From my Cybergolf article:
The Best - White Bear Yacht Club
Surprise! Despite the major tournament pedigree and more famous reputation of the other clubs, White Bear Yacht Club is my favorite of the four, (WBYC, Interlachen, Minikahda, HazNat).
Founded in 1889 and featuring a cunning Donald Ross design, nearly every hole is memorable. Although short, the rolling terrain and insidious greens (that get tougher as the round progresses) defend par admirably. Fairways are generously wide, so the out-of-bounds on several holes only affect shots that are grotesquely off-line.
There are five par-5s and five par-3s, three of each on the front. The course crosses Dellwood Road in two dangerous places. I say dangerous because the players on the blue tees at Nos. 5 and 12 must take care to avoid hitting cars as they go speeding by.
The course starts well right out of the gate. The first green is guarded by a huge mound, almost like a Knoll hole from the Macdonald-Raynor school of architecture. Both first and second fairways rumble like ski runs over rugged terrain. The third is refreshingly unique, with its green benched into a hill, and with a pulpit bunker looming over the front right edge: simply amazing and one-of-a-kind.
After crossing the road at the fifth (with your tee shot!), the second is blind over a huge mound. The par-3 sixth is a great early version of a Short, while the par-3 eighth has a Redan-like feel, with a huge hill with which to carom a ball onto the green. Nine is a great par-5 finisher, rollicking up and down along heaving contours before finishing at the foot of the clubhouse.
The greens just get better one after the other on the back. No. 10 has a wicked false front; 11 has a punchbowl feel, although the bowl has been folded horizontally so as to be long across, but thin in depth. After crossing the road again with your drive on 12, the green runs away from the player. Nos. 14 and 16 have two severe tiers, with 14's being along a long axis of the green as opposed to bisecting it perpendicularly. No. 15 has a hog's back and is steeply canted back to front. The pretty 17th is followed by the anti-climactic 18th, the only bland hole on the course, with a green too closely guarded by water and sand.
The greens are kept at about 10.5 to 11 on the Stimpmeter. You also have to love that kids are the caddies. Harry Vardon's brother was the head pro here many years ago.
Number 2 looking back
The pulpit bunker overlooks the green. Cool. One of the two best sandies of my life - the other was at 16 at PGA West (Stadium)
par-3 6th
into #7
par-3 8th
into the par-5 9th
great fold in the par-3 11th
12 tee I'm standing on the tee box...you hit across the road! (you do it on 5 too!)
Design - 6 stars (all ratings out of seven): I took a point or so off for all the out-of-bounds (the worst hazard on a golf course), but everything else is terrific, and the whole is greater than the sum of its considerable parts. Great terrain, a brilliant asymmetrical routing, the best greens of all the courses discussed here, and a warm, cheerful membership genuinely proud of their little jewel: they have successfully preserved Ross's work and captured the flavor of old-time golf. Even though it maxes out at 6,500 yards, the course proves you don't need length or major championships to have a truly great golf course. Tom Doak did a restoration recently but said, "there really wasn't much for me to do - they really had the course in great shape."
Other members said they were glad to see Doak. "We had a habit for a while of planting trees to confound a former member who kept besting the course record. Thankfully, we've cut down those trees and will continue the campaign." Good. To this writer, trees are nothing more than big nets, bunkers in the sky. Cut 'em all down or replant them elsewhere.
Natural Setting - 5.5 stars. Interlachen may slightly prettier, with its lake views, but this is close.
Conditioning - 6 stars
Overall - 6.5. White Bear Yacht Club has interesting holes and devious greens that the other courses just don't have.