NEW LONDON, Minn. – Even before Jim Nantz stepped foot on property at Tepetonka Golf Club, he dubbed it “Minnesota’s masterpiece.”
Those words had a nice alliterative ring to them but now that he had toured the grounds for the first time, including what will become The Prox, a short course to be designed there by the team of Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking and Ashley Meade, in the western corner of the Land of 10,000 Lakes, he smiled and doubled down, declaring in his familiar voice, “This land will become world-renowned.”
Nantz, the 64-year-old voice of CBS whom sports fans have welcomed into their living rooms and mancaves for more than three decades, may have a thing or two to do with that. He’s serving as design consultant on The Prox but as he so elegantly put it, “This is like centuries ago telling Michelangelo as he painted the Sistine Chapel, ‘Why don’t you do this?’”
Nantz’s only golf architecture credit to his name consists of a backyard hole, a miniaturized replica of the seventh at Pebble Beach Golf Links, that he created not far from the real thing. So, why is he being allowed in the sandbox to draw up holes? In a word, friendship, but stick around for the full story.
Mark Haugejorde’s special bond with Nantz dates 46 years back to their college days. They were teammates on the University of Houston men’s golf team and famed coach Dave Williams assigned Haugejorde, a senior at the time, to befriend the freshmen, which included Nantz, Fred Couples and another future PGA Tour winner, Blaine McCallister.
“He was this scrawny kid and all he wanted to be was a sportscaster,” Haugejorde said of Nantz.
Blue-tipped flags mark tees, red-tipped flags the center lines and green-tipped stakes for the greens at Tepetonka Golf Club in Minnesota. (Courtesy Tepetonka Golf Club)
Houston’s golf team was a juggernaut, winning 16 NCAA titles in a span of 30 years, though Nantz is quick to point out he contributed nothing to the cause.
“I was without question – I’m not trying to be humble about it – the worst player in the history of the program,” he said.
But Williams didn’t become a legendary coach without learning to build a team where every player had a role and he carved out a special one for Nantz.
“I was kind of the den mothe/r,” Nantz recalled. “I think he saw in me as someone who was a real goal-minded individual because the first time I met him I told him I didn’t want to be a professional golfer, I…
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