We are now home in the Philadelphia area following our visit to Minnesota last week, and I was fortunate to play 63 holes of golf at the two Giants Ridge courses in Biwabik, Northland in Duluth, and the Northwest Angle, in addition to enjoying some much needed R&R.
The trek to the Northwest Angle from Rainy Lake was long (over three hours), but not overly difficult. As always, it was easier to enter Canada than it was to get back into the States. After passing through the tiny town of Sprague, Manitoba, the last 25 miles or so of the drive is on provincial and county gravel roads, but they were in good shape. The only bit of confusion came at the Jim's Corner reporting station, as there were multiple sets of directions from the Canadian and U.S. governments, asking visitors to use a direct-line phone, check-in via an iPad station, call in from their mobile, or download mobile apps. I used the iPad and it took about 10 or 15 minutes for my submission to be cleared; in all, it wasn't any longer a wait than at a typical U.S. border crossing.
Upon arrival at the Northwest Angle course, the small clubhouse was locked, but a woman who appeared to be working at the convenience store across the street hollered to leave the $10 greens fee in the honor box. Loved it!
The course itself was pretty much what I expected: a very simple homemade course on flat land, but sand greens and the charm of the community make it special. The course is a par 33 and features six par-4s and three par-3s. The total yardage is 2,229 on the card, with holes ranging from 119 to 363 yards. There are seven sand greens and two grassed greens. General area was mowed at one height.
I was told that 2022 was a rough year for northern Minnesota due to significant flooding, as was evidenced by the sign marking the lake's high point last year, in the middle of the seventh hole, leaving around half of the property under water. While the sand greens appeared unaffected by the floods, the two grass greens were struggling, but that did not matter to me. Most of the sand greens had small heavy rollers (maybe 50 pounds?) to help smooth the line of putts. They were easy to use and do not require anyone to pick the entire device off the ground.
It was a cool experience and I'm glad I made the drive to the exclave to see it, as playing on sand greens has been a goal of mine for a long time. I can also now say I've played the northernmost golf course in the contiguous United States!
Some photos...
Entry into the Northwest Angle...
click hereA Northwest Angle sand green...
click hereTwo of the few bunkers on the course...
click hereA sand green at green level...
click here