In the beginning

When the leaves turn colors and you put on 3 shirts before you leave the house you know that you have entered the Minnesota fall golf season.  Today marks a few beginnings for me.  I walked 36 holes of golf in one day and I decided that it was time to write about the thing that I love the most (other than my beautiful wife of course!!)

Dwan Golf course known for its grueling fairways and greens and ferocious length, ha just kidding but this place is a fantastic city course that I love to play golf with my wife at.  This morning we got up at 7am and headed to for some bagels and coffee before we hit the links.  My wife snuck in some baileys for our coffee at brueggers today!  We then got to the course (3 minutes early I mind you) to find out our tee time had been given away.  Luckily the man was kind enough to let us play anyways.  We had the pleasure of playing with a man and his dad.  The dad could hardly walk yet he hit it dead straight down the middle every time and the best part was his under the breath comments to his son.  "Bring me my damn putter in case I ever get to this stupid green" -Old Dude at Dwan.  Absolutely classic!  It was a beautiful for morning for some golf except for the 2 minute downpour when the sun was peaking its head out for the first time at 930am.  You can never go wrong playing golf at a city course for 55 bucks for 2 people.

Dwan Golf Course, Bloomington MN

After completing my round of 77 at Dwan :(  not my best effort because the damn tee ball just wouldn't stay in the fairway for me we headed home for lunch.

Then came the afternoon which I had been waiting for.  I had the opportunity to play my first round of golf at the Minneapolis Golf Club!

MGC scorecard photo

I was super excited to that the chance to get out there and the course and weather didn't disappoint.  This course was in absolutely fantastic shape and a real gem of the Twin Cities.  Too bad that the inside of their clubhouse can't hold up the golf facility or it would be on the top of anyones list to join as a private club.  Beautiful building but the locker and dining areas need a little updating.  Enough about the clubhouse though because really you come to a golf course to play golf.  I hadn't been to MGC since Tom Lehman hosted his Dayton's Challenge out here many years ago and I didn't really remember what the course was all about.  Let me tell you....beautiful fairways, gorgeous mature trees and very fast greens that were pristine!  I played much better in the afternoon than in the morning and was able to get around with an 82.  Still had a few duck hooks going on but the wedge game was going well.  I hit a monster par 5 in 2 as well and lipped out my eagle putt on the back nine.  I lost my original playing companions on this hole when they had to go to his son's soccer game.  Number 10 is a beast.  230 yards and into the wind....somehow I managed to get up and down from near the bunker and made one of my nicer pars of the day.  MGC is pretty long 6800 yards from the blue/white tee layout but they really get you on a few par 3's and the par 5's are all pretty long as well.  I think it is a very fair setup for a golf course and if I ever get the chance I will be back out there again!

10th hole at MGC (230 yards)

Luckily after only two holes I caught up to a threesome of players from Edina Country Club.  They are in the same boat as me, a member at a club where they can't currently play due to renovation.  It was great.  They were very friendly people and very light hearted which is the type of people that I really enjoy golfing with.  Tension drives me nuts when I am playing golf!!  As the sun was drifting away at the end of the round I couldn't help but take a photo of some of the trees starting to change color.  Minnesota is greatest place to live for all the beautiful season and here is just a snapshot of the color starting to showup for Fall.

Now its time for a relaxing beer and a little reflecting on my wonderful day of golf!

Preview for my next blog thought:

#7 of my new golf home!