Jason -- As a fellow Minnesota golfer, I was going to begin a post on the same subject today and title it "Fast, firm and dead." Because that's what the fairways are, according to the superintendent at my course -- dead.
I understand that many Twin Cities course, both public and private, are experiencing the same problem this spring. A big snowfall in late winter, then a quick warmup followed by a hard freeze is apparently the culprit.
I'm told the only solution is to aerate and overseed this spring, but I don't know anything about agronomy, so things might not be as bleak as they appear. No matter what happens in Minnesota, the grass usually looks pretty green by mid-July.
I agree that it would be fun to play these kinds of conditions, as opposed to soft, green and wet, but I think dead grass turns to bare dirt pretty fast.
If anybody knows of a public course in the Twin Cities that has decent fairways, I'd be glad to see the information posted here.