A Historical Tour of MGC

Joel Goldstrand

In 1973, the Club reached out to the PGA Tour ranks for 34-year-old Joel Goldstrand. Goldstrand’s Worthington high school golf team won the state championship his senior year, and in the fall of 1957 he enrolled at the University of Houston, where Coach Dave Williams was beginning his decades-long run of dominance. Goldstrand joined the PGA Tour in 1965. His best year was 1969, when he finished 72nd on the money list. In 1970 he tied for 12th at the U.S. Open at Hazeltine, but by then he and his wife had a young family and traveling was becoming more difficult. When he was asked to apply for the Minneapolis Golf Club head pro job, it was an easy decision.

In 1975, Goldstrand created the Minnesota Golf Champions tournament, modeled after the Masters and open to all of the state’s past champions. Goldstrand had begun a small sideline as a golf course architect in 1969, but when his design of The Pines at Grandview Lodge in Brainerd became a huge success in 1989, he decided to give up his club pro job to devote full time to golf architecture.

Goldstrand’s last full year at MGC was 1989. He stayed around for part of 1990 to help his replacement, Dave Haberle, make the transition to head pro.