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  Stillwater Country Club opened back in 1924 with a nine-hole course designed by Tom Vardon

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  Kevin Norby worked alongside Tom West of the Hartman Golf firm on the project

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  The course has hosted a number of Minnesota Golf Association events over the years

A renovation of the course at the Stillwater Country Club in Stillwater, Minnesota, has been completed.

Led by Kevin Norby of the Herfort Norby Golf Course Architects firm, the project focused on reducing maintenance and the course’s bunkering.

Stillwater Country Club was established in 1924, and a nine-hole course designed by Tom Vardon a year later with temporary greens. 

Paul Coates designed an additional nine holes at the club in 1957, and the club hosted the Minnesota State Golf Championship for the first time in 1976. The club has hosted a number of Minnesota Golf Association events since then.

Norby worked closely with Tom West of the Hartman Golf company to redesign some bunkers, remove others and add new ones to the course.

One of the most significant elements of the recent project was the redesign of the thirteenth hole, which will now play as a Redan style hole.

According to Norby: “The slope of the green set up perfectly for a traditional right to left Redan but the bunkering was all wrong and none of the historic photographs indicated that the hole ever played as a Redan.”

A centre bunker on the seventh hole has been repositioned, while new fairway bunkers have been introduced on the fourth, fifth and twelfth holes.

Norby added: “Overall, we reduced the amount of sand, we improved drainage and we created something that will differentiate Stillwater Country Club from other private clubs in the area.”