Stillwater Country Club

Overview: Stillwater Country Club overlooks the St Croix River Valley from a historic site in Stillwater. The current 18-hole parkland course combines the original nine-hole work associated with Tom Vardon and the second nine designed by Paul Coates. At par 72 and about 6,800 yards from the back tees, it uses mature trees, rolling ground, and changes in elevation to create a traditional Minnesota club course. Its interest lies in the way an older nine and a later expansion now read as one coherent routing.

History: The club was founded in 1924 after local golfers grew tired of waiting to play the crowded St Paul municipal course. Tom Vardon helped select the North Hill site and laid out the original nine, which opened after the permanent greens were completed in the mid-1920s. The club bought additional land in the 1950s, hired Paul Coates to add and rework holes, and opened the full 18-hole course in spring 1959. Later bunker work restored grass-faced details associated with Vardon's original style.

Did You Know? Several holes in today's course preserve the footprint of the original nine, even though the routing was expanded and renumbered when the second nine arrived. That makes Stillwater a useful example of how a club can grow from a small local course into an 18-hole layout without erasing its first design chapter.