7 Minute Miles

Golf at The Jewel


While still far below my peak year, 2015 wasn’t too bad for number of rounds played (28). In fact, it was the most golf I played in one season since 2012. I also crossed two courses off the rather long list of new courses I’ve wanted to visit. Mr. Miller and I hit the first one, The Jewel Golf Club in Lake City, Minnesota, on September 4th.

This Hale Irwin design normally costs $70 to walk during the summer, but our visit was about a week into the off season. This brought the walking price down to $40, which seemed like a great deal for a course of this quality. They weren’t very busy on this beautiful fall Friday, but the lot was full of collegiate golf vans when we finished the round.

The 800 acre layout had a good variety of holes ranging from wide open, flat prairie holes to tight, tree-lined holes with rolling elevation changes. The conditioning was perfect and there were five tees to choose from, including the 6014-yard white tees we selected (the tips stretch to 7050 yards). The only negative we experienced all day was an inattentive maintenance crew on the back nine that had no desire to stop working to let us play through.

The clubhouse was very nice and the staff in the pro shop were friendly and helpful. I’m not sure I would make the drive down from the Twin Cities to pay the normal rate, but $40 is a steal. More pics below.

Originally published by DK on January 1, 2016 at 7:48 pm in Friends, Golf, Longform


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