Willingers

Willingers Golf Club is a public access facility south of Minneapolis, designed by the team of Garrett Gill and George Williams. The two halves of the course give distinctly different experiences for players, both representative of Minnesota: The front nine works its way around a series of lakes and ponds, while the back nine travels through forested corridors.

The potential for penalty will certainly be high during the opening nine: No. 4 is an 185-yard par three with a skinny green...one pond sits to the left, and on to the right, while the front is guarded by a large bunker. Maybe just pull a wood and miss long?

One thing that Willingers doesn’t travel through? Real estate. Although a slight drive from the city, a round of golf tucked amid rural repose is the unique value proposition here. One of the nearby tourist attractions is the Peat Bog State Wildlife Management Area. Ireland and Scotland are known for their bog mummies...so who knows? Maybe the ball you lose to the wetland may be preserved for another golfer to find a few thousands years later!