Wedgewood Cove – Continues To Deliver An Outstanding Experience

When a writer has written multiple articles about a single golf course in a short time span, it’s easy to allow the adjectives to get stale and the descriptions to get repetitive. Likewise, when a golfer plays the same course repeatedly, he or she is bound to learn every nuance, break, and blind line on the track that will take the suspense out of the round.

While both of the above observations may be true, Wedgewood Cove Golf Club in Albert Lea, Minnesota, shatters those expectations. As it continues to develop a sterling reputation despite its young age, we enter the month that it is at its best for Minnesotans: July. With the [British] Open Championship on the minds of many golfers, the itch to play a links-style course will be difficult not to scratch. Wedgewood Cove is one of the best in the entire Upper Midwest to enjoy that style of experience.

A Terrific Track, Hole-after-Hole!
Director of Golf Donnie Teeter, one of the greats of the state in this business, shared with me that the par 5 fourth hole is his favorite on the entire course. “It’s the shortest par 5, with multiple water “options’. You could make a 3 or a 10, I like it because of that. There are 20 different ways to play that hole!” Given that the hole is barely over 500 yards from its longest tee box, it does indeed provide plenty of routes to the green, but plenty of danger too. Four significant lakes lurk around the hole, forcing golfers to choose their driving AND approach clubs carefully.

Another terrific hole follows Teeter’s favorite, the 384-yard par 4, 5th hole. This is a “grip it and rip it” as you get in golf. Sure, there are troublesome areas on either side of this forty-yard wide fairway, but you would really have to miss to have a bad lie for your approach. It’s a driver hole all the way – which should set you up with a wedge or less into a receptive green. Plus… with a significant drop in elevation from tee box to landing area, and Albert Lea’s very strong winds at your back, you just might reach the green… seriously!

Both sides of the course have very strong and challenging finishing holes. “Nine, even from the “Reds’, is all you want, and is as good a hole as you’re ever going to play. [It has] water guarding the left side of the green, and real yardage into a predominantly south wind,” says Teeter. The 18th, meanwhile, is the second longest hole on the course, a well-protected and true three-shot par 5. If you get home in two on the 18th at Wedgewood Cove, then consider yourself “Bubba Long”!

“The theme that we’ve seen is that people are challenged from every level of tees, but also enjoy it from every level of tees,” says Teeter. That is the makeup of a terrific golf course, enjoyment and challenge for all. Every hole at Wedgewood Cove fits this description.

“The fact that we are so-called “links’ is helped because the wind brings a different golf course every day. Add different pin locations, and you have a wide range of variety. Those kinds of things make a golf course really great because you never get bored!” continued Teeter. The course has been softened some by the long winter, making it have a somewhat different feel from its typical conditions of late. However, it’s always in solid shape, so after a few days without rain, it will be as firm and fast as any test of golf in Southern Minnesota.

Wedgewood Cove is only a handful of years old, but it has a solid reputation down south. The most frequently asked question that the staff gets is “is this a private club?” The answer is no! It’s as public as you get, making it truly the “gem” of Southern Minnesota. Still, the clubhouse, food, service, pro shop, and (of course) the golf course, offer that private, country club feel that comes with an expensive membership, yet it is playable by anyone with a set of sticks.

It stands toe-to-toe with the most decorated public courses in the state, yet lacks the “status” of similar courses simply because of its location. Don’t make that mistake – grab your foursome, split the gas for the trip to Albert Lea, and make sure you take advantage of the opportunity to play Wedgewood Cove Golf Club!