East/West at Bunker Hills Golf Course

This review goes for all three of the championship 9's at Bunker Hills. Playing these courses teaches you course management. You can't just bomb driver on every hole, especially if you don't hit it perfectly straight every time. The bunkers are great here, as they should be considering the name of the course. The courses are all very walkable for people of all ages. The only downfall is once the leaves start dropping, it's tough to find your ball in the rough as there didn't seem to be any kind of leaf maintenance when my group was out there - which slowed down our pace of play. The greens had also just been small tine aerated, which led to some terrible offline putts, but having played the course the day prior, I can say with confidence that these greens are typically in great shape.

I can’t believe that I’ve lived in this area for about 30 years and had never played Bunker Hills Golf Course. The course is famous as the location of the Minnesota Golf Hall of Fame and has been the venue of many state and national tournaments and qualifiers. But I finally played it, and am glad I did. The course comprises three separate nines called North, East and West. The eighteen I played was East-West, so this review does not address the North nine. There are five tees ranging from 6,991 yards down to 5,517 yards. Choose the appropriate tee and hit away! The parkland style course is set on gently rolling terrain with no major elevation changes. Fairways are wide and tree-lined, with a mix of mature evergreens and hardwoods. Most of the greens are fairly large, undulating, moderately fast, and well-protected by at least two bunkers. Right and left doglegs, with only a few relatively straight fairways, will test your shotmaking skills. There are a few fairway bunkers, but those are strategically well-placed. The par 3 third hole on the East nine features a green that is 52 yards deep, so you may find yourself with a 100 foot putt if you don’t choose the right club off the tee. An interesting feature of our round was the similarity of the final holes of each nine. These are both left doglegs. The East 9th hole is 361 yards from the white tee. A small pond guards the inside of the dogleg, and two bunkers will find balls that go straight and through the fairway. Similarly, the 9th hole on the West nine is 351 yards from the white tee. Here, a bunker guards the inside of the dogleg, and a really well-placed bunker caught two balls from our foursome that went a little too far and a little too straight. I really enjoyed playing this course and will try to make up for not having played it before by returning in the near future to try the North nine!

This is a nice place, it is well groomed and offers a challenge. It is a little confusing navigating from hole to hole, especially when you are near the clubhouse. You can end up on the wrong hole or be at a totally different course (North, West, East). Directions are not marked very well but you will eventually figure it out. They are currently going through renovations, so scorecards don't have any pictures, and you will be teeing off from the fairway which is not ideal. I can give it a pass since its a quick renovation but it is definitely weird. They have white sand bunkers, which i love, and brand new carts with GPS. The restaurant is awesome, very cool cabin feel with great food. Their range and practice putting green is top class. Very nice set up. Nice pro shop with plenty of items to choose from. I will be back. Hopefully after the renovations are complete.