There is very little that is sadder in the world of hospitality than a legacy family resort being bought out by vulture capitalists who proceed to strip its bones for profit as it decays. Happily – very happily – this is not the fate of the iconic Cragun’s Resort on Gull Lake. The recent sale of the property by Dutch Cragun to a consortium with local ties has all the hallmarks of a win-win-win-win deal for Dutch, the new owners, the community in which it is situated, and both regular and new guests.
Dutch Cragun graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1955. As he was packing his bags to leave campus with “no idea of what I was going to do next,” he called his father to ask if he could make a living running the family’s small fishing resort on the shores of Gull Lake. His dad, Merrill Cragun, who first founded the resort around 1940, said, “Hell no.” Nevertheless, Dutch headed north and began a legendary process of renovation, acquisition, development, and expansion.
As the years passed, Dutch and his wife Irma, purchased two neighboring resorts and accrued over 1,000 acres of land. He not only loved fishing and watersports, though. Dutch was also a golf fan who expanded the resort’s recreational offerings with the opening of Cragun’s first golf course in 1998. Not long before selling the resort in 2025, Dutch cemented the resort’s reputation as a premier Midwestern golf resort with an extensive redesign of the original 27 holes and the construction of a new 18-hole championship course, both projects being led by fellow Minnesotan and former PGA Tour player Tom Lehman.
Today, a visionary group of new owners carries Dutch’s vision forward as they undertake transformational renovations to the rest of the resort.
Golf at Cragun’s Resort
In 1997, Dutch solicited bids on a championship golf course from two of the biggest names in golf course design at the time: Robert Trent Jones, Jr., and Rees Jones. The two famously combative brothers were set for a showdown on Gull Lake when Rees pulled out and RTJ, Jr. traveled all the way from Siberia to survey the property.
In 1998, Cragun’s Legacy Course opened. In 2000, Jones added a third nine. In 2020, Dutch wanted to expand further. He asked three course architects to submit plans. Former (British) Open Champion Tom Lehman came to town to watch his son compete in the Minnesota State Amateur. The then-86-year-old Dutch approached his fellow University of Minnesota grad and asked if his firm might be interested in submitting a plan. Within two months, Lehman’s firm had a plan, and after two days of talking, Lehman was “all in” – not just for the new course, but also for a radical redesign of the original 27 holes.
In 2023, The Lehman 18 and The Dutch 18—the Dutch White and Dutch Blue Nines—were put fully into play. In 2025, a dramatic facelift of the final 9, The Dutch Red, was completed—and just like that, the “Dutch 18” became the “Dutch 27.”
Despite deriving from the same designer, the Lehman 18 and Dutch 27 display some distinct dissimilarities. While the Lehman 18 features abundant bunkering, the bunkers are sharp-lipped with riveted walls. Although sand bunkers are still plentiful on the Dutch 27, they are shaggier and more natural-looking, with fescue “eyebrows” that are often more penal than the sand itself.
A second difference is the routing philosophy. The Lehman weaves through residential lots (mostly still undeveloped, as of this writing), with some very long golf-cart drives between greens and the next tees. In contrast, the three 9s of the Dutch 27 cluster more in the center of the resort property and are all quite walkable.
Several similarities can also be observed. Lush bentgrass carpets all 45 holes tee to green (even in the midst of the current drought, which is quite remarkable). The greens all play very fast, and are vexingly difficult to read. (Seriously, how many edges did I burn??) Finally, all courses feature a few – if not more than a few – forced carries over wetlands and ravines, along with dense underbrush lining most holes and sucking up stray golf balls. If there is an Achilles Heel to the layouts, it is the occasions where shots that are just a couple yards offline can hit the wrong side of mounding and shoot off into the brambles and marshes, never to be seen again. So it is critical to pick the appropriate tees and maintain precise control over your shots, or, at least, bring plenty of balls along.
The Red-White combination of the Dutch 27 will host the CRMC Championship again in late August 2026, a prestigious PGA TOUR Americas event. According to Eric Martin, Head Golf Professional at Cragun’s, “We’re working to host a Korn Ferry Tour event, eventually.” One tee box for the tournament actually plays from the patio of the clubhouse. The tournament was awarded the PGA TOUR Americas Tournament of the Year award in 2025, recognizing the premier quality and hospitality of the resort, golf course, and surrounding community.
Facilities and activities at Cragun’s
Because Dutch – with the aid of Tom Lehman – had focused on the upgrade and expansion of the golf courses, the new owners, led by Jamie Tatge, were freed to focus on improving the accommodations and amenities. The list of these improvements, which are still ongoing, is long. Some are relatively “little” things, like the flipping of the reception area, addition of a coffee bar (The Grind on Gull) to the reception lobby, 10 new pontoon boats, and four new jet-skis. The pontoons, available for hourly rental, are luxurious and great for fishing or just cruising the 10-mile-long Gull Lake, with room for 10-12 people.
Others, however, are larger in scale and transformative in nature. One floor down from the reception, guests find an entirely new dining experience. One side is a spacious breakfast dining room. On the other side, you’ll find the new Lakehouse Bar + Kitchen. Both areas look out over Gull Lake through a wall of windows. The menu at the Lakehouse has been elevated dramatically, offering both fine dining and more pub-style fare. Meeting rooms and swimming pools are also on the schedule for continued updating.
On the south end of the resort, 8 new beachfront cabins have been erected to replace 12 smaller cabins that used to line the shore, some of which were close to 100 years old. These cabins are luxurious, with room for up to 18 people. More south beach cabins are on the way in the coming months, along with more extensive landscaping.
Eventually, the resort’s fine dining restaurant, Irma’s Kitchen, will also get an overhaul. Although much of this renovation is still in the development stage, some locals I spoke with said they hope the establishment retains Irma’s name, as Dutch’s late wife was a legend in her own right at the resort. “Irma kept Dutch in line,” recalled one local who used to work for the couple at the resort in the 1980s.
Cragun’s Resort: The verdict
Jamie Tatge, architect of the deal with Dutch Cragun, related the following story about the negotiations in Lake and Company magazine: “When striking the deal with Dutch, he asked my intent with the resort. I told him it was to enhance the physical property and set it up for the next 100 years of operation.”
The golf courses at Cragun’s may be called The Legacy Courses, but it is not just the golf that qualifies as a legacy – the entire resort stands as Dutch and Irma’s legacy, and an enduring gift to the Brainerd Lakes community and the vacationers who visit every year. The kids of kids of kids who grew up summering on Gull Lake are now bringing their kids, playing golf, boating, swimming, fishing, eating, and basking in the up-north experience that Dutch imagined for the small fishing resort his father tried to keep him away from. Now, under new ownership, Cragun’s is poised to welcome the next five generations to this quintessential Minnesota playground.
