WINNER, S.D. — Wanting to maximize the vast property that makes up the Lazy J Sporting Club, the Jorgensen family is turning to a sport much older than their cattle-farming business.
Destination golf is on its way to the Winner area.
As part of a multi-year project to improve the club’s facilities and accommodate more guests, Lazy J is in the process of adding a championship golf course to a growing list of amenities offered, which include pheasant hunting, a sporting clays course and space to hold special events such as weddings.
The rationale for adding golf to the venue, according to Jorgensen Land and Cattle CEO and club partner Nick Jorgensen, was simple: bringing people across the country to enjoy the property throughout the entire year.
“We brainstormed for a long time about what we can do to get people here in June, July and August for an extended-type stay,” Jorgensen said. “You need something that’s attractive and really, our only option there was golf.”
Partnering with Landscapes Unlimited for development and the construction of the course using a design from golf architectural firm Craig and Coyne, Lazy J will feature a par-72 layout that measures 7,216 yards from the championship tees.
Submitted / Lazy J Sporting Club
Additionally, a 12-hole short course will be built alongside a putting course, short game practice area and driving range. Groundbreaking is planned for the upcoming fall, with the hope that the course will be ready for play in the June 2027.
Lazy J golf will be a private club with Nick Jorgensen and cousin Cody, who is also the Jorgensen Land and Cattle Chief Livestock Officer, looking at admitting around 350 total members. Traditional stay-and-play packages offered to public guests of the club will include golf as an option, but with the added benefit of learning about more than just the land they’ll inhabit upon arriving at the property.
“What we’re looking to do is take the rest of that time throughout the year and get people to come see this part of the world,” Cody Jorgensen said, “See our operation, our family, our land and we think one good way to do that is to add golf.”
While the sporting club has served the Winner area since 2012, the Jorgensen’s history in Tripp County dates back to 1909, when Nick and Cody’s great-grandfather relocated to an area 15 minutes north of Winner and outside the unincorporated community of Ideal, which became the land where Lazy J stands on.
Their grandfather, Martin, began breeding Angus cattle in the 1960s, eventually leading to the current cattle and farming company they primarily help run with part of the company’s emphasis on conservation efforts. Always looking to add value through forward thinking, it’s how pheasant hunts began on their land in the 1990s.
“We started offering what we call dayhunts or a trespass fee,” Cody Jorgensen said. “We did that up until 2012, which is when we built the lodge. We started operating full, all-inclusive, three-day hunt packages to several people across the United States.”
Adam Thury / Mitchell Republic
Around 450 people will visit the Lazy J Sporting Club for pheasant hunting, usually from the beginning of September up until the middle of December. For the rest of the year, the club lies mostly dormant outside of special events.
Using the same approach when the Jorgensens began to allow pheasant hunters onto the property, discussions about adding a new feature started around 2018 in the name of maximizing the space they have available, where important questions needed to be answered in order to move ahead.
“It was really contingent on if we have the right kind of land for it,” Nick Jorgensen said. “Is it a facility set up the right way? Can we create the demand? Does this make sense from a business perspective?”
Bringing out Craig and Coyle for a tour of the club grounds in November 2023 to see if the property was viable to conceptualize a golf course into a design, the architectural firm was able to create a design to showcase the surrounding land at various points throughout the layout.
“It’s designed in such a way to accentuate the natural golf that’s already there,” Nick Jorgensen said. “We got this beautiful property. So, let’s keep it that way. Let’s just put golf on it.”
Before walking the south end of the property,…
