OCM Golf designs 18-hole course on a site that has 100-foot elevation changes, glacial moraines and Shakopee Creek running through it
By Kasturi Datta |
Tepetonka Club, a new private golf destination near New London, Minnesota, will open in summer 2026. The private club will have an 18-hole layout designed by OCM Golf, as well as a short course that CBS Sports commentator Jim Nantz has consulted on.
OCM’s 18-hole design has been laid out on a 288-acre site, located 90 miles west of Twin Cities, which has naturally formed glacial moraines, 100-foot elevation changes, cedar trees and Shakopee Creek – a tributary of the Chippewa River – which comes into play on six holes.
Duininck Golf began construction in 2024, three years after Mark Haugejorde, a former general manager of the Jack Nicklaus International Golf Club and now CEO of Tepetonka Club, identified the former recreation site. “The only direction we were given was to find the best eighteen holes on the property, and that’s what we’ve tried our best to do,” said Ashley Mead, principal at OCM, ahead of construction starting.
Geoff Ogilvy, principal at OCM, added: “The site we’re working with at Tepetonka is extraordinary. The first time we were on the property we knew Tepetonka was going to be special. It’s rare to find property so naturally suited for golf that sixteen of the 18 holes required minimal to no earthmoving.”
The OCM-designed golf course at Tepetonka Club is growing in ahead of a summer 2026 opening (Photo: Tepetonka Club)
Haugejorde said: “OCM moved less than 1,000 yards of dirt on the first fourteen holes. That’s almost impossible to do.
“Through design, construction and finishing, we’ve seen our members change their favourite holes. There are three distinct topographies on the 228 acres: bluffs and a creek, similar to Montana; prairie and moraines, similar to Nebraska or Colorado dunes; and the four closing holes capture a Minnesota look and feel that OCM really love.
“Hole seven was the only obvious hole we identified before OCM arrived, but they found the location for hole three very quickly and it is a spectacular par three.”
OCM has designed the course through a variety of topographies (Photo: Tepetonka Club)
Tepetonka’s CEO also highlights the bunker and green complexes. “The moraines have saddles that lead the eye, and we have bunkering unlike any course in the upper Midwest,” he said. “The green complexes are true to OCM’s desire to make play more difficult for the low handicap player, and easier for the higher handicap players. It’s a key reason we hired OCM.”
The club will be managed by Kemper Sports and Jason McCarty has recently been hired as the director of golf following his work at Cabot Saint Lucia’s Point Hardy Golf Club.
Tepetonka’s short course – initially called The Prox but has since been renamed The Gjallarhorn – features green and bunker features that the 18-hole course could not accommodate. The involvement of Jim Nantz led to the introduction of a ‘Rock of Fame’ tee. “The first is at his home in Pebble Beach,” said Haugejorde. “Each day in the late afternoon, the Gjallarhorn will sound and players can come together and watch each other take a crack at making an ace from the Rock of Fame tee to the ninth green. The shaping features are similar to the sixteenth at Augusta, where Jim called his first Masters in 1986. Each player will be announced in Nantz fashion, and we're confident that the camaraderie will be unlike any other.”