Intimate and Unique Golf at Pattison Park

By Mark Lindquist

Photos by Steve Burmeister

On a foggy morning, a solitary duffer could easily confuse the landscape at Pattison Park Golf Course for a scene out of Sleepy Hollow. An eerie wooden specter dressed in knickers looms motionless behind the second tee box. The tallest dead tree you’ve ever seen stands like a monolith in front of the green on number 5. Many a golf ball has met a final resting spot at the bottom of an unnatural pond hidden behind the flag on number 6. And a creepy footbridge offers the only dry escape to the slender fairways of 7,8, and 9.

Make no mistake; Pattison Park is no cookie-cutter nine-hole course. Instead, it’s the perfect mix of affordable fun and unique golfing challenges for both beginners and avid players around the Twin Ports. Exaggerated ghost stories aside, Pattison does share one thing with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Its make-up includes a close-knit group of regulars who share a one-of-a-kind rural setting.

A Warm Welcome (and a little air conditioning) for Everyone in the Clubhouse

“Ninety-nine percent of the reason I come out here is for the people,” says Fran Asphal, sitting in the casual clubhouse after completing an early morning round with her husband Rudy. She should know. Fran has golfed at Pattison Park for thirty years. “I play in the Tuesday women’s League, the Wednesday couple’s League, and I’m a sub in some other leagues. It’s such a nice little course,” she brags like a proud grandmother. “This is god’s country,” chimes in Rudy. Clubhouse manager, Shelloy Miller, concurs, “The people here are more friendly, more like family. There’s no ranger coming out and pushing you.” She continues, “I was twenty-three years old when I started. I was the weekend bartender and drove the beer cart for the tournaments.”

Now, twenty-eight years later, Shelloy oversees the 40 to 50 tournaments and 8 leagues Pattison hosts throughout the season. The thing about becoming attached to such a friendly place, though, is that you tend to lose a few loved ones as time passes. “I don’t like reading the obituaries in winter,” Shelloy admits. “Some of my favorite customers have passed away during the winters. These people golfed here every day for a long time, all the way up until they couldn’t walk or see very well anymore.”

Year Round Work for a Six Month Sport

People wouldn’t be drawn to the course located about fifteen minutes south of Superior unless it offered some distinctive golf. Carved out of a farmer’s field in the early 1970s and surrounded by a cedar forest and fast moving creeks, Pattison is known for some of the better greens early in the golf season. When asked why he’s been coming here for 15 years, Brian Anderson takes no time in answering. “I’m no pro, but the greens are good. It’s very well maintained,” he says while warming up on the first tee box. “I started coming here with my dad when I was a young boy to play tournaments. It’s a really nice course.”

Don’t think that co-owner and superintendent John Pettingill takes his winters off waiting around for spring to simply take the tarps off his labor of love. “This is a small business. During winter, I’ve got to try to replace older stuff with newer equipment. We can keep improving this course with modern equipment, but I can only pick up one or two things each year. It’s expensive,” he explains. John goes on to describe his yearly battle with costs and Mother Nature, “Everyone’s fighting gas prices. We want to make it cheap for people to drive out here and golf. It’s a sticky situation. I want to keep the pressure down for people while keeping the course up to date. And we’re always fighting the weather. I’m trying to expand a couple of tee boxes this year.”

A Wooden Golfer, A Dead Tree, and a Tight Bridge

Some of the aura of Pattison doesn’t need any modern tinkering. The above mentioned knickers-wearing specter standing behind the second tee box is actually a life size wooden carving of the original property owner, Neil Rossum, on whose land the course was built. From a distance, Mr. Rossum’s life-like statue appears to lean on his golf bag patiently waiting to tee off. More than one golfer has mistakenly yelled, “Fore!” as an errant tee shot has headed towards the stationary idol.

Pattison’s signature hole is the uphill, 160-yard number 5. Guarded in front by a stream, the biggest obstacle shoots straight up about fifty feet into the air and just right of center to the flag. The best advice for anyone who can’t shape his or her shot is simply to aim directly for the big dead tree and hope you don’t hit your ball straight for once. John laughs when told of that odd advice for everyone’s favorite hole, “I swear that thing is petrified. That dead skinny thing has been there longer than I’ve been here.” Another feature sure to get good stories concerns the walking bridge along the side of the par 4, seventh hole. Built in the 90s to eliminate cart traffic next to the tee box, the roofed overpass looks like a miniature colonial horse and buggy trestle. And despite posted signs not to, unknowing bushwhackers still attempt to drive their carts through its narrow gates big enough for walkers only. They soon realize, though a cart may barely fit in one end, there’s no room to escape the other side.

Things Getting Greener with Each New Season

For over three decades, things at Pattison have experienced healthy growth with every new season. Even the big dead tree on number 5 looks a little taller each year. A second generation of customers, who began coming with their parents long ago, now bring their own children to relish the sport. Numerous middle-aged regulars fondly remember spending their teenaged summers working at Pattison when home from school. Shelloy talks about her joy in watching people grow up at the course, “So many used to come here with their dads. I see them every year. They’re all grown up now. It gets confusing. I kept charging one guy junior rates until he finally told me that he was already 19 years old.”

 

 

 

 

This article appears in its entirety in the July 2008 issue of Duluth~Superior Magazine.
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