From GM Craig Smith,
With the course closing for the season and the maintenance team continuing winter course prep, it’s time to look back on another year here at Enger Park. What a year it’s been!
Since the Fall of 2023, the course has been positively impacted by the planning and creation of a new irrigation pond, installation of a state-of-the-art Irrigation system and a cold-water trout stream restoration project.
The projects are part of a 3-year plan partnering with a collaboration of private and public agencies; the City of Duluth, Irrigation Contractors, and the MN DNR. I’m confident you have seen vast improvements to course conditions by having the course irrigation system fully operational.
Course conditions will continue to improve with another growing season and our ability to fully maintain all in-play turf areas. The only construction remaining are installation of irrigation on the practice facility and completion of the stream restoration project.
During this season, the promise of 18 holes of play throughout the season was fulfilled. Despite a few temporary tees and the stream restoration forcing changes on a few holes, we ensured every League and Outing continued without interruption, while still having plenty of tee times for the public and annual passholders.
I would like to thank our Superintendent Josh Krause and his team, who performed heroic work maintaining the course during the absence of irrigation, while being actively involved with the planning and construction processes.
As the off-season is upon us, planning is already underway for 2025. A new cart fleet and maintenance vehicles are ordered and other exciting announcements will be coming soon.
Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for showing us your grace, patience and understanding while we navigated and juggled the tee sheet to make things work. We strived for transparency and hope the impact on your experiences was minimal.
As the calendar turns to the holiday season, we wish everyone the best and look forward to seeing you in 2025!
Craig Smith, GM