hosting a men's major for 21 years, flocked to Hazeltine with arms — and wallets — wide open.

"The USGA never made so much money as they did in 1991," Shefchik said.

But one moment cast a shadow on the event. On June 13, 1991, lightning struck and killed a person. Five others were injured.

Former Pioneer Press photographer and MPR News freelancer Richard Marshall was there. As the storm rolled in and play was suspended, he set up on the 11th tee and began taking photos of people trying to find shelter.

"I focused on a few guys trying to hide under the boughs of a pine tree, and then, with a loud explosion, the world went white.

I remember watching as the Day-Glo orange poncho I had been wearing fly off me into the sky, stark against the blinding whiteness, almost in slow motion. With rain pelting my face, I realized I was flat on my back, without any of my camera gear, and without a clue as to what had happened.

I sat up and looked straight ahead where six men stood under a weeping willow about 30 yards away, side by side. They were motionless, like department store mannequins. Then they just crumpled, as if they no longer had skeletons inside to support them."

Later that summer, lightning struck and killed a spectator at the PGA Championship in Indiana. Though not the first of their kind, the two incidents prompted golf officials to look at their severe weather policies and when to suspend play.

This year at the Ryder Cup, spectators will be asked to watch scoreboards and video boards for a weather warning sign, which will appear if severe weather moves into the area. When the signs appear, spectators are advised to seek shelter prior to play being suspended. If the sirens sound, spectators should find shelter immediately.

Continued success

Since 1991, Hazeltine has hosted two PGA Championships, the U.S. Amateur Championship, the NCAA Division I Men's Championship, among other tournaments.

In fact, with the Ryder Cup this year, Hazeltine will become one of only two courses in the country to have hosted the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Women's Open, U.S. Amateur and the Ryder Cup.

It's made its mark as one of the best courses in Minnesota, and the future of the club is no longer in doubt.

Former club president Warren Rebholz told Shefchik in "From Fields to Fairways," "We've established a national reputation in golf, bringing attention to this area. ... You can hardly dial in a TV tournament without somewhere hearing the name Hazeltine. Everybody knows it's in Minnesota, and that's good for Minnesota."