St. Cloud Country Club

Private course, but man is it worth it. I will gladly pay the guest fee ($65 to walk during non-guest appreciation month, $50 during GAM) because the course is always in pristine condition. The greens are fairly flat, but roll true. If you're not having a good putting day, just get your speeds and line down and you'll be just fine. Off the tee, the course doesn't require too much accuracy, but does require knowledge of sight lines. Too far one way or the other and you're hitting through a fairway on the front 9. Back 9 is pretty straight forward as most of the holes don't dogleg until you get to the 18th. Memberships are fairly cheap and the drive from the Twin Cities is faster than one might think (as long as they're not working on 94).

he first thing I noticed when I walked to the putting green at the St. Cloud Country Club was the Mississippi River less than a lob wedge away. I expected that the river would come into play on several holes, and the scorecard indicates lateral water hazards on nine holes, but the truth is that the river is only an esthetic factor unless your shots go wildly off course. And it really is an esthetic factor on the 174 yard (from the white tees) par 3 third hole. The elevated tee looks down on a large green that is framed by bunkers right and left with the river in the backyard. A really beautiful hole! (The picture on this website is of this hole.) I don't know which hole the members consider to be their signature hole, but this gem would be a serious candidate. The course is not excessively long- 6,676 yards from the back (blue) tees- and is not terribly difficult, 71.5 rating and 127 slope for the middle (white) tees. The fairways on the front nine are lined with mature oaks and other trees and have serious undulation, so that a flat lie is hard to find. The greens, on the other hand, tend to be disk shaped and without significant undulations or multiple levels, relying on speed and slope to make putting a challenge. The back nine fairways tend to be flatter than the front. As noted earlier, the river doesn't present much of a hazard, even though it runs the length of the tenth fairway, unless you really have a crazy hook. There are really only two holes, the par 3 twelfth and the par 5 fifteenth, where water comes into play. The creek that crosses the fifteenth fairway in front of the green cannot be seen from the fairway following an average drive, so a golf GPS device that shows hazards really comes in handy here. As a private course, this track is not available to the public. However, if there is an opportunity to play the course for a charity scramble or other such event, I would really recommend signing up. The course really is fun, and the amenities are a welcome change from what you find at the munis.