Top public and private courses in Minnesota

The best of public-access golf in Minnesota turned a disused sand and gravel excavation site into something beautiful: the Quarry at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.

Opened in 2003, the Quarry features a design by architect Jeffrey Brauer that incorporates wide fairways, severe hazards, significant elevation changes and brown spoil piles still in play, retaining a sense of the site’s history. It is No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best list of public access courses in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with that of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.

Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list for Minnesota’s private offerings is likewise included below.

MORE: Best Modern | Best Classic | Top 200 Resort|
Top 200 Residential | Top 100 Best You Can Play

(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960
(c): Classic course, built before 1960

Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses. 

* New to or returning to list

Wilderness at Fortune Bay in Minnesota (Courtesy of Fortune Bay)

1. Giants Ridge (Quarry)
Biwabik (135m)

2. Wilderness at Fortune Bay
Tower (m)

3. Breezy Point Resort (Deacon’s Lodge)
Brainerd (m)

4. Grand View Lodge (Pines)
Nisswa (m)

5. Chaska Town Course
Chaska (m)

6. Giants Ridge (Legends)
Biwabik (m)

7. Meadows at Mystic Lake
Prior Lake (m)

8. Madden’s on Gull Lake (c)
Brainerd (m)

9. StoneRidge
Stillwater (m)

10. The Wilds
Prior Lake (m)

Hazeltine National in Minnesota (USA TODAY Sports)

1. Interlachen
Edina (T65c)

2. Spring Hill
Orono (m)

3. White Bear Yacht Club
White Bear Lake (T75c)

4. Hazeltine National
Chaska (T74m)

5. Minikahda
Minneapolis (T94c)

6. Windsong Farm
Independence (T140m)

7. Somerset
Mendota Heights (c)

8. Northland
Duluth (159c)

9. Minneapolis GC*
St. Louis Park (c)

10. Golden Valley CC
Golden Valley (c)