SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Danny Amundson has always liked the land in northern Sioux Falls.
“I’ve always thought it had some of the most beautiful terrain very close to the city’s edge,” Amundson said. “With the creeks and the rolling hills and good native grasses.”
That admiration of the land and the popularity of golf in Sioux Falls spurred Amundson and Landscapes Unlimited’s Tom Everett onto the idea of the Mapleton Golf Club.
The Mapleton Golf Club launched a website and announced plans to open a new private golf club in 2025 in northeastern Sioux Falls north of Interstate 90.
“It has a lot of low territory where Slip up Creek runs through the property which means that there’s some natural floodplain down in the bottom,” Amundson said. “A problem for a lot of people who might consider building businesses and structures, but a really good opportunity for golf holes.”
Amundson, a former college golfer at Belmont University and high school state champion with Sioux Falls O’Gorman, said he saw signs about land for sale near the spot that eventually will become Mapleton Golf Course.
“I saw there was about 210 acres, all owned by one family, and it was kind of landlocked, so you had a little bit of an opportunity for privacy,” Amundson said. “We literally reached out to them and they were excited about the opportunity of looking at their land for a future golf course.”
Sioux Falls is home to two private golf clubs – Minnehaha Country Club and The Country Club of Sioux Falls. Mapleton Golf Club, which still needs county and city of Sioux Falls zoning approval, would be the newest golf club to open in Sioux Falls in more than 60 years.
If you include the Grand Falls Casino golf course in Larchwood, Iowa as well as golf courses in Brandon and Hartford, the Sioux Falls area has 13 golf courses in a variety of styles. While Mapleton would be a private course, it would be the area’s 14th golf course.
Amundson, who has been back in Sioux Falls since 2009 and works as the vice president for KWB Hotel Partners LLC, said he’s seen the popularity of golf grow in Sioux Falls. He mentioned there are waiting lists at the two country clubs, while city and Great Life golf courses stay busy.
“We’re really excited to bring a new and unique golf opportunity to Sioux Falls,” said Amundson, who declined to get into specific costs to build and open the golf course. “We feel like we got a solid plan in place to be able to capitalize this project while maintaining the exclusivity of the private membership base with the low volume that we’re looking for.”
Landscapes Unlimited and Landscapes Golf Management will develop and construct the golf course and manage the club operations when it opens. The golf course plans to play 7,260 yards and be a 72-par championship course.
The same company operates the three golf courses owned by the city of Sioux Falls and helped design and construct the private Sutton Bay golf course along the Missouri River in central South Dakota.
Amundson said he’s confident the project will go through the formal city and county planning and zoning process and that the project fits the land. He said there’s been plenty of conversations with community leaders and people in the golf industry that the project could work.
He said the golf club is accepting applications for membership through the website and anyone interested so contact the golf club through the website for more information.
