The Harvester Club began as a question. Why isn’t there a great golf course in Iowa that competes with the best courses in the U.S.? Dickson Jensen, a golf lover and Iowa developer, wanted to answer this question with a creation of his own golf course. After about a year of searching and nabbing up four separate parcels of land 30 miles northeast of Des Moines the pursuit began. A desire for a Midwestern architect narrowed the job down to Dick Nugent of Chicago and Keith Foster of St. Louis, with the latter receiving the job. The main goal of the project was to create a great golf course that’s set into the land, leaving it as natural as it could be and letting the rolling Iowa farmland and expansive Crab Tree Lake dictate the interest of the holes. Many would argue that the goal was met or even surpassed as the Harvester is perennially ranked as the best course in the state.
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Exclusivity. The Harvester opened in 2000 as a daily-fee course that served as a high-end public option for golfers in the Des Moines area. Over time, frequent public play began to decline and Dickson’s affinity for great classical golf architecture grew, leading to the desire for something new. By 2010, some bunker renovations were carried out to take away some of the roundness of features and replace the “modern” look with natural worn-out bunkering. In 2018, the course fully closed down for an extensive renovation that would reimagine the golf course in a new style, one that mimics those of the great Golden Age golf courses of the 1920s and 30s. The course reopened the following year as a private club with a brand-new (or should I say, old) look. The club now has limited play per day to create the experience of having the course to yourself.
Run-in with the law. In November 2017, Keith Foster’s home was raided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services due to concrete evidence of illegal smuggling of endangered species. A plea agreement was signed in 2018, and in 2019 Foster was convicted, and he forfeited the remaining illegal items along with $275,000 cash. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail. This run-in severed Foster’s ties at several big-name clubs, including Congressional and Olympia Fields, but he continued his work at the Harvester Club.
Pushing the envelope. The conditioning at the Harvester Club has to be seen to be believed. Some of the fastest playing surfaces anywhere in the world are found here in central Iowa. The height of cut on the tees and fairways is mind-numbingly short, creating extraordinarily slick surfaces that are likely faster than your local muni’s greens. As for the putting surfaces, they regularly stand at 13+ on the Stimpmeter, providing an additional challenge to the stern layout. All of this is rounded out by very firm turf that allows the ball to bounce and bound across playing surfaces.
Pitch-n-putt. A pitch-n-putt course plus additional practice facilities are currently being added alongside the entrance road at the back of the driving range. This new course layout will allow members to hone their wedge game with sub-50-yard holes that require just a wedge and putter. A nice deviation from the popular short courses that are popping up all over the nation.
