The Homer, Neb. property was part of the crop reserve program before its owners, the Andersen family that also owns the popular Old Dane 9-hole golf course, decided to swap farming for a golf course (Landmand is Danish for farmer). Designed by King-Collins, Landmand will be strictly for public play, with no corporate outings. “I want people to be able to call up, get a tee time and not have to worry about leagues or a scramble being out there,” Will Andersen said.
If everything goes as planned, Landmand Golf Club, located in the hills just north of Homer, Neb., will open in the summer of 2021, the Sioux City Journal reported. The inspiration for the 18-hole layout came from the Andersen family of Dakota City, Neb., who built Old Dane, a popular nine-hole course, in 2012.
C+RB first reported on the project in September 2019.
Landmand, pronounced “Lan-man,” is Danish for farmer, the Journal reported. And, the Andersens’ long history of farming had a lot to do with the course that, indeed, could be called Farmer Golf Club.
“We had the piece of property that the golf course is going to go on and it sat there for over 30 years in the CRP program, which is the crop reserve program,” said Will Andersen, who along with his father Bryce began discussing the possibility of building another course in 2015. “It’s just pasture ground, there’s no trees on them because my grandfather removed all of them in the late 1970s and early 80s. It just sat there, and I said to my dad that area up there would be a cool spot to have a golf course.”
In order to get the land into the crop reserve program, it had to be farmed for three years which, according to Bryce Andersen, were some of the toughest times he could remember, the Journal reported.
“He wasn’t about to farm it anymore, so I told him we could try to figure out something,” Andersen said. “One thing led to another and Mitch Merrill, the Head Pro at Sioux City Country Club, was the first person I told we were maybe thinking about doing a golf course.”
Merrill put the Andersens in contact with course designer Scott Miller, who met with the Andersens and made a trip from Arizona in January of 2015 to work on routing the course, the Journal reported. The Andersens liked his idea, however, they weren’t ready to pull the trigger at that point.
Fast forward to 2018 and not much more had progressed on the golf course idea, even though Will had talked to several more designers, the Journal reported. Then, a grain elevator in South Sioux City exploded, creating massive problems for area farmers, including the Andersens. Therefore, golf course talk was basically put on the back burner.
At about that time, the piece of property came out of CRP and the Andersens had a decision to make, the Journal reported.
“I told my dad if we put in back into CRP it has to be in there for 10 years and he said I don’t think we’re going to be doing anything soon because of what’s happened this year,” Andersen recalled. “So, lo and behold when 2019 rolled around I randomly mentioned to him in April that it was kind of now or never, we either do it or we don’t.
“He just kind of looked at me and said ‘you find a designer and we’ll do it this year.’ That’s when the ball really got rolling.”
During a round of golf at Old Dane with a friend, the friend mentioned King-Collins Golf Design, one of the hottest names in the golf industry, the Journal reported. King-Collins is most known for their work at Sweetens Cove Golf Club in Tennessee. They turned a normal nine-hole course into one of the most talked-about designs and more popular destinations in the United States.
How popular is Sweetens Cove? Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick—to name a few—are among the investors, the Journal reported.
“When C.J. brought them up I randomly looked at him and said I would get on my phone and e-mail them,” Andersen said. “I sent them a pretty basic e-mail explaining our situation. The next morning I get a call from Rob Collins.”
Two weeks later, Collins and Tad King traveled to Nebraska and fell in love with what they saw, the Journal reported.
“We were pretty familiar with that side of the state [the Sandhills], but neither one of us had spent much time over here,” Collins told the Nebraska Golfer magazine. “When we got up in the hills up there, it was really quite jaw-dropping. It’s got a little bit of the Sand Hills look to it, it looks like a links course in Ireland or the Sandhills, it’s just this very raw, natural, tumbling landscape.”
After their initial trip, Collins and King returned two weeks later and quickly had the course routed, the Journal reported. It literally took them only a day-and-a-half to finish the routing of all 18 holes.
The holes, they said, were falling into place as they were driving and walking around the property, the Journal reported. That’s how perfect this piece of land was.
“The part they like the best about the golf course is that it reveals itself everywhere,” Andersen said. “You will get on hole 2 tee and see a bunch of golf holes you’re going to see at some point from a distance.”
Landmand will play around 7,100 yards from the back tees with a par of 73, the Journal reported. The greens will measure from 2,500 sq. ft. (par-3 eighth hole) to 40,000 feet (310-yard par-4 17th).
The longest walk from any tee to green will be 65 yards, the Journal reported. Everyone likes golf carts, but the course will still be quite walkable.
There will be five par 5s and four par 3s, with all the rest par 4s, the Journal reported. A couple of the par 4s will be driveable for the longer hitters and that par 3s will range from 240 to 110 yards.
Landmand will be a strictly public play course, with no corporate outings, the Journal reported.
“I want people to be able to call up, get a tee time and not have to worry about leagues or a scramble being out there,” Andersen said.
Fees will be reasonable. Anyone living within a 50-mile radius can play for $75, which includes a cart, the Journal reported. Outside of the 50-mile radius, the fee will be $100.
Collins and King have enlisted an impressive crew to build Landmand, the Journal reported. That includes Jeff Bradley, the main bunker designer for Ben Crenshaw’s courses, along with Mark Berger, who shaped Bluejack National Course with Tiger Woods.
“I want a fun, exciting, different golf course that Sioux City has never seen,” said Andersen, himself an accomplished player. “Hopefully people will come from long distances to play. I want something everyone can enjoy, from the 30-handicap to the zero handicap.”
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