The design team of Craig & Coyne has partnered with planning and construction firm Landscapes Unlimited to build a golf course at Lazy J Grand Lodge in Ideal, South Dakota.

In rebranding to Lazy J Sporting Club, the facility is adding a par-72, 7,216-yard, 18-hole course scheduled to open in 2027. In a media announcement introducing the plans, the site in the southern/central portion of the state was described as featuring gentle hills, dramatic ravines, elevation changes and waterways. 

Craig & Coyne is a partnership formed in 2022 between golf architect Colton Craig and noted author Tom Coyne. Coyne gained famed for several books such as “A Gentleman’s Game,” “Paper Tiger,” “A Course Called Ireland,” “A Course Called Scotland” and “A Course called America.” He is now the editor of the magazine Golfer’s Journal and also a part-owner and operator of Sullivan County Golf Course in New York.

Landscapes Unlimited will bring Craig & Coyne’s design to life, and sister company Landscapes Golf Management will oversee pre-opening activities including membership campaigns and financial management. 

Lazy J – set on 20,000 acres – has long been a pheasant hunting destination, and its operators said golf would be a natural addition in turning the lodge into a private destination club. Limited memberships of various levels will be offered.

“Research shows hunters love playing golf and vice versa,” Nick Jorgensen – CEO of Jorgensen Land and Cattle and whose family owns the property – said in a recent media release announcing the course. “We are determined to provide them with a fun and safe destination escape to create unforgettable lifetime memories and experience ultra-friendly Midwest hospitality and camaraderie on the land we love.”

Planned amenities include a state-of-the-art short-game practice area and a 12-hole short course. The existing 42-bed lodge, including a lounge and restaurant, will see interior and exterior renovation.

“The Jorgensen family is world-class in everything it does, and we expect the new golf course to meet the same standards,” Tom Everett, president of Landscapes Golf Management, said in the media release. “With significantly growing participation in golf and hunting, and the premium caliber of Lazy J Sporting Club at large, members will absolutely love their experiences time and again.”

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – This week, President-elect Donald Trump hinted at the idea of privatizing the United States Postal Service, an idea that has stirred up conversation for South Dakota postal workers.

The Postal Workers Union in South Dakota is firmly against the idea of privatization. Though it’s not official that it will happen, Trump has been critical of the Postal Service before, saying it’s unprofitable.

Postal workers are taking this very seriously.

The President-elect has tossed around the idea before. South Dakota’s American Postal Workers Union President Todd West believes this has been Trump’s plan since he appointed Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General in 2020.

“I don’t think it’d be good. It’s like it turns into a corporate greed-type thing where it’s all about making the money, not about service. It’s not going to be good for places like South Dakota,” West said.

The APWU believes privatizing the Postal Service could hurt rural communities in South Dakota because the cost to deliver in small towns will force changes due to the emphasis on turning a profit.

“They’re not going to want to run these little post offices in small towns, so what’s going to happen to them? Are people going to get service one or two days a week? I think the federal government would ultimately end up subsidizing these small towns, post offices and stuff for them to be able to have mail,” West said.

Sioux Falls local vice president Manny Lopez said in a statement to Dakota News Now:

West said Trump misunderstands what the Postal Service was created for. He said that it was never meant to turn a profit, but that it would be true to what’s in its name: A service to the American People.

“Postage is supposed to cover their costs basically. They’re not supposed to be making hundreds of thousands of dollars for board members, trustees, stockholders, where if it goes to privatized, that’s what they’re going to be looking at,” West said.

Trump said shipping is different today because of Amazon, UPS and FedEx, but postal workers want to keep the distinction of being a public good, not privatized like the examples Trump gave.

USPS decline to comment on this story.

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The National Defense Authorization Act passed Wednesday by the U.S. Senate includes $282 million for construction at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City.

The construction will prepare the base for B-21 Raiders, aircraft meant to serve as replacements for the B-1 bombers that were designed in the 1970s. The B-21 bombers are expected to arrive in South Dakota at some point before 2030, alongside thousands more military members and families. 

The base’s commander told the Black Hills Forum and Press Club last year that the base’s population is set to grow by about 4,000 people, to nearly 12,000. That anticipated growth has sparked legislative discussions on ways the state might financially support entities like the Douglas School District, which serves Ellsworth.

U.S. Senate passes defense bill that bars gender-affirming care for service members’ kids

The $282 million for Ellsworth in Wednesday’s defense authorization bill is only part of what’s expected to be $1.5 billion in B-21-related construction at the base. Separate from that construction is the cost of procurement: Each of the at least 100 B-21 aircraft the Air Force expects to purchase — to be spread among Ellsworth and other bases — will cost about $700 million.

The bill also includes $2.6 billion for B-21 procurement.

In a news release on the legislation, South Dakota Republican John Thune praised the 83-12 vote as a win for the state. The construction money will support the building of environmental shelters, a B-21 weapons generation facility and a B-21 squadron operations center.

“The men and women of Ellsworth Air Force Base carry out a critical mission in service to America’s national defense, and South Dakotans have cause to celebrate with this year’s National Defense Authorization Act,” Thune said in the news release. “The B-21 mission will be supported by the authorization of key infrastructure and facilities, and service members everywhere will receive sizable salary increases, particularly junior enlisted members.”

The defense bill also includes a controversial clause that bars service members from using their military insurance to cover children’s “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization.”

Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Senate’s first openly LGBTQ member, voted against the bill and accused Republicans of seeking “cheap political points” by barring gender-affirming care coverage. 

Ellsworth temporarily moving 17 planes and 800 people to North Dakota

But that clause drew praise from South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson when the bill passed the U.S. House last week. 

Like Thune, Johnson lauded the bill’s support for the B-21 program, but his news release on the vote bore the headline “Johnson Votes to End Woke Policies, Strengthen Military, Get Tough on China.”

“Politically ‘woke’ culture has infiltrated our military, but this bill puts an end to some of those policies like paying for gender transition treatments for youth,” Johnson said in the release.

He also praised the bill for moving the military away from “promoting critical race theory,” for preventing military members from being required to use electric vehicles, and for authorizing a study on China’s use of the Shanghai Shipping Exchange to engage in “unfair trade practices.”

Johnson pushed to include the China clause in the defense bill in May. 

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, called out pay raises for service members in a news release sent over the summer, when the Senate Armed Services Committee passed the bill. Rounds, a member of the committee, also supported the bill in the full Senate on Wednesday.

“This year’s NDAA includes a 4.5 percent pay raise for our men and women in uniform, as well as back pay for our military members whose promotions were impacted by holds in the Senate,” Rounds said in a news release. “We never want our men and women in uniform entering a fair fight, we always want them to have the advantage.