In what area of America...

[Scott Warren]

Can a golfer enjoy great golf that doesn't get regular, emphatic promotion -- with a focus on interesting land, the joy of adventure, and a sense of discovery (on and off course)?

[Mac Plumart]

Depends on what you mean by promotion.  I'd say Mullen...but we do talk about those courses on GCA.  Montana...but we are aware of Rock Creek on this site.  How about Washington?  Tumble Creek and Wine Valley have captured my interest, but I haven't played them.  Minnesota...the list of courses is too long to mention.

[Billsteele]

Scott-I am a big fan of New Mexico. Very good, fairly inexpensive golf (Black Mesa, Paako Ridge, Pinon Hills). Plus, an interesting state as far as terrain, history and culture. Very easy to get around there too.

[Morgan Clawson]

I second the nomination for New Mexico.

[Adam Clayman]

I like the Minnesota reference. The terrain and off course distractions are an excellent balance. Plus, no self promotion.

[David_Tepper]

Scott -

Is access to the courses (public vs. private) a consideration?

DT

[Chris DeNigris]

Anywhere, Everywhere.

[Andy Troeger]

Scott,
I can't tell from your post what you mean by promotion. Self-promotion by the course/area? Promotion by architecture enthusiasts/members of this website? Media promotion? All of the above?

Without knowing your answer, I'll throw in another vote for New Mexico. I liked it so much after three visits I moved to Albuquerque! The depth of courses isn't great, but the prices are usually right.

[Bart Bradley]

Ohio has a huge number of very good courses but most are private.

Indiana has a bunch of very good public options.

Bart

[PCCraig]

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:
*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.
*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.
*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.
*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:
*Three Seth Raynor designs - Somerset CC, Midland Hills GC, and Minnesota Valley GC.
*Windsong Farm - A top ~100 GW Modern Course on the western side of town designed by John Fought and Tom Leaman.
*Golden Valley Golf & CC - a very strong and pretty quirky AWT design which is big and brawny.
*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.
*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.
*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.
*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-minneapolis
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/travel/17hours.html

Adventure?

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.

[Mark Saltzman]

Pat, thank you. Great post.

[PCCraig]

Pat, thank you. Great post.

Thanks Mark. Perhaps my posting all that I broke the rule in the first post regarding "emphatic promotion"

[Scott Warren]

Pat, great post.

Andy, Mostly I was thinking how the more popular destinations get great promotion -- from folks who visit, in mags, on ratings lists -- so more people go there and the chorus of "X is a great spot" grows louder, while places off the tourist path get overlooked despite perhaps being just as good, or maybe even superior (this is certainly the case in GB&I).

So I wondered what those areas were in the US, because it seems that a lot of the talk here and generally is about a handful of areas and I was interested which areas were flying above the radar.

David, not too concerned about private v public -- this isn't as an exercise in planning for myself (thought I will be in the US in August, most of my itinerary is already set), I was just interested to hear about some out of the way places, as Pat has done so well above.

[Mark Saltzman]

Scott, as I said in another thread, I am hoping to visit Oklahoma in a few months... A place that is rarely, if ever, discussed.

In doing some research and based on some very helpful responses to my thread and several IMs, I now have a list of 23 courses I would like to see. I'd only heard of a few of them before but many look excellent.

[Jim Tang]

I've always felt that Michigan is underrated.

[Mark Saltzman]

Mark: What are the 23 and can you speak to the "off course" attractions in Oklahoma? I have absolutely no idea by the way - I couldn't even point it out on the map

I don't have my comp with me so I may forget a few...

Southern Hills -Maxwell
Oklahoma City -Maxwell
Twin Hills -Maxwell
Dornick Hills -Maxwell
Hillcrest -Maxwell
Oakwood -Maxwell
Cherokee Hills -Maxwell
Shawnee -Maxwell
Ponca City -Maxwell
Jimmie Austin -Maxwell
Tulsa CC -AWT
The Oaks -AWT

Modern
Karsten creek -Fazio
Patriot
Oak Tree National
Oak Tree CC
The Territory
Cedar Ridge
GC of OK

I'll get the rest of the list tomorrow.

