Minnesota's Best Golf Courses

Named after a village in Scotland, Braemar has been one of the Twin Cities' most beloved public courses since 1964. After a full redesign in 2019, it's playing the best golf of its 60-year life.

The course stretches across 500 acres of rolling hills, scenic lakes and untouched oak ridges. Each hole has a different personality. Some play with a links-style openness across the rolling terrain, while others weave through stands of mature oaks and wetlands with a classic parkland feel.

Braemar is just 20 minutes from downtown Minneapolis, and the price is very, very right.

For casual golfers: The redesigned layout is approachable and fun without being a pushover. Multiple tee options, generous landing areas on many holes and a beautiful setting make it an easy recommendation for golfers who want a quality experience without feeling like the course is working against them.

For experienced golfers: This course offers genuine strategic depth. The routing across rolling terrain with scenic lakes and oak ridges creates interesting risk-reward decisions throughout. And the greens are complex enough to make every approach shot matter.

Most municipal courses aim for “perfectly fine.” Chaska Town Course aims considerably higher. Owned and operated by the city, it was built from the start with the stated ambition of being the best public course in Minnesota. And it has spent the decades since making a convincing argument for that title. 

Across acres of oak groves, open prairie and marshland, the course shifts character from hole to hole in a way that keeps you constantly engaged. It has co-hosted the U.S. Amateur alongside Hazeltine National, which tells you everything about the level of design and conditioning this place operates at. 

For casual golfers: Six tee options give you plenty of room to find a comfortable length. And the variety of terrain, from trees to prairie to wetlands, means the scenery keeps changing just as fast as the challenge does. 

For experienced golfers: A rating north of 73 and a slope of 141 from the tips make this a genuine test, not just a pretty one. The fairways demand placement, the greens are quick, and several of the dogleg holes require you to think your way around the course rather than just grip and rip it.

A five-star Golf Digest rating. Fifteen consecutive years. A professional caddie program. Water in play on 15 of 18 holes. Over 50 white sand bunkers. The Classic at Madden's is not messing around. It's one of those courses that feels like a private club experience without the membership fee. 

The Brainerd Lakes Area has no shortage of great golf, but if you're only playing one course in the area, this should probably be it. 

For casual golfers: Multiple tee options bring the course down to a very playable length. And pairing with one of the resort's professional caddies is a game-changer. Having someone read the greens and club you properly on a course this tricky makes the whole experience significantly more enjoyable. 

For experienced golfers: Water on 15 of 18 holes, 50-plus bunkers, and greens that demand precise approach play make The Classic a legitimate scoring challenge from any set of tees. And the caddie program gives you no excuse for misreading a putt.

Dacotah Ridge is what golf looks like when it lets the landscape do the work. It's a true prairie-style course with wide open skies, gently rolling terrain, Wabasha Creek winding lazily through the property, and a 14-acre lake coming into play on five holes. 

There are no forced theatrics here — just a beautifully natural 7,109-yard championship layout that feels like it grew out of the southwest Minnesota countryside rather than being built on top of it. It's about 110 miles from the Twin Cities and worth every mile. 

For casual golfers, Dacotah Ridge offers multiple tee options that bring the course to a very manageable length, with pristine conditions and an uncrowded setting. 

For experienced golfers: A slope of 145 and over 7,100 yards from the tips tells you everything you need to know. This course will challenge serious players with a routing that demands accurate driving, precise iron play and sharp course management across a varied and visually demanding landscape.

Arnold Palmer didn't put his name on many courses. The ones where he did tend to leave a lasting impression. Deacon's Lodge (named after Palmer’s father) flows across 500 acres of northern Minnesota wilderness with massive bentgrass fairways, strategic bunkering and undulating greens that make the approach shot the most important shot on almost every hole. 

It's wide enough off the tee to feel welcoming, but precise enough around the greens to keep you honest. Golf Digest calls it one of Arnold Palmer's finest public course designs. 

For casual golfers: Palmer famously designed his courses to be wide and welcoming off the tee. Deacon's Lodge honors that philosophy. The generous fairways take a lot of the anxiety out of the driver and let higher handicappers enjoy the round rather than spend it in the trees. 

