Royal Golf Club

This course is amazing, it’s priced just right. Worth every penny. I would say they could charge more but I don’t want the rates to go up.

Really, really love Royal Golf Club. Staff is awesome. Food is wonderful. Course conditions are great. Front nine is somewhat similar of the old course it replaced (Tartan Park), but it is a great front nine with a lot of differences too. Greens are tough; lots of undulations and bumps. Back nine is one of my favorites. The 10th green makes you wonder who angered Arnold Palmer in Minnesota. The bunkers have this awesome, fluffy sand that has no rocks in it (like many other courses do since their sand isn't as fine). Always a fun round at Royal Golf Club. My GPS doesn't like the 13th hole (Garmin) as it has the old 13th hole there from when they first opened.

Treat yourself to a round here. Even in first year, already one of the premier public golf & banquet facilities in Minnesota. Every hole is unique with plenty of scoring and birdie opportunities. Greens have more undulation than most public tracks but that's what contributes to it's uniqueness. Have played over 100 different courses around Minnesota and Royal is in my top 5. Food in the restaurant Arnies is excellent, too, with amazing patio views

Just played this course for the first time and the layout is phenomenal. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was blown away. Great elevation changes, beautiful views of the water, and just overall well thought out. The greens were amazing, and have huge contours in them. Being on the right level is a must, but they aren't unplayable. The conditions were very good and the staff was fantastic. I will definitely be back.

Those who play the course regularly and learn it over time will probably like it.

Those, like myself, who will only play it once a year or so based on the course's location are going to be disappointed.

For a new upscale course I was surprised that the carts did not have GPS and there is very little information on the course to help players. (Being a new track I knew my personal GPS wasn't going to have the course yet).

The course has no pictures or information of the green complexes, there are very few sprinkler heads with yardages on them and there is a small 150 stake denoting if the pin is in the front, middle, or back.

But that isn't a lot of help if you don't know what the greens look like or you can't see them due to an elevation change.

There are also too many greens that are tricked up with unneeded undulations. Carnival-like.

So if you're new to this course it's going to be a round where you guess a lot on club selection and if you're wrong you'll have those greens to contend with.

The course was in good condition and the layout is pretty good, but the course needs GPS on the carts to make it more player-friendly. Just adding pin sheets would be helpful since it's a new course.

As a result, the course isn't quite ready for prime-time until the course provides more player information.

I was excited to play the new Royal, expecting really great things, but was really disappointed for a number of reasons:

- Uneven tee boxes: A number of tee boxes were so uneven that I couldn't find a flat stance.

- Yardages not very well marked

- Green design: Hole 7 I feel was a mess. If you miss green, (you can only miss Left/Right/Deep) there was no chance to even get a chip close even with a great shot. A few long par 4's had greens made for 300 yard par 4s. I hit 2 good shots in on hole 11 and left myself a 20-25 footer and had 0% chance of leaving my putt in a 8 foot circle. Fair?

- Pace of Play - 5hrs enough said.

I'm disappointed. I had high expectations because the old track was great, just needed little touch around the edges.

The new layout is very good. Fairways are very fair. The rough is challenging as the ball sits down and a lot of long grass off the fairways, some in roll off areas making it somewhat unfair in spots. The greens and fairways were in very good condition. The main problem was the pin locations. The greens are already very undulating and whoever did the pins today obviously doesn't golf. They were consistently on the tops of a crowned ridge. On the Palmer side if you missed in a certain spot it was a guaranteed 3 putt. Someone needs to own where the pins are placed. I will be back because the course was tremendous but the grounds crew needs to understand what is fair and what is not. On course ranger brought free water as it was very warm. Nice touch.

The new Royal Golf Club has been much hyped during the planning and construction phase of the past two years, most notably because of its two designers, Annika Sorenstam and Arnold Palmer. Now that the course is finally open, golfers can judge whether the reality lives up to the hype. Although the course retains some of the look of the Tartan Park golf course that previously occupied the land, there is much that is changed and much that is new. The first two holes on Annika’s nine are much the same as the first two holes of the old White nine of Tartan Park. The round starts out with a shot from an elevated tee to a landing area with water on the left and deep rough on the right. The speed of the green will give you a good indication of the fun in store on subsequent, more difficult, greens. The second hole used to be a par 4 with a tee shot from an elevated tee box to a landing area flanked by a lake on the right and thick evergreens on the left. The approach shot was over the lake to a green protected by thick brush long and right. The hole is now a par 5. The second shot is away from the lake to an elevated green. Long hitters may be able to reach in two, but for most this is a 3-shot hole. The remainder of the front nine has more elevation changes as the course makes full use of the rolling terrain. It seems as though the course has far fewer trees and bushes along the fairways than previously. Water is a concern on several holes, most notably the par 4 fifth, which will require an approach shot over water. The back nine starts out fairly easy, with a 350 yard (from the back tees) par 4. The elevated tee (Have I said that before?) makes the hole play shorter and a par should be easily attainable here. Tree coverage on the back nine is more sparse than on the front. About the only complaint our foursome had about the course was the lack of signage that made finding our tees on the 14th hole difficult. The Royal (back) tees were below and to the right of the white tees, while the gold tees (there was one senior in the foursome) were about a hundred yards ahead and hidden by some evergreens. Probably the cutest hole on the course is the short par 4 15th. From the elevated back tees, the hole measures only 309 yards. The green is guarded by a small pond on the right, so a long hitter going for the green might be tempted to bail out left. Unfortunately, there is a lateral hazard on the left short and OB on the left as well. The shot from the gold tees is much simpler, 150 or so yards off the tee will leave a wedge to the green and another relatively easy par while the long hitters try to scramble for bogey. The finishing hole is a relatively short uphill par 5 with a bunker that splits the right-to-left sloping fairway. A tee shot on the right will make the hole shorter, but risks rolling into the bunker. The fairway is wider on the left, but a tee shot there will make the hole longer and there is also water if you go too far left. A par will be well-earned here. Our foursome concluded that the Royal Golf Club really does live up to the hype. The course is challenging, but fair. No gimmicks. The amenities, including having your bag picked up at the bag drop and loaded on a cart by the putting green, are commensurate with an upscale club. A well-stocked golf shop and a full-service restaurant are also welcome additions. This is a course that I will definitely add to my rota.