I like the Minnesota reference. The terrain and off course distractions are an excellent balance. Plus, no self promotion.
Minnesota. Minnesota. Minnesota.
The golf courses up here are very good and despite being somewhat "remote", is well worth the trip. There is a long list of very interesting designs here near Minneapolis - St. Paul:
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White Bear Yacht Club - A wild and crazy Ross/Vardon/? recently restored by Tom Doak. Not much longer than 6450 yards, the greens are insanely good, the fairway undulations are a lot of fun, and the atmosphere of the club is hard to beat.
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Interlachen CC - Tons of history (Bobby Jones winning a US Open, a star-studded Walker Cup, a recent Women's Open, etc.) which is neat, but the course is a very fun throwback with a wonderful set of greens.
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The Minikahda Club - Another old club with plenty of history (Jones/Chick Evans duels, Walker Cups, etc) and a very good course recently restored by Ron Prichard in ~2004.
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Hazeltine - More history (couple US Opens, US Am, a couple PGAs, a coming Ryder Cup) and the big, brawny, RTJ, Sr. "Championship" course in town which I think is pretty good.
Those are the "big 4" that most people want to see and play first when visiting, which is a same because there are quite a few more very good courses to see:
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Three Seth Raynor designs -
Somerset CC, Midland Hills GC, and Minnesota Valley GC.
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Windsong Farm - A top ~100 GW Modern Course on the western side of town designed by John Fought and Tom Leaman.
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Golden Valley Golf & CC - a very strong and pretty quirky AWT design which is big and brawny.
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Minneapolis GC - A strong Watson/Ross pure parkland design which is pound for pound probably the hardest golf course in the cities from ~7000 yards.
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Keller Golf Course - A muni (bear with me) which hosted two PGA Championships in the 30s/40s, a Western Open, and a major Tour Event for 30+ years is being renovated/restored by GCAer Rich Mandell in the next couple years. It's a total throwback and has a fantastic stretch of holes on its back nine.
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Edina CC - a recent Tom Leaman redesign of a older Tom Bendelow design that is really good fun.
*Jason Topp's
Oak Ridge (see "my home course") and Jeff Shelman's
Southview CC are both worth checking out.
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Town & Country Club - I'm obviously biased in this recommendation, but it's a pretty neat golf course (the 2nd oldest still being played on its original space in the US, 2nd only to Shinnecock) which a ton of old world quirk, 6-7 blind shots, and some neat greens.
So that's just the Minneapolis - St. Paul area. In addition to golf, MSP is has some of the best weather in the entire country from July-September. Warm days and cool nights with plenty of sunshine, lakes, parks, and good farm fresh food. Here are a couple articles about visiting the area from a national perspective:
http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-blog/carry-on/2011/8/10/just-back-summer-action-in-minneapolishttp://travel.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/travel/17hours.htmlAdventure?
After checking out the Twin Cities, travel to the northern part of the state to Duluth, which sits on Lake Superior in a somewhat dramatic fashion (it's also the most western port accessible to the Atlantic Ocean). There you will find the very, very cool
Northland CC which is a perfectly routed Ross design which sits on a bluff over the lake (which looks more like a "sea"). The course doesn't get a ton of play here outside of the Minnesota guys, but that's because it's remote for almost anyone else (2 hour drive north of MSP). In addition to Northland, GCAer Jeff Brauer has a handful of designs up north which I've been told are incredible (esp. the
Quarry Course at Giants Ridge)...I haven't been up there yet, but I'm sure there are a few guys who could give you some more guidance there. There's also a very neat Pete Dye/Tim Liddy design near Duluth called
Big Fish Golf Club which I liked.
If by chance you visit the area from Chicago, you would drive through Wisconsin, and you would drive right by both
Lawsonia Links (excellent!!) and
Erin Hills (2017 US Open Host). A little east of those is Kohler, which has
Whistling Straits and
Blackwolf Run.While I haven't ton it yet, the "sand hills" of Nebraska are only a good full day of driving (~12ish hours?) from MSP to the SW.
Hope this helps. If you have any other questions feel free to respond or shoot me a PM.