For experienced golfers: The real challenge here is on and around the greens. Large, heavily contoured putting surfaces protected by strategic bunkering mean that hitting the green is only half the battle. And two-putting is never guaranteed.

Designed by three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin and nestled among the grand bluffs of the Mississippi River Valley, The Jewel is one of the most scenic and underrated courses in the entire state. The layout winds through 800 acres of river-valley terrain (part wooded, part open, part water), with five sets of tee boxes that make it genuinely enjoyable for every skill level. 

Four of the par-4s stretch past 461 yards from the tips, so don't think for a second that this place is going to go easy on you. GolfAdvisor ranked it among the top 25 courses in the Americas and named it one of the friendliest courses in the country. 

For casual golfers: The pace of play is relaxed, and five tee options let you find a yardage that suits your game perfectly without feeling overwhelmed. 

For experienced golfers: From the back tees, those four par-4s stretching past 461 yards combined with the constant elevation changes and water in play make The Jewel a serious test of both power and precision.

Here's your history lesson for the day: this classic muni in the suburbs of St. Paul hosted the PGA Championship in 1932 and 1954, the St. Paul Open for nearly 40 straight years, and a handful of LPGA events over the decades. Legends walked these fairways. Golf Digest panelists consistently call it one of the best stretches of holes in the state. 

The course wraps around Keller Lake through nearly 100 acres of rolling, wooded parkland terrain that looks and feels like it's been there forever — because it has. There's a timeless, unhurried quality to the place that's rare to find this close to the Twin Cities. And the original oak trees still standing over holes 4 and 17 are a quiet reminder of just how long this course has been part of the landscape. 

For casual golfers: As a public municipal course, Keller is one of the most accessible and affordable rounds on this list. Great conditions, a welcoming atmosphere, and a classic layout that doesn't rely on gimmicks or extreme difficulty to be interesting and enjoyable. 

For experienced golfers: The same holes that hosted PGA Championship competitors and St. Paul Open legends are still there. And the greens and bunkering make sure the course earns every score you post. This is not a layout that hands out pars for free.

The name isn’t just marketing fluff; this place has earned it. Carved through rolling terrain with a sprawling lake, winding creeks and wetlands threading between holes, Legends doesn’t feel like a course that was designed so much as one that was discovered. It makes you wonder how a public course this good exists just 25 minutes south of Minneapolis. 

The accolades have piled up over the years (national course of the year honors, best-in-state nods, top new course recognition), and every single one of them checks out. 

For casual golfers: Five tee options on every hole keep things fun and approachable, no matter where your game is at right now. The setting is so naturally gorgeous it feels like you're getting a private-club experience at a public-course price. 

For experienced golfers: The rating and slope from the tips put this course firmly in “serious test” territory, and the water that makes everything look so pretty has absolutely no mercy for wayward shots. Choose every shot wisely or prepare to hand over some balls.

If you've never played Northfork, you're missing one of the best-kept secrets in the northwest metro. This Scottish links-style course stretches nearly 7,000 yards across wide open terrain with undulating fairways lined by native grasses, large and fast bentgrass greens and the kind of wind exposure that rewards creative shot-making and punishes anyone who thinks they can overpower it. 

Golf Digest gave it four stars, and green fees are among the most reasonable on this list. For northwest metro golfers, this one should already be in heavy rotation. 

For casual golfers: The wide links-style layout works in favor of higher handicappers off the tee. There are no trees to swallow wayward shots, and the generous fairways give you room to work with. The exceptional practice facility is also a great place to get warmed up and dial in your distances before the round. 

For experienced golfers: The wind is the great equalizer here. On a breezy Minnesota day, Northfork becomes a completely different course that demands creative shot-making and intelligent course management. The nearly 7,000-yard layout from the tips is a genuine test of length and precision.

There's no course in Minnesota quite like The Quarry. And there might not be one quite like it anywhere. Built on the bones of an old iron mine in the rugged Iron Range, it’s genuinely unlike anything you've played before. Expect massive rock outcroppings, dramatic elevation drops and hole-after-hole views that make you stop mid-shot just to take it all in. 

