A valley of variety

By Torleif Sorenson

“Some people don’t want to work all week, then play golf and get beaten up by the course. When you walk off this course, you’ll know you’ve been challenged, but you won’t feel exhausted.”

Bob Cotie should know. The 62-year-old head professional at St. Paul’s Como Golf Course says, “The first time I played it, I fell in love with it.” But it is not just better players like Cotie who appreciate the relatively short length and challenging greens. “It’s hard, but not frustrating,” says Kathy Zieman, a member of the Como Women’s Golf Club who has played here for six years. “At first I was intimidated and a little afraid of the course, but it really isn’t that way.”

Nobody will confuse Como with more famous and higher-end municipal courses like Harding Park in San Francisco or the Black Course at Bethpage State Park near Farmingdale, N.Y., where Lucas Glover recently won the 108th U.S. Open Championship. But Como’s mission is not to frustrate, punish or thrash us into submission.

A magnet in the Midway
Most people find Como Golf Course an attractive place to play for a variety of reasons. Members of the women’s and men’s groups at Como can obtain convenient tee times on weekdays, evenings and weekends with relative ease—something not always available at other public or private courses. And as Zieman points out, “With the Women’s Club, you can always find other women with a variety of skill levels.”

Kids are also very welcome at Como; Gary Ketchel has run the junior program at Como for several years, and the feedback from them is very similar. “And we have about a hundred kids in our program this year,” he says.

But even if you decide not to join one of the groups, tee times at Como are still readily available and quite affordable; the highest greens fee is under $30, and people can squeeze in nine twilight holes for a mere $12.

Variety: The spice of…
Como’s original 1929 design might have qualified as a “dull muni.” It certainly wasn’t easy to access; Cotie says that the first time he drove to Como some 30 years ago, “I couldn’t even find the clubhouse.”

In 1986, facing a variety of technical and drainage problems, the City of Saint Paul closed the course for a two-year-long reconstruction, with a new clubhouse conveniently located on Lexington Parkway. Open and bright, the “new” clubhouse’s octagonal glass walls pleasantly echo the nearby Marjorie McNeely Conservatory and it includes a pro shop, grill and an upper-level conference room.

The course itself presented challenges for architect Don Herfort; Como is a relatively small parcel of land in a valley south of Larpenteur Ave. and east of Hamline Ave., with no room to expand. But he took advantage of the hills, swales and mature trees by building a variety of challenges with a scattering of 28 fairway and greenside bunkers, water on seven holes and several greens built into the sides of hills. Herfort has since retired, but talked with this reporter about his redesign.

“I always like holes that go down, where you can see the green—people are more pleased with the result,” he says. Herfort’s later partner in design, Kevin Norby, is now principal of the Herfort-Norby design firm, and echoes Don’s sentiments: “People who don’t play as often will enjoy this course. Part of it has to do with the length, but a good part of it has to do with Don’s redesign. Don would provide a fair amount of undulation on the greens, and most people find them fun.” In 2006, Norby himself modified holes 3 and 11 by excavating for a larger pond, which also allows for wider fairways, provides for more storm-water retention and prevents flooding on the two holes.

While holes 1 and 2 are hilly, the course is not exhausting; it plays to 5,077 yards from the forward tees and 5,838 yards from the tips. Speaking of many golf course architects, Norby says, “Lately, we’ve been building some of these longer, more challenging courses and not too many that appeal to the average golfer. Como fits into that niche of shorter regulation-length courses and that helps make it popular with beginners, seniors, women and mid-to-higher handicap players.” Cotie agrees: “It’s not long, but you’ll use every club in your bag here.”

That is essentially what most golfers want in a course. And since all of this is in a parkland-style layout in a beautifully-wooded valley, you may forget you’re in the middle of Minnesota’s second largest city.

COURSE INFORMATION:
Como Golf Course
1431 Lexington Pkwy N
Saint Paul MN 55103-1052
651-488-9679
www.golfstpaul.org