[jonathan_becker]

can you speak to the "off course" attractions in Oklahoma?

There's the national cowboy museum....and drinking.  That's about it.

[Eric Smith]

can you speak to the "off course" attractions in Oklahoma?

There's the national cowboy museum....and drinking.  That's about it.

I reckon our generation missed out on the piano playin whores!

[jonathan_becker]

can you speak to the "off course" attractions in Oklahoma?

There's the national cowboy museum....and drinking.  That's about it.

I reckon our generation missed out on the piano playin whores!

What, no whores? Forget that dump...

They're still around....they just don't play the piano anymore.

[Steve Lang]

  

If you get to Edmond, OK just do Oak Tree National (forget the CC)..

A great piece of americana is "Woolaroc", which is located in the Osage Hills of Northeastern Oklahoma on Oklahoma State Highway 123 about 19 km (12 mi) southwest of Bartlesville, Oklahoma and 72 km (45 mi) north of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

 

[Sam Morrow]

OKC would be a great area, it gets looked down upon because elitists from the coasts think it's cool to piss on middle America. The course is full of fun golf courses.

[Greg Tallman]

Pittsburgh, PA
Columbus, OH

[Andy Troeger]

Scott,
Given that, I think New Mexico is a reasonable choice at least for those willing to stick mainly to Paa-Ko and Black Mesa with the rest of the courses filling in around them. The weather is generally good except for windy springs and there is a lot of other outside stuff to do for those that like to be active. Santa Fe has a lot going on in the art and culture arenas, and its not especially crowded, except in Albuquerque at rush hour.

I'll also second my old home state of Indiana. For those with access to private clubs, Victoria National and Wolf Run are among the most underrated courses in the country by most publications, and Crooked Stick is very good as well. On the public side, there are a lot of good choice, and most of them are very reasonably priced. French Lick is a neat town and the Ross Course is the best classic course in the state.

[PCCraig]

I'll also second my old home state of Indiana. For those with access to private clubs, Victoria National and Wolf Run are among the most underrated courses in the country by most publications, and Crooked Stick is very good as well. On the public side, there are a lot of good choice, and most of them are very reasonably priced. French Lick is a neat town and the Ross Course is the best classic course in the state.

Building off Andy's strong recommendation of Indiana and my own post on Minnesota/Wisconsin it made me think that if someone had a few weeks to kill and didn't mind putting some miles on a rental car you could build a wonderful trip around Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Chicago, Wisconsin, then Minnesota. The number of fantastic golf courses in those states means you could hardly do a half a day's drive before you could hit/visit another.

You could theoretically fly into Detriot (Oakland Hills, Detriot CC, Detriot GC) then drive either north to Traverse City (Crystal Downs/Kingsley) or west to Harbor Country (Lost Dunes, Dunes Club, Point 'O Woods) before driving south to Cleveland (The Country Club, Canterburry, Sand Ridge, etc.) before driving further south to Columbus (Double Eagle, The Golf Club, Scioto, Muirfield Village) before driving to Southern Indiana (Victoria National, French Lick) then driving north to Indy (Crooked Stick, Wolf Run) then 3 hours Chicago (too many to list) before driving through Wisconsin (Lawsonia, WS, Blackwolf Run, Blue Mound) to Minnesota (see post above).

That's a heck of a long, strong list of golf courses (all assuming access isn't an issue, but this is all theoretical). Would be one FUN couple/few weeks!

[Mark Chaplin]

I've done Chicago Golf, Inverness and Oakland Hills over four days staying two nights at the Inverness Club and it would be possible to do them over three days but it would be nice to fit in the Dunes Club on the way through! Ive also done Inverness from Chicago as a day trip with Dan Moore and Eric Torhorst (who kindly drove), long day though.