Spring Creek Country Club to become part of state park in 2025

It's the end of the line for the Spring Creek golf course in Harrisburg.

The greens are set to become part of Good Earth State Park at Blood Run.

Golfers still have ten years to play their last holes.

It's plenty of time to get in some more rounds of golf.

The owners of the course are thinking about what the future holds for them and the land.

Tee time is running out at Spring Creek Country Club.

Spring Creek Country Club president Mark Buehler said "we built this place 22 years ago. There are 30 of us who built it originally, and we've had a blast. At the same time, all of us are getting older and it was time to find an exit strategy for our corporation."

In the year 2025, the owners will turn over the greens to South Dakota as it becomes part of Good Earth State Park at Blood Run.

South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation past president and Blood Run project chairman Jeff Scherschligt said "we're not only preserving history, we're preserving some beautiful land. Ultimately, when you're adding this to the park, for good, forever, we just made a purchase that we know is going to be part of South Dakota's resources for thousands...forever."

For now, Spring Creek Country Club's 18 holes are a home away from home for many area golfers.

Spring Creek Country Club stockholder and member Dana Oas said "it's challenging, and yet is easy enough, so you don't feel like you took a beating when you came out to play golf."

"This is my mental break away from all the other life stresses, work, and all those things, so I just enjoy being out here, it's a beautiful place," Oas added.

With the changing landscape of golf, some may wonder if the game has run it's course.

"Todays people, millenials, they have less time, because they have so many activities to do, no, definitely not dying, but changing, yes," Buehler said.

Some see change for this golf course as a hole-in-one.

"To leave a legacy, is something not a lot a people can do, that is giving back to the great area of Sioux Falls," Buehler said.

Buehler said everything golfers like about the course now, may still be enjoyed for the next ten years.

He's satisfied the state will ensure the land will be used for nature after that.

The South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation will lease the land back to the country club for the next ten years.

The foundation, and the state of South Dakota have invested $7.5 million dollars each in the Good Earth State Park project to date.