What is your list Pat?
Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area
Generally speaking, anyone of the below could move up or down three spaces on any given day:
1. White Bear Yacht Club (Ross)WBYC is my favorite golf course in Minnesota. It’s really quirky and the greens are crazy, so it’s not everyone’s cup of tea…particularly here in town where some people have thought I was crazy for saying it’s the best course in the state. White Bear is well worth the trip to the area to see.
2. Interlachen (Watson / Ross)
I think Interlachen is a pretty great golf course. The greens are really neat and there are a handful of fantastic golf holes (#2, 6, 9, 10, 13, 16, 18).
3. Minikahda (Ross)I’ve been able to play Minikahda in each of the past three years, the last two as part of the Twin Cities Cup. Each time I play it I enjoy it more and more. GCA’s own Jeff Johnson does an incredible job “presenting” the golf course and keeps it in great shape. There are a lot of really good holes out there and while many people rag on the 15-16-17 triangle as a weakness I think they are awesome and fun holes, perfect for match play.
4. Town & Country (Ben Schurmeier) I’m obviously biased, so feel free to call me a homer, but T&C deserves a place on this list especially after the renovation work that will be completed in the middle of next year. All bunkers will be rebuilt (over half are completed already), hundreds of trees have been removed, mowing lines restored, and quite a few new tees have been built (a few new back tees and a few new forward tees). Again, I’m biased, but I think there are a lot of really good holes (#1, #2, #5, #6, #8, #9, #10, #11, #13, #15, #17). A couple of the weaker holes will be much improved once the work is completed, in particular #7 and #14. Of course not everyone loves its blind shots and old-fashioned par sequence, but if you love quirk T&C has its fair share.
5. Golden Valley (AWT)I’ve played Golden Valley a few times now and enjoy it. I think there are a bunch of solid, classic Tillinghast-style holes, and no real clunkers (even though #10 is close). Despite the two road crossings and one rail crossing Golden Valley has a great piece of golfing land.
6. Oak Ridge (William Clark)The stretch from #12 through #17 is as good as anything as you’ll see in the Twin Cities. Some awesome holes in there (#12 and #13 are incredible). I think there are a few so-so holes on the front side that hold OR back in my “rankings.”
7. Windsong Farm (Lehman)
Windsong Farm has a cool golf only set-up that I certainly envy. A pretty solid and tough golf course. I think the property is fantastic but I think the designers missed the mark a little bit in that for a “links”/prairie/etc. style course the greens are pushed up too high and with the wind that’s prevalent out there it’s too difficult to hold the greens with mid-to-low irons. I’m likely being too picky but I think other designers would of made the greens more receptive to the ground game.
8. Hazeltine (RTJ)I like Hazeltine better than probably anyone here on Golf Club Atlas. It’s hard and it’s a “championship” golf course and it certainly fits the bill. I think #10 and #16 are really great golf holes, but there are one too many dull holes on the front nine for my taste.
9. Midland Hills (Raynor)I played Midland Hills for the first time this past summer with Jeff Shelman and really enjoyed it. I think it’s the best of the remaining Raynor courses up here. I think the back nine is really good. I liked the Biarritz and Punchbowl a lot.
10. Minneapolis (Park/Ross)MGC is pretty solid and it reminds me a lot of many of the clubs I grew up playing in Chicago (North Shore, Beverly, the old Exmoor, Sunset Ridge, etc.). I think they need to cut down a lot of trees.
11. Spring Hill (Fazio)Pretty good Fazio, but I think the land is generally too severe and some of the holes on the back nine suffer from it.
12. Somerset (Raynor)Somerset is a really cool, low-key place to play golf. There is an awesome Redan and a pretty good reconstructed Short, but there are a lot of holes that have been ruined over the years by bad Cornish-esque renovation work and way too many trees.
13. Edina (Bendelow / Lehman)I never played ECC before Lehman’s work a few years ago but I enjoyed it the one time I played it. I played it with Jeff Shelman and we both agreed that it is a very pleasant course that we’d both be very happy playing everyday. Lehman did a nice job building a lot of interest into a classic course on a pretty boring suburban site.
14. Keller (Paul Coates)I really like Keller. It’s a fun, classic muni that’s going to be a lot better once it reopens after Rich Mandell’s renovation next summer.
15. Wayzata (Harris)Not many people talk about Wayzata CC (Tim Heron’s home course) but I thought it was a pretty solid mid-1950’s style course (I think Robert Bruce Harris is the designer).There are a couple really awkward holes around ponds but overall it’s a nice course to play.
16. North Oaks (Stanley Thomson)I liked North Oaks but other than the 7th and 9th holes I don’t remember anything that really knocked my socks off.
17. StoneRidge (Bobby Weed)
A pretty solid public Bobby Weed design that has some fun and crazy features. My favorite modern public.
18. Minnesota Valley (Raynor)MVCC is a pretty nice course, but with only a little bit of Raynor left. It has an ok Redan and Alps, but the rest of the course is just ok.