Paul Miller Design has completed renovation work on two holes and developed a new practice area at The Meadows at Mystic Lake near Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Miller and fellow architect Garrett Gill designed the course in 2005. Miller has returned to the club to handle renovation work on multiple occasions, including a complete bunker renovation, and the current improvements, beginning in February 2022, that are concentrated on the final two holes and a new practice area.

“The improvements to the par-three seventeenth hole enhance the ‘wow factor’ while adding expansive tee space and playing variety and challenge,” Miller told GCA. “The enlarged green and reshaped wetlands heighten the risk-reward aspect of playing to a particular pin, with a surrounding backdrop of pristine natural wetlands. The new back tee adds 30 yards to the length of the hole. Golfers love the expanded playing variety and new challenges on the massive 9,150-square-foot putting surface.”

On the par-five eighteenth, otherwise known as ‘Moose’, the timber wall along the approach, fairway and green has been reconstructed, and a new bridge from the green over the Mesa Burn to the clubhouse has been built. Miller has also reshaped green surrounds and the fairway along the timber wall provide a ‘crescendo’ to the hole.

A new practice area, ‘The Mesa’, has also been built, with four greens, four practice bunkers and fairway chipping areas. “The Mesa also serves as the front yard to Mystic Lake Center, while providing tournament seating for the eighteenth hole,” said Miller. “The area gives golfers opportunities to work on critical short-game chip and pitch shots from 50 yards.

“These improvements to the seventeenth, eighteenth and practice area take The Meadows at Mystic Lake to the next level of playability and challenge while continuing to honour the spectacular natural beauty of the land.”

Along with Paul Miller Design, the engineering firm Bolton & Menk, The Meadows at Mystic Lake’s golf course superintendent Pete Nolan, director of golf Mike Luckraft and economic development administrator Thad Hellman facilitated the planning and construction process. Construction was completed by general contractor S. M. Hentges & Sons and golf course builder Hartman Companies.