10 of Minnesota's Most Unique Golf Holes

Hole 13 — Par 4
The Quarry at Giants Ridge
Biwabik

This is the hole. Golf Digest named it the best 13th hole in America built since the year 2000. And it's not hard to understand why the moment you step onto the elevated tee. The entire scene unfolds below you like a theater: a wide, diagonal fairway, a 100-yard-wide green perched on a ledge above a 600-foot-deep quarry lake, and native grasses framing the whole thing like a painting.

At 323 yards, it's drivable, but only if you're willing to commit. The green has seven tiers, the pond to the right is filled with the remnants of old mining equipment, and there are at least four legitimate ways to play the hole depending on how bold you're feeling.

Conservative or aggressive, Hole 13 at The Quarry demands a decision off every tee and rewards golfers who make the right one.

Hole 8 — Par 4
Stonebrooke Golf Club
Shakopee

There is no hole in Minnesota quite like the 8th at Stonebrooke. You step up to a tee box overlooking Lake O'Dowd, stare down a forced carry that can stretch as far as 240 yards over open water, take a deep breath and swing.

If you survive the tee shot, here's where things get genuinely unforgettable. You don't walk or cart to the fairway. You take a ferry boat ride across the lake to get there, golf cart and all. The boat captain ferries you across, you step off and knock a short iron to the green.

Hole 8 is one of a kind. And yes, you can order drinks on the ferry.

Hole 15 — Par 4
Highland National Golf Course
St. Paul

Every golf course has a signature hole. Not every golf course has a signature hole shaped like Snoopy.

Highland National in St. Paul is the course where Peanuts creator Charles Schulz learned to caddie as a kid and played his whole life. When the course underwent a major renovation, designers Garrett Gill and Paul Miller knew exactly how to honor him.

The result is a Snoopy-shaped bunker sitting right in the middle of the 15th fairway, constructed with the personal blessing of Schulz's widow, Jean. It's a 424-yard straightaway par-4 with a pond lurking behind the Snoopy bunker.

There’s nothing quite like having a giant cartoon beagle in the middle of your fairway.

Hole 7 — Par 5
Black Bear Golf Course
Carlton

The Black Bear Golf Course, attached to Black Bear Casino Resort, is one of the most underrated rounds in northern Minnesota. And the 7th hole is the signature: the longest par 5 on the course, featuring a massive bear paw bunker stamped right into the fairway like a giant just walked through.

It's visually intimidating from the tee, but strategically interesting: bail right to play it safe and avoid the claw or swing left over the longest part of the bunker to cut off the dogleg and set up a two-shot hole. Get it wrong, and you're digging out of a deep bunker. Get it right, and a birdie is very much on the table.

Hole 6 — Par 6
Pine Beach East
Brainerd

The only par 6 in Minnesota, and it is an absolute monster. On a course that plays under 6,000 yards total, the 6th hole just decides to stretch out to 618 yards like it has something to prove. Water lurks behind and to the right of the green, turning any aggressive approach into a potential disaster. And the hole plays on a course with genuine Northwoods character dating back to 1926.

You won't find another hole like this at the popular resort Madden’s on Gull Lake. In fact, there are fewer than two dozen par-6 holes in the United States.

Hole 3 — Par 5
The Legend at Giants Ridge
Biwabik

You know a hole has personality when it has a sand bunker shaped like a giant's footprint. Wide, dramatic, and full of character, Hole 3 at The Legend looks like something out of a fairy tale and plays like a nightmare if you find it.

The dogleg left sets up a risk-reward decision off the tee: bail out to the right and play it safe or swing over the bunker, cut off the corner, and set yourself up to go for the green in two.

Hole 7 — Par 3
The Quarry at Giants Ridge
Biwabik

The Quarry's 13th gets all the glory, but the 7th is the hole that quietly takes your breath away. The tee sits 30 feet above the green, playing over a dramatic chasm to a putting surface fronted by a large horseshoe bunker and a pot bunker tucked just inside it. The green narrows significantly toward the back, making club selection and pin placement absolutely critical.

Go short, and you're in the bunker complex. Go long, and you've got a treacherous downhill recovery. It's a short iron for most players, but the elevation drop, the framing of the quarry terrain around it, and the visual drama of the tee shot make Hole 7 one of the most memorable par 3s in the state.

Hole 11 — Par 4
StoneRidge Golf Club
Stillwater

Most golf courses don't have a barn in play. StoneRidge does. A remnant from the original farmstead on the property, a large barn sits directly en route to the 11th green. And it’s very much in play.

Depending on where your tee shot ends up, you have three legitimate options: hit over it, play around it, or go through it. Yes, through it. The barn has an opening, and if your line is right, you can use it.

Hole 11 is the kind of hole that has no business being this fun on a course that Golf Digest called the most interesting daily-fee in the Twin Cities. But here we are. The links-style setting around it, with rolling fescue-lined fairways and 158 bunkers scattered across the property, makes the 11th feel like a genuine piece of golf theater.

Hole 9 — Par 4
Warroad Estates Golf Course
Warroad

Here's one for the bucket list that has nothing to do with difficulty. Warroad Estates, up in the far northwest corner of Minnesota along the shores of Lake of the Woods, features a green on the 9th hole shaped like the state of Minnesota.

The course itself runs along the lake with genuine Northwoods beauty at every turn, but the Minnesota-shaped green is the kind of quirky, joyful design detail that makes you stop and smell the grasses.

It’s no wonder Hole 9 is one of the most photographed greens in the state.

Hole 17 — Par 4
Emily Greens Golf Course
Emily

Most golf courses try to make their greens challenging with slopes, speed and strategic placement. Emily Greens took a different approach: they just made theirs absurdly massive.

The 17th hole at this charming Northwoods course near Brainerd is home to the largest green in Minnesota at over 16,750 square feet. Yep, that’s roughly three times the size of an average putting surface.

After navigating a fairway that doglegs sharply left, then back to the right, you step onto a putting surface so wide and deep that a 170-foot putt is genuinely possible depending on the pin. It's flat enough that the greens don't penalize you for missing the right section, but good luck two-putting from one end to the other.