Fox Hollow Golf Club

What a great deal to play a pretty fun course. So many entertaining holes, great par 3's and a pretty good routing. Really hate the transition between 1 and 2 where the 15th hole tees off. Very dangerous as we were essentially hitting over other carts to play our hole. Wish they'd build some sort of covered bridge there to protect golfers heading to 15 but, otherwise this course was in fantastic shape and the service is always great. The two island greens are fun to play every time. Don't miss this one if you're in the NW Twin Cities. Way underrated.

Fox Hollow Golf Club is set on a visually appealing, gently rolling tract of land adjacent to the Crow River about 30 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis. Four sets of tees ranging from 6,728 to 5,112 yards and moderate slope ratings (131 to 123) make the course playable for a broad range of golfing abilities. Fairways are generously wide and, except for a few holes that run along the river, there is very little tree coverage. Greens are subtly contoured and run fast but true. The major obstacles to scoring well on the course are the rough, which is thick and gnarly and will cost you at least one stroke if you leave the fairway, and the many bunkers, especially the fairway bunkers which seem to be placed exactly in the landing area of my drives. The course is anything but boring- short holes, long holes, right and left doglegs, uphill and downhill shots- you’ll use every club in the bag. One tee shot that will definitely get your attention, after two relatively easy opening holes, is the 156 yard (from the middle men’s tees) par 3 third hole. The problem is that you’re hitting from an elevated tee to an island green in the middle of the Crow River. The psychology of the hole is great- you’ve hit this shot on many other courses, but without the river setting. The water definitely got in our foursome’s heads, as only one hit the green and two put their tee shots in the river. Luckily, there is a drop zone on the island behind the green. The par 4, 397 yard seventh hole is very difficult. Your tee shot is hit to a fairway that slopes right to left toward a penalty area. The tendency is therefore to favor the right side. Unfortunately, landing too far right will put you behind a large tree that will prevent you from going directly for the green. A par on this hole is really well-earned. The 16th hole, a 315 yard par 4, runs along the river so that a right-handed pull will be lost in the water. But playing too far right runs the risk of going OB. If you find the proper landing area, you’ll have a wedge or short iron to another island green. Don’t go long of the flag or you’ll have a difficult downhill putt that may not stay on the green. Only one of our foursome had played this course prior to our round. For all of us, it will not be the last time we play here.

This course has a great spot right on the river with a handful of awesome holes. Number 3 is one of the coolest par 3's in the metro area. Plays to an island on the river. But it also has some head scratchers that don't make any sense. I don't need to beat a dead horse about 16(I see other reviews have taken care of that). It's just a stupid/brutal little hole. They have a design in the clubhouse for a revamping of 17 which looks like it'll really help as that hole has always been goofy too. I live about 5 minutes from here and am hoping sooner or later they'll fix those holes so I can join already.

They did demolish the 9 holes across the road and they're putting in homes on that nine. As that 9 never really worked.

PROS: The stretch of holes along the river. The bent grass landing areas within the fairways are a nice touch. Nice clubhouse and patio area with the snack shop at the turn. It's 1 minutes off the freeway at the St Michael exit so you're close to the city but sure don't feel like it. The houses on the course are gorgeous as well.

CONS: Tee boxes along river suffer from lack of oxygen and you can have a hard time finding a good spot to stand. The aforementioned holes (16/17, and 7 is a bear, I hit a perfect drive to almost the max of the landing area and had 160 to the green but was blocked by a huge tree that needs to go)

All in all. Check this course out. Maybe give them some time early in 2016 to see if they fix 17. And just take your lumps on 7 and 16.

This course is generally well maintained and has a layout that is interesting and challenging, save for three holes (one of which ,#16, almost ruins it for me). Holes #2-5 are excellent, well-designed holes, especially #3, a Par 3 shooting to an island green. Wind direction has a big impact on the north side of this course (i.e., the holes away from the river). A wind out of the West makes three of the four par 5s reachable, especially #4 and #11, but only on #11 is it truly a green light if you hit a big drive (i.e., there is enough room around the green and bail out areas).

#16 is one of the dumbest holes I've ever encountered in my 20 + years of golf, no joke. I was warned of this before playing but didn't realize how stupid this hole actually is. It's a short ~350-370 yard Par 4 with a green that is extremely shallow but wide, and guarded on the right side by huge mature trees. Essentially, you have to hit your drive into a specific 10 yard horizontal strip of fairway or you have no realistic chance to get it on the green, much less get it close. The green is so small that this hole would be tough enough if they cut down the huge trees near the green (which they definitely should do). Miss a little bit long, and you're in the river. Miss short, and you have a near impossible pitch up to the green.

The next hole, #17, was meant to have two sets of fairways and two greens, but they're only using the right set, and it played a mere 270 yards from the back tees when I played it. Both my friend and I had easy up and downs for birdie, as there is really nothing to guard the green.

Hole #7 is good in concept (a forced dogleg layup), but I absolutely hate holes that make you lay up to 150+ yards on a second shot. I hit a near perfect drive and still had 180 yards into the wind on the second shot.

The first thing that I noticed on the course were the tabletop greens with massive undulations and for the most part that was the biggest challenge although there were also a few pretty deep looking bunkers and hazards also came into play on a few holes. The fairways and tee boxes were in good condition, and the greens weren't bad for the most part but there were some bumpy patches on some holes. I thought that the course layout of the regular course was very fun yet challenging , I enjoyed the island green par 3. However when it came to the third set of nine, known as the gold course the layout was pretty bad and it seemed like the club was just letting it go with poor greens and fairways. The clubhouse did provide a nice patio though with a good grill.