Golf Digest has consistently ranked it the best public course in the state, and it's easy to understand why the moment you walk off the first tee. Play it once, and you'll be plotting your return trip before you even finish the back nine. 

For casual golfers: Five tee options mean you can find a length that fits your game perfectly. And when the scenery is this spectacular, every hole feels like a highlight reel. 

For experienced golfers: From the tips, this course is a genuine beast. Long, demanding, and unforgiving off the tee with approach shots that require precise distance control into greens protected by dramatic natural hazards you won't find on any other course in the state.

There's a running joke among Twin Cities golfers that Rush Creek ruined them for every other public course in the area. Once you've played it, the bar is set uncomfortably high. 

Rush Creek was designed from day one with a single goal: to make a public course feel like a private club. Mission accomplished. The rolling terrain, sculpted wetlands, elevation changes and deep bunkers give the whole course a confident feel that you don’t usually find outside a gated entrance. 

For casual golfers: Multiple tee options stretch the course from a very manageable length all the way out to a beast, so you choose your own adventure. There’s also a short course on site if you want to keep the fun going without the commitment of another full 18. 

For experienced golfers: From the tips, this course stretches past 7,300 yards with a slope that demands your full attention from the very first tee shot. The number one handicap hole is a humbling 490-yard par 4. Water, bunkers and firm, fast greens show up exactly when you least want them to. Bring your course management A-game.

Just 10 miles east of St. Paul, StoneRidge is the closest thing to links golf you're going to find in Minnesota. Designed on a reclaimed sand and gravel quarry site, the course features rolling bentgrass fairways framed by native fescue, massive undulating greens and 158 bunkers covering over 14 acres of sand. Yes, you read that right: 158 bunkers. 

The wind is always a factor, the greens run fast and tricky, and Golf Digest reviewers have called it the most interesting daily-fee course in the Twin Cities. Golfweek has consistently ranked it the number one public course in the metro. 

If you want to feel like you accidentally ended up at Shinnecock without buying a plane ticket, StoneRidge is your move. 

For casual golfers: The wide, rolling fairways give you room to work with off the tee, and the multiple tee options make the course very manageable in terms of length. Just be mentally prepared for the bunkers and bring your sand game, because you will find them. 

For experienced golfers: The 158 bunkers, fast and undulating greens and constant wind make StoneRidge a genuine links-style test of shot-making, course management and creativity. Bump-and-run approaches and low, wind-cheating ball flights are rewarded here in ways they simply aren't on most Minnesota courses.

This one makes every other course on this list feel a little ordinary by comparison. And that's saying something. Perched between the Sawtooth Mountains and the shores of Lake Superior along the Poplar River Valley, Superior National offers 27 holes of golf with views so absurd you'll spend half your round taking in the scenery. 

The River and Canyon nines make up the premier 18. And the Canyon nine is about as memorable as golf in Minnesota gets, with its dramatic valley terrain, ravine ponds and bending fairways. 

Get up to the North Shore and treat yourself. 

For casual golfers: The River nine is the most accessible of the three with wider fairways and a more forgiving layout that lets you soak in the scenery without constantly losing balls. It’s a great starter before tackling the more demanding Canyon nine. 

For experienced golfers: The Canyon nine is a true shot-maker's course with tight, bending fairways, severe elevation changes and approach shots into small greens that demand precision and creativity.

Here’s a secret that Twin Cities golfers have been quietly keeping to themselves for years: one of the best public courses in the metro isn’t in the metro at all. Wild Marsh sits about 30 miles west of Minneapolis in Buffalo. 

The course winds through rolling terrain, native wetlands and two lakes in a way that feels natural, not manufactured. The marsh carries that appear throughout the round look beautiful from the tee and a little intimidating when you're aiming at them. 

This is target golf at its most entertaining. 

For casual golfers: The layout is open enough in the right places to keep high handicappers happy, and the scenery more than makes up for whatever number ends up on your scorecard. 

For experienced golfers: Water or marsh is in play on a huge portion of holes. And the rolling terrain hides more trouble than the satellite view lets on. Long hitters who try to overpower it tend to pay the price. Lay up, pick your spots and respect the design. That's how you score well here.