Minnesota 2010

[moe]

We're about to leave for Minnesota and points north.
I have most of their rated courses in my sights,
but if you know something, now is the time to speak up.

moe
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GKL 2008 Match Play Champ!

[wilma]

Only that 1st 'must plays' are Wilderness and both Giant's Ridge. I assume you have them on your list. Please let us know. I would also like to find a way there.

Doug

PS: Going to Alaska for 10 days starting soon. Non-golf trip. Just some flightsees and a dull 7 day cruise along the Inside Passage. Boring, huh?
_________________
125yd hole out for Eagle at #7, Stonelick Hills, with a 9-iron. 6/13/06. 115yd Hole out for Eagle on #9, Stonelick Hills. 10/22/08.

[moe]

Due to other people’s golf outings, and rain, we were in Wisconsin when we finally got to golfin’.
Drugan’s Castle Mound is located just north of LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
It was a substitute for the General Course at Eagle Ridge, due to northern Illinois rain.
It was $42 and a fairly simple layout in very good condition. The greens were fast, but easy to read.
I gave it 1 excellent and 17 good holes for design, and shot 83.
It was a nice tune up for the highly rated courses to come.

The next day we played LaCrosse C. C. which was my 90th Arthur Hills design to date.
We paid $80 as unescorted guests of the pro, Jim Kjellenberg. He is very a very nice man.
The course was not crowded and we played at a leisurely pace in 3 ½ hours.
The design was again very straightforward, and I gave it 2 excellent and 16 good holes for design.
The condition was great tee to green, and they were fast and not easy to read.
Moe struggled to an 89, with both errant drives and putts. I did play at 6300 yards.

Chaska Town Course is located just southwest of Minneapolis, and is outstanding.
It was my 91st Arthur Hills course played, and it was Art doing his best work.
It is a $78 muni which is in great condition despite consistently heavy play.
It is among the best 3 munis I have played. I gave it 8 excellent and 10 good holes for design.
The greens were not quit as fast as the country club, but just as tricky.
We played with Chris, a local who helped me pay attention, to shoot an 86.
It’s an 86 on a tough course that I’m proud of. It was a slow 4 ½ hour round.
It cost us so much because they promote walking by charging $35 for a cart!
Most of the locals do walk.

We now move up to the Brainard area and start playing those highly rated courses.
They weather is nice, with highs in the 70s and 40% humidity. Eat your heart out!

We started with Bobbie's Legacy at Craguns, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr.
We played a twilight round (2 pm) among several really poor golfers, for $66.
The course was in great shape tee to green, with the fastest greens we've encountered so far.
It was a good thing I had my best putting day, making several 10 footers
I had 2 birdies and shot a pair of 40s from 6000 yards and won the match 2 up, with a par at 18.
That hole duplicates number 18 on the Lakeside nine at Shaker Run, except here it circles a swamp.
I gave Bobbies Legacy 6 excellent and 12 good holes for design.

Craguns is right up the road from Maddens resort.
After golf we went over there for dinner on the patio of Madden's Classic Grill.
We got to scout Madden's Classic course which we will tackle at 3 pm tomorrow.

We are playing these resort courses at the twilight rate to save big bucks.
Madden's Classic is $80 after 3 pm and $145 before that - and I'm paying for two!
So each morning we have other activities.
This morning I won the tennis match 5-7, 6-3, 7-4, and that was after we walked over 3 miles of trails at the Northwoods Arboretum!
She is wearing my ass out
Then we cleaned up and headed out to Madden's, where we had lunch on the patio.
We then hit 6 balls apiece and lined up for the REAL contest.
They had shotgunned a large group at 1:30, so we slowed down, so as not to catch them.
Moe started hot with 3 pars, Joyce not so hot.
An errant drive on #5 cost me a triple bogey (which I took because I'm no longer under a 10 handicap), but that was the last hiccup of the day.
I went 42 - 38 = 80, to win the match 3 and 2.
That's 2 80s in a row, but this time I played much better and only made 1 long putt.

Because I'm playing tough courses, I'm playing at 6000 yards instead of 6300.
That allows me to hit irons at greens instead of woods.
And today I only had 2 errant drives and only one hurt me.
Here's another thing that rarely happens to Moe - on 2 par 5s I hit great drives and went for it in 2.
In both cases I was 180 yards out with water in front of the green - risk reward holes.
In both cases I was over the water with the 5 wood, but not on the green.
On number 16 I was in the green side bunker, blasted to 20 feet, and made the birdie putt!
I think it may be the best birdie I ever made.

