Fairways & Greens - Minnesota

In the days before interstate highways, America’s rivers were the most efficient ways to travel and transport goods from producers to consumers. From the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul on the north end to the port city of New Orleans on the south end, communities, located along the Mississippi River prospered.

For years I’ve fired up locals by claiming Cannon Golf Club is one the best golf courses just south of the Metro. Thirty minutes for great golf beats five minutes to a so-so local course. But when you’re an admitted “golf snob” the options can be limited. You deserve the truth.

The name of this course says a lot about it. It tells you about the seclusion – about the sounds of silence and natural beauty you know you’re going to find in “Southern Minnesota’s Brainerd.”

There is no better course that exemplifies this month’s theme of Rolling On The River than Mississippi Dunes Golf Links. The Dunes is not just near the river, in the river valley or overlooking the river – it’s ON the river.

When you call Golden Eagle Golf Club to make your tee time reservation, chances are you will talk to Bruce. When you enter the pro shop to pay your green fee, chances are you will pay Bruce for the privilege of playing his wonderful golf course.

In 2016 Grand View Lodge will celebrate 100 years of providing a quality resort experience. “Why should golfers care?” you ask? Because Grand View Lodge, owned and operated by the Cote Family since its origin, has been in a continuous state of metamorphosis since the early 1900’s.

When the developers of The Wilds Golf Club retained Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish to design a very upscale public golf course on a beautiful piece of property southwest of the Twin Cities, they knew they would get an excellent golf course that would enhance the value of the upscale housing that would be discretely located around the golf course.

Brothers Dave and Steve Tessman manage Dahlgreen Golf Club. The property was converted from their family’s dairy farm to a golf course and opened in 1969.

It’s almost impossible to overstate the significance of 3M to Minnesota. Not only does the mega-company employ infinite locals, but it gives and gives back to the community beyond what can possibly be measured. You can take the 3M Championship for example, celebrated again this year in Blaine.

Harry Vardon contributed many lasting legacies to golf that still exist today: he taught us the grip with interlocking fingers (“Vardon grip”), showed us that more comfortable golf clothing results in better play, and also provided the sport with a superstar.

Watching back-to-back U.S. Opens at Pinehurst #2, an American links style course to this writers experienced eye, Mississippi Dunes resembles Pinehurst #2 more than any golf course that I have ever played. If you would love to play Pinehurst #2, then you must experience Mississippi Dunes.

Minnesota is known best as the state of hockey. It is also quite often referred to as the state of purple and gold, and, lest we forget, Goldy Gopher or the Minnesota Twins? Minnesota, too, is a state whose citizens proudly boast their abundance of lakes and rivers.

As a golfer of any caliber, when you pull into the parking lot at Golf Zone, you are immediately in your element. Stepping from your vehicle you are surrounded by an outdoor, real grass, putting and chipping oasis.

When the men’s and women’s golf teams from the University of Minnesota use your facility for their practice and instruction, you know you’ve got the makings of a successful business.

Just a couple quick turns off of Highway 169, in Eden Prairie, this renovated warehouse is a golfer’s dream. It’s possible you haven’t yet heard about it, if you don’t watch TV, listen to the radio, get out of bed if there’s snow on the ground, read, or attend golf shows… otherwise I’m sure you’re already a regular here, right?

Living in Minnesota, we are blessed (or some would say cursed), with having four seasons; summer, fall, winter, and spring. We don’t always get all four, but we can typically count on at least two, summer and winter.