What Nine New Holes Actually Changed at Pierz

For ninety years, Pierz only had nine holes. The Works Progress Administration built them in 1935, and generations of golfers around Morrison County played the same nine, twice, if they wanted a full round. That changed in July 2025, when the back nine finally opened. For the first time since the course existed, you can play eighteen straight holes without turning around and starting over.

The front nine still carries the course

Hole 4 is the one people bring up. It's a 166-yard par three with a slow-moving stream cutting across the approach, and the green has undulations that have humbled plenty of good putters. One reviewer, David E., called it one of the toughest par threes he's ever played, and he's not exaggerating. Hole 12 is a different kind of test, a short par four that doglegs left, the kind of hole where the smart shot isn't the long one. And hole 5 runs 302, 292, or 275 yards depending which tees you're playing, a par four that rewards accuracy over distance.

None of the front nine has sand traps. That surprises first-timers, but it's not because the course is easy. As one golfer put it after his first round here, there weren't any sand traps, but the undulation of the terrain gave him plenty of challenge on its own. The land does the work a bunker would normally do.

The back nine is still growing in

Be honest with yourself about what nine brand-new holes look like a year in. Brenda Anderson, who played eighteen recently, said it well: the front nine is beautiful, and the new back nine is still kind of bare at this point. That's not a knock, it's just true of any course that opened its second nine last summer. Beth Simondet had a similar note, that the greens and flags on the back half aren't marked as clearly yet from the tee boxes, and the cart paths back there still need finishing. Grass takes time. Trees take longer. What you're getting on the back nine right now is the layout and the challenge, without the ninety years of character the front nine has built up.

Pace, carts, and playing it right

Eighteen holes here runs about 4 hours and 15 minutes at a normal pace, so plan your day around that if you're booking a tee time close to another commitment. If you're renting a cart, keep in mind you need to be 16 with a valid driver's license to drive one, and carts should stay at least 30 feet clear of tees and greens. None of that is unusual for a golf course, but it's worth knowing before you show up.

What all eighteen holes together give you now is a full round that starts with ninety years of history and finishes on ground that's still finding its footing. Play it this season and you're seeing something that didn't exist a year ago. Play it again in a few years and the back nine will have caught up. Either way, hole 1 still starts every round, front nine first, same as it always has.