June 26, 2023

In about 75 days since it was announced, Sioux Falls’ first private golf course in decades has drawn a surge of interest.

“We have two years until this opens, but the community outreach and positive responses have been quite humbling,” said Danny Amundson, who is leading the group of founding owners to support construction of Mapleton Golf Club.

“The proof in the pudding is being realized — something like this is needed to add to Sioux Falls.”

Mapleton Golf Club would encompass 210 acres northeast of interstates 229 and 90, across from the South Dakota Veterans Cemetery and along Slip Up Creek.

It’s being developed by Landscapes Unlimited, which has worked on more than 2,500 golf course construction projects, including Sutton Bay in central South Dakota.

Landscapes most recently opened a similar private club in Nebraska, and so far, the Sioux Falls response has outpaced that.

“After five months, between investors and their general golf memberships, they had 80 golf memberships committed,” Amundson said. “If we added up our three categories of single, corporate and national memberships, we’re at 135 after 2.5 months.”

That’s about 40 percent of the way toward the cap of 350 members. And the goal isn’t necessarily to open sold out.

“So they (Landscapes) are extremely impressed with the momentum behind the project,” Amundon said. “We’ve also got a list a couple hundred (names) long of people actively watching and showing interest and probably some just waiting to see dirt get turned. There’s no expectation this has to sell out before it opens. It’s just on a great trajectory to keep moving in that direction.”

Mapleton will cross another milestone this week, with a final vote at a joint city-county meeting to approve its zoning.

“We’re just really thankful the city leadership, planning and zoning, and public works and the county have been great to work with,” Amundson said.

The concept calls for an 18-hole championship course designed by well-known architect Scott Hoffman, a driving range and practice facilities, and a clubhouse with amenities such as a fine dining restaurant, bar/lounge, patio and private meeting space. The plan also calls for overnight lodging with up to 24 rooms.

The Sioux Falls market hasn’t seen a new private club since The Country Club of Sioux Falls opened in 1959.

The Mapleton developers are in the final stages of selecting a designer and contractor, and plan to wrap that up in early July, Amundson said.

“Hopefully by late July or early August, we can start presenting some real renderings of what the future design facilities are intended to look like,” he said. “We’re going to continue the membership sales campaign and continue to work on other golf course design we need to get done through summer and fall.”

There might be some dirt work done yet this year, weather depending, but regardless, the plan is still to be open for play by late summer 2025.

“We’ve seen the enthusiasm continue to increase since it’s gotten really nice out and people are out playing golf,” Amundson said.