The Landmand golf course in eastern Nebraska, USA has had the story of its gestation and creation recorded in print by golf journalist Adam Lawrence.
‘Up Top: The Story of Landmand’, is published today (May 13), to mark the start of the 2025 season at the acclaimed course, which was designed and constructed by King-Collins Design.
Lawrence, who has served as editor of the international magazine Golf Course Architecture since its foundation in 2005, has worked with the Landmand team since before the course opened in 2022, handling its public relations.
“After working with Landmand for a couple of years, and getting to know the Andersen family, who developed the golf course, I realised that their story, and that of the course itself, was too good not to be recorded for posterity,” says Lawrence, for whom this is a first published book. “So I proposed the book to Will Andersen, and thankfully he thought it was a good idea. I’m really proud of what we have produced – it has a great story to tell, and it looks fantastic.”
Up Top’ tells how the young Carl Andersen left his home in Denmark in 1913, and settled in the north-east of Nebraska, becoming a farmer, and how his son Leo built the family farm up to a large enterprise. Leo’s son Bryce and grandson Will continued the family farming tradition, but diversified into golf, buying a local nine hole course and renaming it Old Dane to mark their heritage.
After many mishaps, they finally decided to develop an 18-hole course, and by a remarkable series of coincidences, the design and build team of Rob Collins and Tad King were hired for the project, King-Collins’s first 18-hole course.
Since its opening, Landmand has been highly acclaimed, being awarded Golf Digest’s Best New Public Course in 2022, and ranking the third best course in Nebraska in 2034-24. Earlier this year it sold out its entire tee time inventory for the 2025 season in less than an hour.
“My family is very rooted in the local community, and we are very happy and grateful to have brought attention to it by building Landmand,” says Will Andersen. “Now, I hope Adam’s book will attract even more notice!”
The book costs $70, and can be purchased from the Landmand pro shop, and also by visiting the club’s online store at landmandgc.square.site/s/shop and clicking the ‘Books’ link.