The Pines At Grand View Lodge: Lakes/Woods/Marsh

Review

“Shot options: The aren't a lot of shot options other than the short par 4's, mostly because this course is carved out of a forest. These trees create some anxiety for golfers that aren't precise off the tee, but I don't think this is good architecture; it would be better to have lateral water hazard stakes on all trees on both sides of the fairway. If this isn't how I should view this criteria, happy to adjust. ; Hole by Hole comments:Hole #1: Need good drive to avoid bunker; Hole #2: Need long drive to get around dogleg, green his big contours; Hole #3: Lots of options off tee on this short par 4. Easy hole with front pin, much harder in back right. ; Hole #4: Can try to cut off some of dogleg off tee. Big bunker in front of green limits the option of going for it in 2, should change this. ; Hole #5: Blind iron shot on short par 4 isn't my favorite, but require solid iron shot over water.; Hole #6: Need good tee shot to go for it in 2. Tight around green creates anxiety about going for it. Would widen fairway out to right. ; Hole #7: Require solid iron into this par 3, with water left. ; Hole #8: Need to get rid of pine trees on left side of fairway that block out iron shots in the fairway. ; Hole #9: Requires solid long iron. ; Hole #10: For longer hitters, chance to cut off dogleg, but I have learned that it usually doesn't pay off. ; Hole #11: Great hole that requires long tee shot and precise iron to sloped green, best hole on the course. ; Hole #12: Hole is short enough that the water on right doesn't create too much issue, could be better hole. ; Hole #13: Need good enough drive that isn't behind trees, but green complex is great, with ripples short of green and big slopes on green, a very good hole.; Hole #14: An ok par 3, slopes are a bit weird.; Hole #15: Good risk/reward short par 4, with plenty of trouble. ; Hole #16: Require straight enough drive, but iron has to be very precise, with positions on the far right the best ones. ; Hole #17: Requires very good and long drive to have shot at green. ; Hole #18: Good risk/reward par 5, with big slopes on the green. ; : Challenge: The challenge is keeping it out the trees, which I think are too close to the field of play. I am not sure if I should be rating it high because it can be challenging, or I should judge down because I don't think it’s a particularly valid way of creating challenge. I choose the later, but can adjust if you suggest. ; Layout variety: There is reasonable good variety of doglegs, and some modest hills. However, its carved out of trees that are too tight for the most part, so I judge down a little for that. ; Aesthetics: I compare this tree-lined course to Deacon's and see big differences. This course has tight trees that limit views while Deacon's has a more open feel to it.; Conditioning: Greens were quite fast despite the wet summer in MN this year, quite impressive, but found the bunker quality to be lacking. Would get a 7.2 rating just based on green speeds and trueness. ; Character: Don't find this to have any real character that should be copied. ; Fun: Having played this many times, its no where near as fun as Deacon's that is a lot of similarities in terms of landscape (they are 8 miles apart)."

2025