Madden’s Resort, Classic Course Rankings:
Golf Digest: #63 US public, #10 Minnesota
GolfWeek: #8 Minnesota public
Golf.com: #5 Minnesota public
Designer: Scott Hoffman, Geoffrey Cornish, John Harris, Warren Rebholz (1996)
Last month, my friend Dan and I had the opportunity to spend a day at one of Minnesota’s premiere Summertime, and golf, destinations: Brainerd, Minnesota.
I had spoken with the PGA Professional at Madden’s Resort in Brainerd, Glenn Hagberg, at the 2013 Milwaukee golf expo, and had of course heard of their Classic Course after seeing it repeatedly on lists of the country’s most highly acclaimed golf courses.
The Classic at Madden’s was named the 67th best course in the country this year by Golf Digest, and has appeared on the list for the past eleven straight years.
The Classic was built to add a PGA level course to Maddens’ resort property, and was designed by the course’s Superintendent, Scott Hoffman, with the help of three high-powered consultants: Former US Amateur champion John Harris, Minnesota Golf Association Executive Director Warren Rebholz, and the late East Coast golf architect Geoffrey Cornish. The goal was to provide a true PGA Tour level experience that can be enjoyed by golfers of all skill levels.
The Classic was designed from the Tour level tee boxes in, and features five sets of tees that measure less than the 7,102 yards played from the tips. Despite my regular support for the PGA’s “Tee it Forward” campaign, Dan and I played from the unmarked Tour tees for our first round, and not only were we provided a fantastic PGA Tour level experience, but we also added to our appreciation of the pros – blind tee shots, 200-plus yard carries off the tees, forced draws and fades, and on the eleventh hole a tee shot that has to be hit through about a ten-yard wide gap between trees to get to a fairway that is 270 yards out!
I will be writing more on our Classic experience in the near future, and am also working on a story for Midwest Golfing Magazine that focuses on Maddens’ current initiative to get players back to walking again – including a fantastic caddy program – but wanted to get some pictures up here for now. So, without further adieu, some of my favorite images from one of the most spectacular golf courses I have ever played: The Classic at Madden’s Resort:
Course Wrap-Up:
Location: Brainerd, MN
Yardage: Tour-7,102, Black-6,717, Blue-6,438, White-6,062, Gold-5,438, Red-4,859
Slope/Rating: Tour-145/75.6, Black-141/73.9, Blue-134/72.1, White-130/70.4, Gold-131/72.5, Red-123/69.3
Par: 72
Weekend Rates: $119, including cart
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