October 2025 – Just played Hazeltine with my brother and buddy Erik who hooked us up through Thousand Greens. Our host Quinn was awesome and was an early adopter of Thousand Greens and has hosted a ton. He gave us great course and club history throughout and was just great. We came out for the Vikings vs. Eagles game with Erik with seats in the Delta Club – which is as always a great experience and a nice place to watch Carson Wentz be Carson Wentz vs. the Birds who seemingly got back on track.
Now coming out to Minneapolis in mid- to late-October is an iffy weather proposition but the golf gods smiled and we had an awesome Fall day and I swear the leaves were turning colors throughout the round – as you’ll see from the pictures.
So played Hazeltine as the last of ten bloggable courses played in a five-week span so I had to do a lot of catch up to get here. Also, since we’re late in the season and I have no upcoming planned trips or top 100 courses on the radar for the remainder of the year, I’ll do a year in review along with my discussion on Minneapolis and Hazeltine.
So 2025 was my first fully retired year. That means I didn’t have work interrupting my golfing on trips. But, it also meant fewer trips as work travel was no longer a thing – though I did have one last work trip to Fields Ranch/DFW in the Spring for a consulting client. With consulting work and still getting a package, I also didn’t start having/wanting to live on a budget so I was able to play some really great courses on some really great trips.
As noted in my 2024 recap in my Dupont CC blog review, and for a lot of years, a theme emerges. Last year it was Utah golf and brand-spanking new golf courses. This year, there were quite a few themes: great private courses on tiny land parcels early but courses later in the year were both private and public on huge parcels. I played a lot of courses in the Tampa Bay area. I also took three trips that populated my top 200 with great courses: Nebraska, Indiana and North Ireland. So if I don’t play another course in 2025, I will have played 30 new courses to get me just under 725 courses played on my quest to 1,000. I added seven courses to my top 100: Royal County Down (5), Royal Portrush (13), Ardglass (20), Lost Rail GC (82), Hazeltine (83), Victoria National (89) and Hollywood (94). There were another eight courses that make (or just miss making) my top 200: GrayBull, Pete Dye at French Lick, Golden Ocala, the two Citrus Farm courses, The Pfau Course at IU, ArborLinks and Glenmaura.
I added a new state (Nebraska) to my other goal to play all 50 states – only six to go. I played three Dormie Network courses and had a great experience at all. While usually I play about 2/3rds public and 1/3rd private courses in any given year, for 2025 over half the courses I played were private (thanks to the Dormie clubs and Thousand Greens).
Also for 2025, I got to watch the Eagles win the Super Bowl in February in New Orleans and Hazeltine is the course played during my 2025 season Eagles road trip. I didn’t hit many concerts this year, only Styx in Clearwater early in the year. The surprise course of the year was Santa Ana CC – a really solid track that flies way under the radar – and Ardglass in North Ireland that rivalled Pebble Beach and Cape Kidnappers for ocean-front beauty. Worst courses? Stonebridge in New Orleans was really bad (but did I tell you the Eagles won the Super Bowl there in February?). Also, Innisbrook’s Island course was supposed to be really good but was in lousy shape and was way too costly for the quality of the resort and course.
Golf plans for 2026 are really not set yet. Our annual guys’ trip is scheduled for Calgary and the Canadian Rockies (Banff) but we haven’t locked it down yet. I am scheduled to go to Cabo with my buddy Erik in February but so far only Diamante is booked. The Eagles travel to SF to play the Niners in 2026 and likely will play the Lions or Packers away so could see any of those cities for my Eagles road trip game next year. I need to be at 750 courses played by the end of next year to hit 1,000 by age 70 (assuming I still play an average of 25 a year). I also have tickets for the PGA Championship at Aronimink for every practice and tournament round.
OK, to Hazeltine and Minneapolis. I’ve been to Minneapolis probably close to ten or so times so know it but not great. Of course, Hazeltine is the course to play there as it is the best known thanks to the PGA, US Open and Ryder Cup in 2016 – which is coming back in 2029. It used to be top-ranked in the state and was even in the top 100 as of 2015 but has since dropped off. More on that later. Murray’s is the steakhouse to go to and is just outside my top 20 steakhouses. Both Target Field (The Twins) and US Bank Stadium (the Vikings) are in downtown and Murray’s is probably right in between. There are a couple of cool bars right on the same road (South 6th St.) – Lyon’s, Gluek’s, Kieran’s and Tom’s Watch Bar. I’ve only ever played Hazeltine and two public courses in the area: Hollydale in Plymouth (crappy) and Baker National (less crappy). As noted above, Hazeltine is no longer the top ranked course in MN according to Golf Digest. Interlachen is #1 and Spring Hill ranks higher (and is even in the top 100). Still, gun to my head (and though I never played the other two) I would want to play here and walked off the course very impressed.
I put Hazeltine pretty firmly in my top 100. The leaves turning colors when we played is a slight cheat up for my rankings but the championship pedigree, hole designs, absence of houses for most of the course, complimentary steak tip sandos on the turn, nice clubhouse, access to booze, conditioning, uniqueness, all add up to my ranking this 83rd. They can stretch the course to 7,700 yards if need be but it was tough though playable from the whites at 6,221 yards (135 slope).