The Classic at Madden's is by Scott Hoffman, who I don't know of, but I gave the course 6 excellent and 12 real good holes for design.
The greens were at least as fast as Bobby's Legacy, and Joyce says Madden's was the much tougher course.
Which proves once again that you can score on any course if you hit the shots.
I got a picture today of her blasting from a bunker, with the green and 5 other bunkers in the shot
If Ron will help when I get home, you might get to see it.

Tomorrow morning she wants to rent bikes and ride several miles up the Paul Bunyon Trail.
She is wearing my old ass out

After riding a bike 18 miles, and having more of that Minnesota cream of chicken and wild rice soup for lunch,
we played Dutch Legacy at Cragun's starting at 2 pm, for $62 each.
These greens were as hard and fast as the others.
The layout is similar to Bobby's with some water, some marshland, and lots of sand.
I gave Dutch's 4 excellent and 14 good holes for design.
I only made 2 good putts, but both were for birdie in my round of 84.

Thursday was our 4th golf day in a row, and we played The Preserve at Grand View Lodge.
The course did not seem harder than the others, but both Joyce and I had bigger scores.
The greens here had no straight putts and were unreadable for us, which led to many 3 putts.
I won the match 2 up by finishing birdie, par, par, for an 88!
I gave The Preserve 1 excellent and 17 good holes for design.
It also had more deep woods along the fairways, whitch ate two of my balls.
Of course every day up here I find more balls than I lose.

Friday morning we had to pay full price at Deacon's Lodge ($122 each), since we were moving on up to Giants Ridge after the round.
This one is an Arnold Palmer signature course, and we both liked it better than The Preserve, and played better golf.
Joyce had a trip best 100 to win the match 3 & 2, but I was proud of my 82 anyway.
These greens held shots a little better, and we read them better.
I gave Arnold 4 excellent and 14 good holes for design.
It was a windy day and a full course , but we still played in 4 hours; the slowest round yet.
I believe Dale Hollow and the other State Park signature courses in Kentucky compare favorably to these in design.
It's the almost perfect condition of these up north courses that impresses.

The Wilderness at Fortune Bay Casino is beautiful!
We teed off on a packed course at 2 pm on a Saturday for $64 twilight rate.
We were paired with Gordie and Debbie who were up for the week-end from St. Paul.
Almost immediatly we fell behind the twosome ahead of us, but outdistanced the twosome behind us?
We played in 4 hours on a packed course without catching anyone, and without being caught.
It could only happen because there was no slow group anywhere ahead of us.
I take back all those comments I've been making about how slow they are up here.
They only drive slow - they golf at a nice pace.
The Wilderness has great big greens that I liked better then those in Brainerd.
The fairways are wide and treelined. The rough is thick and sand is everywhere.
I gave this 2005 Jeff Brauer design 5 excellent and 13 good holes for design, but liked it better than that.
I had two really bad holes on the back side to ruin my good round and finished at 85.

The Quarry at Giants Ridge is the toughest course we've played on this trip.
It has some very rough terrain, and several very tough holes.
The greens are great, fast, and not impossible to read. I wish Jason was here to read them!
Moe hit the ball great all day but struggled to 44-44=88.
Joyce could not carry the required carries and fell apart to shoot 132.
That is close to her worst in life.
Moe gave the course 6 excellent and 12 good holes for design, but four of them were just "too hard".
We did have a great Herring dinner in the restaurant there after our round.

The next day we played The Legends at Giant Ridge.
This older course got 3 excellent and 15 good holes for design, and none were "too hard".
Moe still had 4 double bogies and was somewhat lucky to finish with an 86.
The difference in difficulty is seen in Joyce's score - she had a 102, and won the match 2 and 1.

The Wilderness, and the 2 Giant's Ridge courses are the best we've played in Minnesota.
They are all courses that make you want to play your best.
It's very frustrating to dump your aproach in the greenside bunker, or miss that 6 foot par putt.
Great courses just make me want to be a better golfer.
And even though I'm playing a little over 6000 yards, I do notice how it would play from the tips at 7000.
I always wish I could see how Jason, Jim, and Ron would handle it.

