I remember wanting to peel that bumper sticker off the car in the parking lot, I loved it so much, and found it so fitting for where we were. I recall, on my first visit to The Wilderness, feeling like I had to be going the wrong way, that there couldn’t possibly be a Top 100 golf course where I was heading. The roads got smaller, buildings disappeared, air got cleaner… I passed a bear, a porcupine, and a fox in the past 15 miles. I glanced at my son in the passenger seat a number of times and said, “This place had better be good.”

I had no idea what ruggedly beautiful hole it was that I saw first, but it wowed me to the point I pulled off the road and took a picture of it (before Instagram). Turns out it was the Par 5, 8^th. “That’s awesome. Look at those cliffs and all that water.” We followed the signs past the Fortune Bay Casino to the Wilderness clubhouse and were met at the Golf Shop desk by the friendliest person I’ve ever encountered at a golf course anywhere in the world – General Manager Tom Beaudry. “Welcome,” he said, not yet knowing who I was. “What a beautiful day, eh?” (No, he’s not Canadian.)

That was Tom. Still is, though he has long since moved on. I got to know him, and his staff, quite well over the years as I went back time and time again to the place that quickly became my favorite place to play in Minnesota. When you’re at The Wilderness you’re legitimately IN the wilderness, and it’s safe to say there is no other golf experience like it in the state. The current General Manager, Joe Wisocki, was the manager when The Wilderness first opened so he knows it well and loved it enough to come back for a second opportunity to lead it. “I absolutely love it here,” Joe said. “Can’t describe how hard it was to leave. The people here are always so great to work with and I love seeing (and hearing about) the awe of visitors before, during and after their round.”

The man in charge with maintaining the property itself is also “semi-new.” Trevor Rintala worked at the Wilderness for several years and was the previous assistant superintendent. He knows exactly what a course in the Iron Mountain conditions needs to survive and thrive. You’ll get the best of all worlds on a visit to The Wilderness – guest service, playing conditions and a stellar golf playground.

The Wilderness was ranked the #2 public course in Minnesota by Golfweek in 2020 and #7 Best Casino Course in America. The course is an amenity of Fortune Bay Resort Casino and its lakeside hotel. The casino hotel, for its part, features 173 rooms and suites, many of them overlooking the marina and 40,000 acres of Lake Vermillion. With a fitness center, arcade, convenience store, several restaurants and an awesome pool room featuring indoor seating areas and an expansive veranda outside the floor to ceiling windows, you can almost have as much fun indoors as you do outdoors at Fortune Bay.

The rooms and suites for their part come in a variety of sizes, all outfitted comfortably. We prefer to stay in the lake-facing ones with the balconies, because when you’re that far up north at night, the stars just seem so much brighter, and the sunrises over the lake so much prettier. The resort does have an RV park with many permanent sites for guests who really never want to leave.

The casino’s gaming floor is always active, featuring plenty of new slot machines with both poker and blackjack. There’s even more entertainment at night throughout the summer, with an assortment of concerts and special guests. Weekend visitors can enjoy live music Saturdays on the Sunset Steakhouse patio, and while we’re talking about the Sunset Steakhouse I should probably cover the restaurants. You obviously know you’re going to get steaks at Sunset Steakhouse, but their fine dining options are also exceptional. The Gold Mine Grill is on the casino floor, with hot and cold sandwiches, pizzas, salads, broasted chicken and a variety of snacks. The North Star Bar (also in the casino) takes care of all your beverage needs, and then there’s the Wilderness Grill roughly 100 yards from the Casino.

The Wilderness Grill combines great food – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – with great views. Many a writer has claimed it as Minnesota’s best golf grill, and their talented culinary team seldom disappoints at any level. Right there adjacent to the fully stocked golf shop and overlooking one of the state’s most beautiful recreational places … yeah, The Wilderness is pretty much golfer heaven.

I don’t believe in doing hole-by-hole descriptions for most stories, preferring to share teasers instead of complete pictures of what’s to come. But the front nine of the Wilderness is such a mind-blowing collection of nearly surreal golf holes, that I feel the need to at least get you started.

The first hole is one of the greatest par 5’s in the state, arching uphill from the tee boxes to a wildly contoured green that lets you know just how much fun Jeff Brauer had designing the course. The second hole is one of Minnesota’s longest par 4’s, featuring a dramatic drop off the tee box and a second shot carry over a boulder that also gives you an idea of what’s still to come. Their signature third hole has graced the cover of many a magazine and newspaper and even the Minnesota Department of Tourism uses it as their “poster boy” for promoting the best golf courses in Minnesota. Standing on that third tee box, overlooking the pond, in that stunning supernatural arena, you wish you could hit that tee shot to that incredibly sloped two-tiered green a dozen times. (It’s best when the pin is on the lower level.) The fifth hole is a great little two-shotter to a Biarritz green, where the dream pin position is in the valley and eagles are most definitely a frequent occurrence when it is there. The seventh hole features one of the most dramatic drops from tee to green in the state, and then you get to that 8^th hole, the one we first glimpsed from the road, and it’s every bit the incredible par 5 it appears from the other angle.

That’s most of the front right there – highlights all of them – and I could just as easily include holes 4 and 9 in the highlights. But there’s more to discuss on the back. The back features a stretch of holes from 12 to 14 that is so fun (along Lake Vermillion) and an unforgettable closing trio of holes (uphill and down). No joke, by the time you’re done, you’ll have a full dozen signature holes on your mind, and it will be hard to pick a favorite from them.

Every time I’ve played The Wilderness I’ve enjoyed it more. The views still impress, especially in the early morning and evening rounds. I take dozens of pictures and find new approach angles and golf shots to appreciate seemingly every time. I love that Jeff Brauer made a concerted effort to make every hole stand out from one to the next, both visually and in playability, so that you never feel like you’ve seen that shot before in the round, and putting on those wildly-shaped greens… well… it is always an adventure.

There’s never enough space in an article to share all the things I love about The Wilderness at Fortune Bay. To a golfer searching for a memorable adventure, The Wilderness has all the stuff that dreams are made of.