These 3 Minnesota public courses are among the 100 best in the US, Golf Digest says originally appeared on Bring Me The News.
Three public golf courses in Minnesota made Golf Digest’s latest ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses.
On this year’s list are The Quarry at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, The Wilderness at Fortune Bay in Tower, and The Classic at Madden’s in Brainerd. All have made the annual ranking for the past 14 years or more.
The Quarry is the highest-ranking Minnesota course on the list at No. 58 this year, though it was No. 43 last year. Golf Digest calls out its “inventive design” and its standout 13th hole, “a drivable par-4 that’s nearly as wide as it is long, with three alternate routes to a 100-yard-wide green.”
The Quarry at Giants Ridge is an 18-hole public golf course in Biwabik.The Quarry at Giants Ridge
The Wilderness at Fortune Bay (No. 72) gets a nod from Golf Digest for its options of play. The magazine wrote back in 2005, the year after the course opened, that “its options outnumber its rock outcroppings, and there are outcroppings galore.”
“Where The Quarry uses slopes and ramps, Wilderness rewards aerial play, with some high-low alternate fairways, lake-edged greens and a pair of drop-shot par-3s,” Golf Digest wrote in this year’s ranking.
The Wilderness at Fortune Bay is an 18-hole public golf course in Tower.The Wilderness at Fortune Bay
Last but not least for the Minnesota courses, Golf Digest calls The Classic (No. 80) at Maddens on Gull Lake “beautiful but not for the faint of heart,” due to its hills and challenging shots. It does have an “easier alternate layouts for high-handicappers,” though, like other multiple-course operations.
The Classic at Madden’s is an 18-hole course on Gull Lake in Brainerd.
Meanwhile, Pebble Beach Golf Links in California held onto the No. 1 spot, which it’s done since 2003.
“Not just the greatest meeting of land and sea in American golf, but the most extensive one, too, with nine holes perched immediately above the crashing Pacific surf—the fourth through 10th plus the 17th and 18th,” Golf Digest wrote.
Many of Golf Digest’s favorite public courses are in coastal states, including Florida, North and South Carolina, Nevada and Oregon.
But our Midwestern neighbor to the east, Wisconsin, has 10 public courses on the list.
The top-rated Wisconsin course is Erin Hills Golf Course in Hartford, at No. 10 for the second year in a row.
See the full 2025-2026 list of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses here.
Related: Top 200 golf courses in America? 2025 list features 3 in Minnesota, 7 in Wisconsin
This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Aug 14, 2025, where it first appeared.
