MN Multi-Tasking: Add Golf to Your Hunting Weekend

It must be our bitter winters, but when the weather isn’t frigid (and it’s actually beautiful most of the year in MN), we Minnesotans sure love the outdoors. Whether it’s hunting, fishing, or (you guessed it) golfing, we’ll take any excuse to get outside and have some fun.

The only problem is that some of those seasons overlap, which can force some difficult choices. But it doesn’t have to be that way, you can multi-task. During hunting season, you can still hunt one day and golf the next. After all, some of the most challenging courses in the state are located within a short drive of some of our best hunting areas. Need some inspiration? Here are some great places to add golf to your hunting weekend.

Central Lakes Region

If you head north towards Brainerd, you’ll never be far from great hunting or great golf.  The Central Lakes region, in the heart of the state, features Gull Lake and a host of great golf resorts located around it. Gull Lake offers wonderful walleye, largemouth bass, and crappie fishing, plus there are 144 holes of golf on or near its pristine shores. The Central Lakes Area is also close to miles of trails and acres of state land offering ample hunting opportunities for small game, ruffed Grouse, and whitetail deer.

• Grand View Lodge, in Nisswa, features the acclaimed 27-hole Pines course, the original course in the area, plus the nine-hole Garden course.
• Golden Eagle Golf Club, in Fifty Lakes, is set on 210 acres of a former private preserve. Designed in harmony with its majestic north woods surroundings, the 18-hole Championship style course features forest, wetlands and dramatic elevation changes.
• Cragun’s Resort, on Gull Lake in Brainerd, is home to the two championship tracks of Bobby’s Legacy and Dutch’s Legacy, plus the Reversible Nine. You can enjoy the beautiful 35,000 square-foot Legacy Clubhouse before heading out to wet a line.
• Madden’s, also on Gull Lake in Brainerd, has 63 holes of golf on four courses, including The Classic, which is renowned for its beauty and challenge.
• Breezy Point Resort features multiple golf options: Deacons Lodge, the White Birch Course, and the Traditional Course – just a 10-minute drive from the Wild Acres Hunting Club in Pequot Lakes.

Alexandria Lakes Area

If you want something a little more off the beaten path than the Brainerd area, head Northwest out of the Twin Cities area toward Alexandria. The Alexandria area is home to its own chain of great fishing lakes — Lake Geneva, Lake Carlos, Lake Miltona, Lake le Homme Dieu, Lake Ida, and more. And the golfing is top drawer – Arrowwood Resort, and Thumper Pond Resort – are not to be missed.

The Northern Trilogy and More

If you want the secluded beauty of the northern Minnesota woods, you won’t have to sacrifice anything in terms of hitting your driver on incredible courses. The Northern Trilogy of Giants Ridge (The Legend and The Quarry) in Biwabik and Wilderness at Fortune Bay, in Tower, all designed by architect Jeffrey Brauer, will capture your golf imagination while the numerous area lakes (including Lake Vermillion on which The Wilderness courses resides) will give you fish fever. Throw-in the scenic Superior National Golf Course on the North Shore in Lutsen (also designed by Brauer), and there are spectacular golf options near any of your favorite hunting spots in the northeastern Minnesota wilderness.

Explore Minnesota Golf

In fact, anywhere you travel in Minnesota, even if you stay in the Twin Cities area, will have outstanding golf available until the weather gets too cold and the leaves fall off the trees. So, savor fall in Minnesota, enjoy our crisp, cool weather, and include some golf in your multi-tasking.