Wakonda

Situated less than a mile to the north of Des Moines International airport, the course at the Wakonda Club was set out on a somewhat restricted parcel of land by William Langford in 1922. Today, it’s been lengthened to just under 7,000 yards, playing to a par of 72.

The club hosted the Western Amateur in 1947 then the US Amateur in 1963. In more recent times, the Principal Charity Classic, an annual PGA Tour Champions event, has been held here since 2013. The tournament raises money for Iowa children’s charities, with almost $4.5 million raised in 2018.

Author Daniel Wexler in The American Private Golf Club Guide says “the dean of Iowa’s Golden Age courses sits on a rolling property well-suited to William Langford’s famously deep bunkering and elevated, heavily contoured greens (and) it relies upon the uneven landscape for a good portion of its difficulty.”

At the start of 2024, Tyler Rae completed a project to upgrade the greens, rebuild all the bunkers, widen playing corridors and install new tees. A major part of the work involved taking grass sods from five newer greens and redistributing the vegetation around the other thirteen greens, with the aim of bringing greater consistency across the layout.