Today we were over on the Lake Superior coast to play Superior National.
It is not so highly rated or well conditioned, or well designed, but it ain't easy.
These greens were smooth but closer to slow than fast. A big difference.
The terrain was still rough and some target golf was involved.
I struggeled once again to an 86, and Joyce at 4600 yards kicked my ass with a 101.
At least this early morning round was quicker as we played thru one foursome and finished in 3:20.
I gave this course 3 excellent and 15 holes for design, but it wasn't in near the condition of Giant's Ridge.

Well, we finally made it back to the states, after 2 days in the dead zone of western Ontario.
Now for some bonus coverage.
Minnesota is the home of wild rice. Their soup is chicken with wild rice.
It's a cream based soup that Moe recommends highly.
If you've been to Texas in the spring, you know the highways are lined with bluebonnets.
In Minnesota in June, the highways are lined with "yellowbonnets".
I don't know the flower (or weed) name, but they add color.
Also, in northern Minnesota, the highway mower men are the local farmers.
So when the grass is mowed, it's also rolled up and used.
Good idea, huh?
In the Brainerd lakes area we found fine dining. Iven's by the Bay was the best.
Further north near Giants Ridge "fine dining" is not in the vocabulary.
Or if it is, it's a bad word.
That's when you get happy with the chichen with wild rice soup.
The wild rice is a story worth looking up, and it is good.
We will be serving wild rice at the Millertime Ranch in Kentucky soon.

The north side of Lake Superior is much like the south side, otherwise called th UP of Michigan.
A seven course meal is a six pack and a grinder.
After driving 100 kilometers driving thru the forest on highway 17,
you come to a building labeled motel, restaurant, bait store, gas station.
Then you'll see a guy with a big beard on a bicycle with saddle bags.
He'll be biking all the way around the lake!
It's a pretty exclusive club they join by doing that.
Perhaps Doug will calculate that mileage for us - in kilometers for the Canadian half!
The ones on motorcycles take just over a week if they ride steady.

In Thunder Bay we played The Whitewater Golf Club.
It was designed by Thomas McBroom Associates. He is an institution in Canadian golf course design.
His courses are very traditional (nothing to resemble Pete Dye or Michael Strantz).
I gave this one 2 excellent and 16 good holes for design and liked it a lot.
His greens were softer then those Minnesota resorts and held a shot better both times I hit a green.
It was somewhat over priced at $86, but in Canada lots of that is tax.

Today we were in Sault Ste. Marie to play a new course designed by my friend Chris Wilscznski, working for Art Hills.
This experience was much different than playing those 10 year old resort courses.
Anyone who's tried to grow much grass knows it ain't easy to get uniform coverage.
This course is called Silver Creek and it's in Garden River, Ontario, just east of "The Soo".
The fairways were 80% great, and then there were the wet spots and the bare spots.
The greens were in good shape, but not big and easy to hit.
I gave it 3 excellent and 15 good holes for design, and it will get better with age.
They had a good Friday crowd which will help in getting the money to pave yhe cart paths and build a clubhouse.
This was obviously not an over funded project.

Now we get a week-end off for the Cherry festival in Traverse City, Michigan.
Then Tuesday we'll be back in southern Michigan for a round with Chris and Art.
That's when I report my findings, and they pretend to take me seriously.

Our final round of the trip was with Chris Wilczynski at Jackson C. C.
Art Hills did not show up for golf, but he did design the third nine of this 27 hole layout.
That makes this course the 93rd Art Hills design I have played.
His nine was very different, since the original 18 was built in 1923!
The Jackson Country Club is private, very active, and very nice .
I gave Art (even thou he stood us up) 3 excellent and 6 good holes for his nine.
The older nine was all good holes, and many magnificent old trees.

Chris has worked for Art for 20 years and is just now going out on his own.
If you know anyone with several million dollars who wants a golf course, I have his phone number.

moe
_________________
GKL 2008 Match Play Champ!

[wilma]

Thanks Moe;

If I still have any golf in me, I want to get to Northern Minnesota.

Sounds like a lot of the greens are like we found in ALL of N MI, when a ball hits them from anything more than about 8-iron, it trampolines. Those holes need some room to bounce on or terrain to run on. Most of the great ones in Michigan [Like Greywalls] had that. Makes them playable.

Doug

PS: If you ever want to look for a non-golf trip worth taking, Alaska is stunning! Get there! I am thankful, truly, that there is still a few places like this left to experience. Trip of a lifetime.
_________________
125yd hole out for Eagle at #7, Stonelick Hills, with a 9-iron. 6/13/06. 115yd Hole out for Eagle on #9, Stonelick Hills. 10/22/08.