Pierz Municipal Golf Course
Paperwork approved:
Cost: $17,435 (with recreational area plus portion of $35, 436 in 1937
Architect: Dr. F. L. Zehnpfenning (local dentist)
Holes: 9
Opened: Grand Opening 6/7/36 - (first green fee 5/14/39)
The stories are: Pierz voters chose to build a golf course instead of a sewer treatment plant; another story is the course was built as a recreation area for officers at Camp Ripley. The truth is, neither are true, but they are good stories. The real story is, Pierz was the first city in Minnesota to have its proposal for a golf course approved by the WPA. Then, just to confirm the decision of the city council, there were two separate votes by the city to confirm this is what they wanted to do. (Well, they also approved several other local projects too.)
The council heard a presentation on August 31, 1935 that there was this opportunity to get some financial aid to help pay for several local projects – and they went ahead. They gave the local dentist, and soon-to-be golf course architect $1575 to get 80 acres of land.
The project proceeded slowly. One report says they hired five teams from local farmers to work on the land. The teams of horses pulled scoops to move the dirt. There were 75 men working on the course. (Contrast the manual labor of 1935 and the mechanical means of making courses in the late 1930s.) One additional reason was construction included a watering system.
When one moves tons of dirt with teams of horses, things proceed slowly, so even though men were working on the course in 1935, the first green fee was sold on May 14, 1939 (75 cents for 18 holes).
Speaking of greens, in the earliest days of the course, the rough was kept down by sheep. There was a rope one had to step over to get on the greens (to keep the sheep off the greens).