dacotah ridge golf course
One thing to know about me…I love driving through small towns. The best part of road trips is traversing through remote areas and then happening upon a little town out of nowhere. There’s a quaint main street, old school stores, a town bar with a name like Sneaky Tom’s that holds many secrets and then a high school with a nickname like “The Screamin’ Otters.” If you’re lucky, you’ll see a tattered old sign that says, “Home of the 1996 9-Man State Football champions.”
Your mind starts drifting back to where you were in ‘96, when Cromwell pulled off that insane 46-44 triumph over Verndale, whose faithful rue the day while reliving that fourth quarter while munching Banzai burgers and PBR’s at The Pirates Den.
As you pass through the town, you start wondering what it would be like to grow up in that town. And did anyone famous come out of there?
I bring this up for a couple reasons:
I played like such crap in my golf round at Dacotah Ridge so I’d rather talk about anything but.
On our way to said Ridge, the good ‘ol Garmin took us on a path that led us through Fairfax, Minnesota (on the podcast I called it Franklin because I’m a stupid moron).
What’s special about Fairfax you ask? Oh nothing except it has a street running through it named Dana Kiecker Way.
And who’s Dana Kiecker you also ask?
Dana Kiecker, my friends, is the greatest athlete to come out of Fairfax, and eventually stare down 27-game winner for the Oakland A’s, Bob Welch in Game 2 of the American League Championship series. Of course the CBS announcers kept saying he was from Sleepy Eye because they liked the name. But Kiecker was only born there. He is Fairfax to the core.
Full disclosure…before I looked up who Kiecker was, my guess was an Olympic track athlete.
So there’s your Fairfax/Kiecker history lesson.
As for golf? That’s the lesson that I need, and it was Dacotah Ridge in Morton, Minnesota that made that painfully clear. It tees me off because The Ridge should suit my game. I’ve played it five or six times and I always enjoy it. It’s hard to find trees out there, although the odd ones that are out there, I find them. But if you’re not on your game, which I was not on this day, Dacotah Ridge can humble you.
All that said, it is a glorious course. It would be an excellent guys trip golf course, especially if you’re into gambling. It’s tied to Jackpot Junction casino. However, the casino is not located on the course, and there aren’t any houses/cabins along the course. So if you have a large group and staying together is the play, that’s not happening in Morton. Still, the track itself is magnificent and would be perfect for a full weekend of play with your buddies.
I’d also put it on your list if you want to play hooky from work on a weekday. Get up early, make the two hour drive if you’re in the Cities (I suggest swinging through Fairfax) and you’ll get on easily and move quickly. You’ll get 36 holes in easily and be home for dinner.
There’s a lot of tracks out there in Minnesota that I haven’t played, but as far as I know, there aren’t many that resemble this one. It doesn’t have that Minnesota golf course feel that you get when you’re up in the north woods. Each hole is unique. Each hole is a challenge. But each hole is pretty fair, with the exception of nine. Which I find just silly. I might also throw 11 in there. That one can wreak havoc as well.
While there aren’t many trees, there are plenty of bunkers. Proud to say I found one on each of the first four holes. Those made the uphills on two and three all the more challenging, but those are great challenges. I found another greenside bunker on the fourth and that’s one where you don’t want to be because there’s a pond on the other side of the green just beckoning for you to skull one over into its gentle liquid.
I love the fifth hole with the lake on the right side. Our powerful southpaw guest, Matt Elsen, paid no attention to it and ripped his drive right over it and nestled up close to the green. Six is another great hole, going back down the hill for a par 5 that you may be able to find a birdie on.
Hole number 7 was the site of Twig’s second career hole in one. And no, I’m not jealous that he’s had two and I’ve had zero. I’m genuinely happy for him.
I do want to talk about number 9 for a bit here. It’s maybe the one hole I have a major issue with. After seeing everyone in my foursome spray their balls way right, I played it smart and hit a hybrid that found the left fairway. There, blocking my path to the green, was the first set of trees I’d seen all day. Lovely.
So then I had to punch out a layup shot because of all the gunch in front of the green. Again, playing smart. That’s what they tell you to do, right? Just play for a bogey. Don’t try the hero shot. Well yes that’s great if there’s not a better than 90% chance you flub your next shot into the crap, which I’m pretty sure I’ve done every time I played here.
A great performance to reflect on at the turn.
Fortunately the 10th hole is beautiful and sets you down a path of 9 really strong finishing holes. Number 11 is a ridiculous Par 3, especially if there’s wind.
Starting on number 13, a Par 5, you start this sort of back and forth, East and West march. Number 14 is a Par 4, but feels almost longer than the previous hole.
I really think 17 is a cool hole. I picked it as the signature hole, which is probably wrong. This also has some trees on the left and if you are feeling frisky, you can bomb it over them and go hunting for the green. That would have been better than me putting my drive straight away and into a bunker on the 15th hole with trees blocking the approach.
If you haven’t figured it out already, I sucked today. And I began questioning if I really like this game.
Fortunately, we had Matt Elsen as our guest, and he’s a very positive person and can pick you up. But then again, I think he shot 75 or some crap so of course he’s going to be cheery. Oh, and he’s got a pool at his house. Tough life!
Sorry. That’s the bad golfer in me talking. We love playing with Els. He’s actually taught phy ed to both of my daughters in middle school, and they both have claimed him as their favorite teacher.
He’s also the head coach for the Jefferson Boys high school hockey team. And since neither of my sons play hockey, it’s comforting to know that I don’t have to butter him up so my kids have a better shot at some day making the team.
Plus, I’m probably just going to move my kids down to Fairfax in a year or two anyway because its a professional athlete factory. Then I can be humbled by Dacotah Ridge far more often.
