Pack the Clubs and the Family

May 2006 Special Advertising Section

Golf nuts seem to think they can, and should, tote their golf clubs along on every family vacation, business trip, or romantic weekend getaway.

And maybe they should—especially if there are plenty of other things for the non-golfers to do. Here, we highlight destinations within a half-day’s drive of the Twin Cities where golf, in varying degrees, is part of the experience.

Pure Golf
Years ago, serious Minnesota golfers looking to go on golf trips went elsewhere, such as to Florida. Fortunately, that’s simply not the case anymore.

In recent years, Minnesota’s vacation areas have added scores of high-quality courses, making certain pockets of the North Star State golf destinations in their own right. But Brainerd, where golf operators market “The Brainerd Golf Trail,” and Giants Ridge, where architect Jeff Brauer has designed two highly praised eighteen-hole courses, have gained the most national acclaim.

Seventeen courses surround Brainerd, including such well-known tracks as Deacon’s Lodge, The Pines at Grand View Lodge, The Legacy Courses at Cragun’s, The Classic at Madden’s on Gull Lake, The Lakes at Ruttger’s, and Golden Eagle Golf Club just a bit north of the others in Fifty Lakes.

“We’ve been seeing this part of our business—the pure golf trip—increase tremendously in recent years,” says Mark Ronnei, of Grand View Lodge in Brainerd. “We’ve added packages and new lodging facilities to accommodate such trips.”

The other top Minnesota golf destinations have done the same. Lodging facilities on the Brainerd Golf Trail and at Giants Ridge now have villas where, in some cases, up to a dozen players can stay. The rooms often include whirlpools, bars, pool tables, and other amenities. Many golf destinations have also added on-site spas, which offer a variety of massages, facials, and other relaxing therapies.

Fueling Minnesota’s reputation as a golf-trip destination have been accolades from national publications. To name a few, Golf Digest chose the Brainerd Golf Trail as one of the top fifty golf destinations in the world; The Classic at Madden’s was thirty-third on its list of top public courses in the country; and The Pines at Grand View Lodge consistently receives its five-star rating. Deacon’s Lodge, designed by Arnold Palmer’s company, ranks in Golf Magazine’s Top 100 You Can Play.

Speaking for the Brainerd Golf Trail, Ronnei adds: “We hear it all the time, golfers asking each other which course is the best in Brainerd—The Classic, Deacon’s, The Pines, Cragun’s Legacy courses. That shows how much quality golf we have here.”

Up on the Iron Range, Golf World magazine chose Giants Ridge as the sixth best golf destination in the world in 2003. Golf Digest ranked its newest course, The Quarry, the best new upscale public course in the country in 2005. “When we added the Quarry, we really became a legitimate, world-class golf destination,” says John Kendall, of Giants Ridge in Biwabik.

The Legend at Giants Ridge is a classic, cut-out-of-the-woods “Up North” golf course, according to Kendall. Its generous fairways make it the easier of the two, even though it measures in at more than 6,900 yards from the back tees. The Legend also includes one of the most difficult par-3s in the state: the 226-yard (from the back tee) seventeenth. A tee shot must carry over a small bay of Lake Sabin.

The Quarry, on the other hand, has smaller fairways and is set amid a former quarry. “It has a dramatically different look and feel—a much rougher feel,” Kendall says. “And it has many more elevation changes than our Legend course.”

The eighteenth hole at The Quarry, a long par-4, curls around a water-filled, 450-feet deep former taconite mining pit, which has been stocked with lake and rainbow trout. “When you’re standing on the eighteenth green, it’s about seventy feet down to the water—it’s quite a stunning view, and a tough hole,” Kendall says.

Ronnei of Grand View Lodge says a group of New Jersey golfers stayed for several days in the Brainerd area last fall, playing a variety of courses. “They told me they take an annual golf trip each fall—they heard about Brainerd in one of the national golf publications,” he says. “They’ve been to Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Hilton Head, all the big ones. And they honestly told me that this was their favorite trip so far. They just loved the setting and couldn’t believe how good the golf was.”