Fairways & Greens - Minnesota

Have you ever been reluctant to play a golf course… for whatever reason? Maybe there was another course in the area you loved that kept pulling you away. Maybe you only play Top 100 or private golf courses? Whatever the reason… have you ever been reluctant to play a golf course, then played it, and kicked yourself hard for the number of times you missed out on playing it earlier?

The New Richmond Golf Club is as solid as they come. It features some of the best golf holes in Western Wisconsin, a practice facility with few equals and a clubhouse that echoes the stately atmosphere of those types of places that beckon you to hang out after a round. On top of all that they’ve added a new set of eyes with a philosophy that target’s adding more fun to the whole mix.

I found one such cat in a bag 35 miles south of St. Paul – in Cannon Falls – at a course whose name indicates that they might wish I’d actually found a cat there – Gopher Hills Golf Course. You’ve heard about them before… it’s not like they’re a “best kept secret” anymore. But I don’t think people realize just how much good golf you can get in there.

As you wind along the Apple River on your approach into Bristol Ridge country it might feel like you’ve arrived into the backwoods of rural America but in fact you are only minutes from the newly opened St. Croix River Crossing Bridge. That feeling gets another boost from the fact there are no houses on this course. So, the bridge… is good for The Ridge.

Northfield, Minnesota offers golfers one of those “just rural enough” escapes. At only 30 miles south of Bloomington, just off I35, Willingers Golf Club is a course that’s easy to get to and even easier to enjoy, making repeat “escapes” there essentially a given. “But there are rural golf courses everywhere,” you say. True. But most of them aren’t like this one.

It’s comforting to know that under the ‘new normal’ fairways will still climb and fall providing landing zones that challenge our accuracy. It’s also reassuring that greens will roll and tilt requiring a keen eye to read the nuances on slope. These are the basics, the same tests that have been in place since modern golf emerged from the Scottish Highlands in the 15th century.

On a very recent visit in mid-May we rolled into the parking lot under the bright sunshine, we unpacked our clubs and were guided to our luxury carts under the new check-in procedures smartly in-place. We hit a round of warmup shots on the no-touch driving range and then sank a few putts on the large, well-spaced practice green. You could feel the positive vibe in the air.

Situated in the big sky, rolling landscape around Lakeville lies a gem of a course. The Heritage Links Golf Club often gets overlooked among the collection of high profile courses in this corner of the Twin Cities, but that is about to change.

The author of this particular comeback story is Mark Dvorak, and he started writing the comeback story of Whispering Pines Golf Course in Annandale seven years ago. How is it going now? “It’s going great,” Mark says.

Vast stretches of fescue, large waste bunkers, serpentine fairways, long carries and undulated green complexes. News flash – The Links at Northfork has been bringing this type of golf for years!

Many locals, with enough firsthand experience to know, insist Pebble has more character than several TOUR stops. The difference is, people outside of Minnesota don’t know about Pebble Creek, which only leaves more tee times for the rest of us.

There are a handful of blue-chip historic courses across the greater Twin Cities area and the University of Minnesota Les Bolstad Golf Course is certainly in that league. Having morphed and reinvented itself several times since opening as a nine-hole course in 1915.