DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — In the ever increasing competition for the golfing consumer in the Minnesota lakes country, Forest Hills Resort just off of Highway 10 near Detroit Lakes has gone dark. Or black.
The 18-hole course, in an effort to be different and set itself apart from others, changed its name last summer to Black Diamond Golf Course after exchanging all of its traditional sand bunkers to black coal slag.
“It’s given the golf course its true identity,” said Greyson Thomas, golf operations manager. “It’s something different than every other golf course. People remember this golf course for the black sand and the first hole being a par-3 over water. That’s what I constantly hear from people.”
The slag comes from Abrasives Inc. in Glen Ullin, North Dakota, with the black slag one of several products the company makes. It’s the same substance that Hawktree Golf Club in Bismarck uses for its bunkers.
Thomas said when the decision was made to go to the black bunker, a call was made to Hawktree to see if they liked it or regretted putting it in. It was Hawktree who suggested going through Abrasives Inc.
“Abrasives have been wonderful and this stuff is so great, so fun to play out of,” Thomas said. “It’s a treat.”
The original intent of the black slag at Hawktree, which was built in 2000, was because of the course’s location in a windswept landscape north of Bismarck. The heavier slag is less susceptible to being blown away. Plus, white sand may not stay white for long with potential dirt storms.
The slag tends to play softer than traditional sand, although with a steady flow of rain at Forest Hills over the last few weeks has the bunkers playing similar to regular sand. They are not small, either, with the first slag bunker at No. 3 on the very large side.
A bunker guards the entire right side of the par-4 sixth hole, which features 447 yards of classic Minnesota lake country views including a church steeple in the distance. Considering the length of that hole, a prayer might not be a bad play.
It’s not uncommon for Thomas to watch golfers coming up hole No. 18 and he’ll usually know if they’ve been in the bunker or not. For the ones who avoided them, they’ll take a ball, throw it into the slag and hit it just to see how it goes.
“It’s always fun to watch them hit a shot,” Thomas said.
The black sand has been part of the course’s revival that also was helped with the boom of golf with the pandemic. A trip around the facility last week revealed unlimited shades of the color green with the fairways, trees, shrubbery and putting greens.
Hole No. 18 will go down as one of the best finishing holes anywhere, a par-5 that has a little bit of everything from undulation, water, and, of course, slag bunkers on both sides of a double-tier green. Thomas would label it the signature hole.
“On any course in my opinion, the 18th hole has to be one of your most important holes just because it’s the last hole everybody remembers,” he said.
Jeff Kolpack, the son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995. He has covered all 10 of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written four books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough,” “Covid Kids” and “They Caught Them Sleeping: How Dot Reinvented the Pretzel.” He is also the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” April through August.