DUININCK BROS GOLF - A Passion for Creating Golf Courses

Duininck Bros. Golf on track to complete Madison, WI, layout by summer 2003

MADISON, Wis. — Golfers in and around Wisconsin’s state capital should be able to tee it up at the area’s newest course, The Oaks Golf Club, by the summer of 2003.

Golf course builder Duininck Brothers Inc. has moved 200,000 cubic yards of dirt since construction began last October. Rough grading of the $2.5-million, 18-hole, daily-fee facility should be completed in May with seeding to begin this summer. Greens will be planted with smooth-rolling L-93 and SR 1119 bentgrasses, tees and fairways with bentgrass, and roughs with bluegrass. Greg Martin of Batavia, Ill., is the course architect.

“The course will fill a void in the Madison area for a well-groomed, affordable golf course,” said John Blaska, whose family has owned the suburban Madison farmland for more than 100 years. Randy Kyle of TK Associates in Madison is an advisor on the project.

Koshonong Creek will come into play on four holes with wetlands playing an integral part on 11 others. Thick, bluegrass rough and deep green-side bunkers will put a premium on accurate approach shots. All the holes are solid, climaxing with the heroic, 540-yard, par-5 18th, which plays over Koshonong Creek and back to the clubhouse, Martin said. The Oaks will stretch to a robust 6,700 yards from the tips, but its four sets of strategically placed tees will make it playable for golfers of all abilities.

“It’s an intriguing site with four to five very distinct landscape areas,” Martin said. “You have the river valley, large wetland areas, open prairies and fairly dense oak woodlands with 200-year-old tress. It’s been a challenge to build around all that. It’s an odd-shaped piece of land and took a number of routing plans to make it work.

“Duininck Brothers has been very responsive. They understand the complexities of a project like this and are tackling it.”

Duininck Bros. General Manager Dave Munkvold worked closely with Blaska, Kyle and Martin during the permitting process. The Dane County Zoning and Soil Conservation commissions, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources all had to sign off on the project, which received final approval last September.

“Obtaining permitting here in Dane County is as difficult as anywhere in the United States,” Munkvold said.

The Oaks Golf Club is conveniently located near Cottage Grove, Wis., an eastern suburb of Madison just off Interstate 94 on the way to Milwaukee. Several holes are visible from the highway. A small residential project will eventually be built bordering parts of the course.

Duininck Brothers is a national construction company and a certified builder member of the Golf Course Builders Association of America. The golf division is headquartered in Prinsburg, Minn., with an additional office in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. The company is nearing completion on several projects and has worked with a number of nationally known course architects including Rick Jacobson, Craig Schreiner, Tripp Davis and Garrett Gill. For more information, write Duininck Brothers Inc. Golf, PO Box 208, Prinsburg, MN 56281; telephone 800-328-8949; facsimile 320-978-9900; website www.dbigolf.com.