Roll Call - MN contingent? (Part 1)

With how hard everyone rides for Northland in here I’m very interested in comparing this to Deacons and Quarry.

The more I think about Madden’s now that I’ve been around it 4 times I think I could agree with this. The front nine can be a little annoying. I haven’t ever really updated the list, just kind of placed courses on there after I play them the first time. That 11th hole with the bunkers all around the green just makes me so happy though!

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Northland is my #1 course in the state, but I really like classic courses and I prefer firm and fast over soft, green and pristine.

You can tell me that either Deacon’s or Quarry is your top course in the state and I’ll respect that opinion, I can easily see why you’d feel that way. Both are world class IMO.

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It’s been a long time since I’ve played the Quarry so I can’t really comment on that, but I would definitely put Northland above Deacons.

I ride pretty hard for Deacons as the best course in the greater Brainerd area, but at the end of the day for me its kind of just a golf course. There is nothing offensive about it, I enjoy playing it, the conditions are always great, but it doesn’t strike me as a super memorable course.

Northland I found to be so much more memorable. Maybe it’s subconscious bias, and that I’m supposed to like a Ross more than I like a Palmer, but there was just something about it that stuck with me. Something about the level of intrigue each hole presented that I find lacking at Deacons. Maybe its the subtlety of Northland that adds to that.

At the end of the day all golf is target golf, but I feel like courses like Deacons make it obvious where to hit it and where not to as the defenses of the course are obvious. Whereas Northland, it seems like the defense of the course is still there, but it so much more subtle particularly visually, you’ll find yourself in a spot where you originally think you’re fine (or visually looks fine), only to realize that your were absolutely boned after hitting your shot. Hit it in the wrong spot on either course and you can be absolutely f’ed, but I think with Northland you don’t realize it until after the fact.

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How’d you get out to Harvester? I passed the main entrance randomly while traveling through IA for work and was pretty blown away when I found out what it was.

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I grew up in Iowa. It used to be public. They went private about 3 years ago I think? I’ve played it twice and it is so incredible. The use of goats to keep the fescue to a manageable level was awesome.

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I think Mack’s list is fine. It’s about each person individually. Most people get MN wrong, and put WBYC below #1, so why worry?

I need to get up and play Wilderness and Quarry, and get back to Brainerd and play some of them again.

Been too long.

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I’m biased cause my girlfriend works for Madden’s and I get stupidly cheap rates to the Classic, but I think it’s a gem. While I love width and angles and all that #woke shit, sometimes I do like the challenge of a course like that, where it tells you how to play it and it challenges you to hit the shots. Probably similar to my feelings about 11 at Chaska.:man_shrugging:t2:

Also, recently read that Doak was in the running to design the classic! It was early in his career and he got passed over, but how sick would that’ve been?!

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We’ll have to get a Brainerd weekend set up next year once the world returns to normal.

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Correct, would have been awesome. They decided to cheap out and do it in house, and well, the results were not great (IMO, obviously a lot of people disagree with me).

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Leans In, Whispers
I’m secretly hoping someone will see my list and say "oh wow this poor guy thinks Gross is good? Let me host him at Interlachen and show him a proper golf course*

It’s the long game, Seth.

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@tj_denawli and @GRWhitehead You guys are vets on here. I bet a lot of people would like to see your T10 public course list for courses within an hour of the metro…just sayin

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one of my favorite courses all time is Riverwood CC in Bismarck ND. ZERO width, and very few angles…but great great memories.

There’s a huge difference between “favorite” and “best” – hell, some folks HATE playing bermuda grass fairways, and some people hate the lack of level lies at my all time fave, WBYC.

I let the raters determine BEST, but I get to decide favorite.

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Very fair take. Also, huge WBYC fan over here. Was fortunate to have played it many times over the years and it’s the home to my only ace on #3. The funky lies are part of the charm.

I was a little bummed to hear about the tree removal on some of the holes out there, though. I dig the idea of 14, but I loved the way the trees framed 17. They’re totally not in play and are purely aesthetic, and I’m here for it. Haven’t seen it since the removal, so I’ll save my full judgement until then.

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This is one of the strangest statements I have read. The photos of the 17th hole after the removal of the stand of trees behind the green show a vast improvement.

Again, fair take. I know that’s the trendy thing in the game right now to clear cut trees and show the land movement, but I personally loved those trees behind 17.

I think it’s harder now, the trees served as an aiming point and blocked the wind to a degree.

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Look at this guy with the member/guest pic flex…

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Jeesh, I haven’t played some of these places in a long time…13 years in private club life will do that to you. Let me shoot for a top 10 within an hour…I’d have a hard time ranking them, but the first 5 are the top 5

Stoneridge
Troy Burne
Keller
Baker
Chaska Town

Rush Creek
Links at Northfork
Legends
The Wilds
Loggers?

I’m out of places I’d “rank” – I’ve played many others, and enjoyed my time at most…never like Edinburgh, and miss the city munis that have fallen behind…used to LOVE Meadowbrook.

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Yeah, it’s a different view for sure. But I like it now. It looks farther, it looks more difficult.