Track plans stir debate over fate of U golf course

The imminent displacement of the University of Minnesota's track and field complex has stirred debate over the future of another piece of university athletics land. The Les Bolstad Golf Course on the St. Paul campus is being considered as a potential landing spot for the new track, sparking concern about what might become of the 86-year-old course.

Will the course retain its 18-hole layout? Will the driving range be removed? What will be made of the historic clubhouse?

Jon Steadland, a member of university President Eric Kaler's staff, has tried to answer some of these questions at recent Falcon Heights City Council and university advisory board meetings. The university is also considering other locations, including building the track on what are now parking lots near Mariucci Arena. The school hopes to make a decision before July, and Steadland said it is exploring "a host" of options.

"If we had to move forward with the golf course property … I think golf will definitely be a part of that property no matter what in the future," Steadland reiterated at a university advisory board meeting last week. "But one of the components [the task force is considering] is: Are there alternative ways of looking at the game moving forward? Golf is the game that struggled in the recent years in terms of playing."

Steadland said the university could create "an alternative routing system with the golf course, whether that be 18 holes or alternative numbers of holes."

Longtime supporters of the golf course have attended these meetings. Larry Overskei, a community and course member and a former Gophers basketball captain (1969-70), said he is concerned about the course shrinking its 18-hole layout or moving to an alternative model, such as a 12-hole concept.

"It's historical and I love the layout," Overskei said. "Let's just not tear up natural and historic areas we all enjoy. … There are thousands and thousands of people that treasure that golf course."

Other considerations, Steadland said, include redesigning the course so it has a traditional nine-hole layout with an additional unique loop of three holes, some with double greens, that could be reconfigured to play differently, depending on the day.

This forward thinking is difficult for some course members to digest less than three years after learning that the course would receive a more traditional $7.5 million upgrade following a 2012 university task force study. Those plans were put on hold after the 2013 unveiling of a proposed $190 million athletics village on the Minneapolis campus.

Project designs revealed that new buildings would displace the track; in January, a Title IX complaint was filed with the U.S. Department of over concerns that women's track and cross-country student-athletes were being displaced and overlooked. That investigation remains open, and the university's self-initiated review of gender equality in athletics remains ongoing.

Now, the university will try to quell concern from community members dubious of any new concepts for the Les Bolstad Golf Course as it decides where to build its track and field complex.

"[The course] has great history and great legacy not only with the University of Minnesota but in the state," Steadland said. "But it's clear the status quo isn't working."