A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Cloquet native Dan Rosen and his son Paris played at the Montgomery National Golf Club in Montgomery, an hour south of Minneapolis, on Dec. 7. It was the 12th month of the year for Dan playing golf in Minnesota, a personal record aided by some balmy winters.
Explorer Ponce de León was on a quest to find the mythical fountain of youth in Florida in 1513. President John Kennedy inspired the United States in its quest to have a person walk on the moon in the 1960s. Although maybe not quite as daunting, Dan Rosen, formerly of Cloquet, set out on a quest to golf in every calendar month in Minnesota in 2024. On Dec. 7, he accomplished his goal.
Rosen, a part of the formidable golfing family, grew up near the entrance to the Cloquet Country Club. He was virtually born with a club in his hand. Dan and his brothers, Dave and Mike (Beatsie), are all former club champions. They all also worked at the club in some capacity. Other Rosen brothers and sisters were superstars and mainstays for the Cloquet High School golf teams.
"It started last year with the wimpy, winter weather we were having. I golfed in November and December of 2023, which was highly unusual," Dan Rosen said. "It made me think: If conditions were right, could I golf in usually frigid Minnesota in every month in a year? It sure appeared possible in 2024, so that became my goal."
Rosen now lives in Apple Valley, a southern suburb of Minneapolis. He is a retired French teacher from Cretin Durham High School in St. Paul. His wife, Monica, worked in the airline industry for 30 years. In May of next year, they'll be celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary.
The first few months of 2024 he played at the Emerald Greens golf club in Hastings. It doesn't seem that improbable. After all, remember that Big Lake Golf Resort in Cloquet opened up on an unprecedented March 1 this year.
Rosen's coldest round of the year was in Hastings on March 18, when it was 38 degrees. Rosen scored many summer rounds at Highland Park in St. Paul, and also competed at the adult-child tournament at the Cloquet Country Club in August. On Sept. 18, he played in a scramble at the Wilds Golf Club in Prior Lake with his brother, Tim, and son, Paris. It was 89 degrees. That was the warmest round of the year.
In October, he and his wife visited the Wilderness at Fortune Bay on Lake Vermilion. Before their round, they chatted with Bill Manahan, the general manager there and former Cloquet pro and manager. In November, Rosen was back in Hastings. On Dec. 7, Rosen played at the Montgomery National Golf Club, about 40 minutes from home.
"It was 53 degrees. Actually, with the sun, the weather was quite nice. The water hazards were frozen, but we accomplished the goal," Rosen said. He was again joined by his son. Montgomery National was designed by golf architect Joel Goldstrand, who also created the back nine holes at the Cloquet course.
"It was a fun challenge, but takes a lot of weather luck," Rosen said. "If you would have told a weather prognosticator that this was even possible 10 or 20 years ago, they would have thought you were dreaming. Minnesota's weather is definitely changing."
Steve Korby's interest in writing goes back to when he was in fourth grade and editor of the Scan-Satellite school newspaper in Scanlon. He welcomes ideas for human interest stories and tales about Carlton County residents, projects, history, and plans, c/o [email protected].
