Manager John Kendall reports that The Legend course at Giants Ridge opened for play today, several weeks after The Quarry course. The Legend had some winter damage this year and they elected to let it recover further before opening. Both courses are still offering spring rates through June 14 ($55 Monday-Thursday, $65 Friday-Sunday). All green fees include golf car, range balls and yardage book, but do not include sales tax.

The Troon Golf-managed Giants Ridge facility continues to receive national accolades. Both courses are listed in Golf Digest’s Top 100 Public Courses, one of only six facilities (Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Bandon Dunes, Kohler and Barefoot Resort) to have multiple courses in the Top 100. Combined with The Wilderness at Fortune Bay, this trio of Jeffrey Brauer gems is truly becoming a world-renowned golf destination.

In April, Giants Ridge unveiled a 10-year master plan for the area that includes a mountain top village, base resort village, water park, ice skating rink, parks and beaches, public and private boat landings and multiple housing and lodging options. The master plan contemplates investments approaching one billion dollars over the next decade, but there are currently no plans for additional golf courses.

Master Plan Brochure (PDF)

Golf can be a fickle master. Friday’s third round of the NCAA Division I Championship at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Virginia, was a tough one for the maroon and gold.

Bronson LaCassie’s run atop the individual leaderboard came crashing down after a round that included seven bogeys and one double bogey. Ben Pisani also had a tough day, shooting an eight-over 78 that included two doubles and one triple.

The team total is now 278-276-294-848 (+14), which dropped them from second to a tie for eighth, twenty shots behind clubhouse leader Stanford.

Here are today’s individual scores:

• T28, Bronson LaCassie, 67-65-79-211 (+1)
• T31, Victor Almstrom, 73-68-71-212 (+2)
• T31, Niall Turner, 71-71-70-212 (+2)
• T65, Ben Pisani, 68-72-78-218 (+8)
• T72, Clayton Rask, 72-73-75-220 (+10)

The tournament concludes tomorrow with the top 15 teams advancing to the final round.

Highland Revisited

Last week, in response to Jerry Zgoda’s rankings of metro courses, I talked about the key elements of a great golf course. This week, I’ll talk about Highland National in St. Paul.

Golfers who played Highland Golf Course prior to the recent renovation recall a parkland golf course with trees uniformly lining the fairways to provide definition to the golf holes.

A key feature of the new Highland National is the use of the mature trees on the golf course to impact the strategy of the golf holes. Although the bunkers at Highland help shape the strategic route on many of the new holes the mature trees play an even more definitive role.

Water encroaching on golf holes at Highland would only be considered a negative if you view the water on number 16 at Cypress or number 18 at Pebble Beach as negatives. In Minnesota and elsewhere, water is a vital and historical part of the game (re: Bobby Jones lily pad shot at number 9 at Interlachen in the 1930 U.S. Open).

A more refined critique of the Twin Cities Municipal golf course layouts would find that Highland National deserves a high ranking in the metro area golf offerings based on its strategic playing features. Like all great golf courses its appeal grows the more it is played and its subtle rewards are discovered.

On the Paul Miller Golf Places to Play List, Highland National ranks a rocking 4 birdies.

Paul Miller can be reached at:

Paul Miller Design, Inc.
220 Division Street
Northfield, MN 55957
507-645-6999
paulmillerdesign@msn.com

FORE! Minnesota, on Saturday, June 2, 2007 (9 am on KSTC-45):

• Course Tour: Edinburgh USA (Brooklyn Park, MN)
• Great Moments in MN Golf: U.S. Open (Minikahda 1916)
• Stories of Golf: Golf’s New Toys in 2007 (Minnesota Golf Show)
• Tad Reeve’s Dream 18: Spring Hill #13
• Pro Strategies: Brock Swanson (Territory GC)