Some great holes here and the ones on Lake Hazeltine were really special. Since I did go on a bit above, I’ll do only a brief description of the golf holes below.
Hole 1: 390 yards-par four-#5 handicap: When Hazeltine first hosted the Open – when the club was newly opened in the 60’s – the players thought it was an unfair course. I think a lot of that was the extreme doglegs since softened but it surprises me as I find most RTJ courses fair to the point of boring (sometimes). Traps off the fairway if you spray your drive a little. Traps surrounding the green but with a path to get on. You see that here on the first.
Hole 2: 368 yards-par four-#9 handicap: The first of those big doglegs. This one is left. Bogey golfer tip. Don’t worry about your slice, too far left and you’re blocked.
From the green at two looking down on the 16th hole and Lake Hazeltine.
Hole 3: 522 yards-par five-#11 handicap: The hole moves a tiny bit right to left and you see the traps that protect you from trying to cheat the corner a bit. From the whites, big hitters can easily blast over those.
Hole 4: 160 yards-par three-#15 handicap: First par three, little bit of a false front and the trap up front is kind of off the green so screws with your perception a bit. Our pin was way back.
Hole 5: 365 yards-par four-#1 handicap: Even on his hardest holes, RTJ’s philosophy of “hard par, easy bogey” holds true for the bogey golfer in that his holes look challenging but a good golfer can still make par, while a par is hard for a less skilled golfer but bogey is doable without a disastrous score. Besides one disaster on the first hole that was purely self inflicted, I would bogey the rest of the front without really grinding. That is the mark of a good course design IMO.
Hole 6: 345 yards-par four-#3 handicap: Two tough holes in a row. Here’s a pretty severe dogleg left with a tight driving corridor. According to Quinn this is a great spot to set up camp for a tournament as you see the golfers come in on five and drive on six. The halfway house is located on five so pick up a drink and free sandwich of the day (it was steak tip sandos when we played).
I pushed my drive right but had this clear (though long) shot into the green that went SPLASH.
Hole 7: 494 yards-par five-#13 handicap: Love this hole. Dogleg right but keep your drive far enough left and you can get a nice second shot to the left of the fairway (like I did)…
Leaving this nice approach. I hit a nice shot to the fringe but would three putt.
Hole 8: 124 yards-par three-#17 handicap: The shortest hole on the course from the whites but I got cocky and thought my nine would carry into the wind but I splashed again. Obvious bail out left but what pussy would do that on such a short hole.
Hole 9: 376 yards-par four-#7 handicap: For the Ryder Cup (and other tourneys) they close on this hole and it plays from 432 yards. You see RTJ’s signature bunkers squeezing the fairway. What I love most about this hole was when we were putting out, we had a waitress from the bar come out and take our drink orders and by the time we were done, I was handed a frosty cold Miller Lite. That’s a ten on my “Access to Booze” scale!
Still the ninth but I zoomed in on the clubhouse a little.
Hole 10: 378 yards-par four-#8 handicap: Dogleg left. Again, you’re not in trouble if you push it a bit. I know I pulled it and had a shot through the trees…
Don’t do that. Anything on the left side below here rolls right into the hazard. One of my favorite holes on the course despite my double.
Hole 11: 515 yards-par five-#12 handicap: They had to rearrange some routing and hole configuration for the Ryder Cup as well as having it end on 9 and this is one of those holes that got changed up. As is, it’s a three-shot par five.
Hole 12: 374 yards-par four-#2 handicap: L-O-N-G hole – from the Championship tees it’s 518 yards. Plus there is water right up by the green.
The water of whence I spoke – again you see the run up to the green that RTJ offers.
Hole 14: 310 yards-par four-#16 handicap: I’d miss the par three 13th (166 yards) with water in play for anything left. Then the half way house. Another Miller Lite please. Then the easiest par four on the course and one of the most beautiful Fall photos you will ever see.
Hole 15: 525 yards-par five-#6 handicap: The longest par five (from the whites) on the course. And was playing into the wind.
Hole 16: 312 yards-par four-#10 handicap: This too is one of my favorite holes on the course. These are the upper tees but we played lower. There’s a creek left and Lake Hazeltine right so need a straight drive. After my drive, I don’t think my ball got more than 6 inches off the ground but parred – my only one of the day. Played as the 7th for the Ryder Cup.
Hole 17: 135 yards-par three-#14 handicap: A well defended short par three.
Hole 18: 362 yards-par four-#4 handicap: As you should notice, this is not my photo as should be obvious with the Summer leaves. Took it from the Hazeltine Ryder Cup page which I recommend a visit because they go into a good history etc. on the holes. The 18th plays as the 9th during the Ryder Cup. Below is a photo I took of the Clubhouse from 18 – this is the photo at the top of the page.
The clubhouse from the 18th fairway. Clubhouse fits in really well with the vibe of the course. Nice locker room and bar. The walls are properly adorned with majors and Ryder Cup memorabilia and Quinn showed us a neat little room that used the various tournament tickets as step-and-repeat wallpaper. Also said there was a room with various memorabilia that is not accessible unless you’re with staff or the right members.
In all, I don’t waver from my suggestion that if you’re in Minneapolis, Hazeltine is the must play. Now that I played it, I wouldn’t mind hitting Interlachen and Spring Hill – Quinn said they’re great courses. But I would want to play here first.
Golf Scrapbook 