the meadows at mystic lake

Post Submitted by Glen

Before I get into my blog on our very first round as the Golf Loons, I am going to come clean. 

I’m writing this well after playing our round at Meadows at Mystic Lake. Like a month after. Maybe more?

Point is, podcasts take awhile to get up and running when your skills with software rivals your grandfather’s skills with an Apple TV remote. 

Let’s set the scene:

It’s a…let’s call it brisk…April morning. But the excitement is palpable. We are actually playing a round of golf that we will eventually talk about on our podcast. Twig and I had actually played a round of golf in March at Montgomery National, but we used that as a practice round for our trial podcast recording. That one won’t ever see the light of day. This one will! In fact, it’s right here. 

Our guest was Tony Zosel. He’s well known in the hockey space here in Minnesota, having started a website called Youth Hockey Hub, followed by executing multiple youth tournaments and events. If there’s a smoke machine at a hockey arena, Tony is probably running around somewhere with a half eaten Egg McMuffin in his hand. He’s also got about 40 podcasts, so I knew we could get him.

If there’s a kid that has played hockey in this state over the last 20 years, Zosel knows him or her. And in no way is that weird and unsettling. 

In fact, Zosel knows every hockey player way before the last 20 years. I thought we might have a scuffle on the first tee when Tony was addressing his first tee shot of the year while simultaneously arguing with Twig about how Reggie Miracle and Columbia Heights defeating Edina in the 1983 State Tournament was not an upset. Cooler heads prevailed by the time Zosel took his mulligan. 

In all seriousness, I’ve gotten to know Tony well over the years and he is fantastic. Amazing energy. Really easy going, and always has interesting things to say. I mean that in a good way. It keeps the round bubbling with solid conversation. And not just hockey. For Tony, the golf comes secondary to the chats. I love it. 

On to The Meadows at Mystic Lake.

We try to pick courses that might have a tie to our guest golfer. Sure enough, Tony had never played Mystic in his life, so we nailed that one.

But, we justified it because from the third hole, you can see Dakotah Ice Arena, and Tony has spent so much time in youth hockey rinks, that seemed fitting. 

I love this course. I don’t know if it’s beloved by traditionalists or not. The things I love about it are probably things that make some roll their eyes. One of the things I love is how each course has a name that has meaning to the local Native American tribe. Many are named after animals: Bear, Eagle, Moose, Fox…you get the idea. If the hole is named after an animal, then you’ll find a statue of that animal somewhere along the hole. My favorite is Bear, which has two Bear statues standing in the creek that affects your approach shot to the green. I loved it. 

Plus, all holes should have names. I don’t think that’s controversial. Augusta National names all of their holes. Why shouldn’t every course do the same. I would love to be the person in charge of naming holes at courses. I think I could come up with something compelling for every hole.

“What’d you get on Whispering Coyote?”

“Bogey”

Mystic also has a lot of water, which is appealing to look at. I’m a big fan of the water holes. So much so that on 16, I brilliantly tried a hero shot with my ball half submerged in the water just shy of the green. I took a beautiful swing with my 60 degree, sprayed the ball further into the water and drenched all my clothes, including my brand new white hate. I was drenched the rest of the round, so it felt like a golf version of the Polar Plunge, except it wasn’t Special Olympic athletes that benefited, just my idiot golf group who laughed at me. The word idiot might be in the wrong location in that previous sentence.  

Despite my hypothermia, I was still able to enjoy the 18th, with I think is a solid finishing hole, and my pick for the signature hole. How can you not pick 18 when you’ve got the casino and hotel right behind the green, lit up with neon signs? Golf purists probably hate it. Morons like me? Chef’s kiss. 

A few other observations from Meadows:

• Top of the line carts equipped with GPS. Super luxurious, However, there are some restricted areas so get ready to get your cart shut down at least a couple times and spend an extra five minutes trying to get out of it with the “Reverse of Shame.”

• Despite the cold, the beverage cart was out in full force. Four appearances throughout the round. We sucked as customers because we weren’t thirsty, but I appreciated the effort and dedication, which I’m certain the cart girl values more than significant tips. 

• Pace of play was excellent. I won’t get into stereotypes, but let’s just say we were a little concerned when we saw the group tee off before us on 1. Lesson learned. We didn’t wait on one shot and that group probably would have destroyed us in a Ryder Cup style match. 

• I’m a sucker for wildlife on courses. Most of the animals at Mystic are in statue form. I did see some Egrets out there. I didn’t look up to verify that they were in fact Egrets, but I think that sounds a little more exotic than tall, white ducks. 

• This has serious golf trip potential. Probably not for me since I live 15 minutes away. But if I lived somewhere else, I would definitely nominate this for a guys trip. Of course there’s a casino, but I just think it’s a course that could make some match play events really compelling.

• My favorite holes: 3 (sweet par 5 with an island green and a rock bridge), 4 (short par 4’s are God’s gift to the sport), 6 (The Bear statues in the water only make this par 5 even cooler than it already is), 7 (downhill par 3’s are God’s bonus gift) and 18 (finishing with the Casino as the backdrop is cooler than it sounds).

• Only food I had was a brat at the turn. Bun was a little crisp from the grill. I like my buns soft. There’s nothing wrong with that.

• Staff was super friendly. Didn’t have a single sub par encounter with anyone.

I’d highly recommend Meadows at Mystic. It’s not going to be an inexpensive day. Unless you win all your money back at the casino, which shouldn’t be an issue.