Published April 23, 2026
Featured Golf Trip: Giants Ridge
The resort deep in the Minnesota wilderness promises great golf at an even better value.
This piece originally ran in the GTG newsletter. Subscribe here for free.
There’s really not enough talk about the golf options in Minnesota, so let’s dive into one of the state’s best: Giants Ridge.
To get there, you’ll have to travel about as far north as it gets in the continental U.S., to a town called Biwabik, where it will be 32 degrees this Saturday. The ski season up there is not long for this world, though, and by mid- to late-May, Giants Ridge will open up its two highly regarded golf courses.
You may have heard of the place for one of a couple of reasons. The Quarry at Giants Ridge, for starters, sits comfortably on lists of the top 100 public golf courses in America, coming in at 63rd on our composite ranking across Golf Digest, GOLF mag, and Golfweek. It’s a Jeff Brauer design that winds through an old sand and iron ore mining operation, giving the land tons of slopes and character. The Quarry “plays very links-like with its collection of fairway speed slots, greenside backboards and backstops and reverse-camber greens,” Golf Digest says of a course the publication considers the best in the state.
Another reason you may have heard of Giants Ridge is the massive footprint bunker that guards the left side of the fairway on The Legend’s third hole, a visual you’ve almost certainly scrolled past on your feed. A more traditional layout also designed by Brauer, The Legend is cut out of the thick Minnesota wilderness with a couple stunners on the water in the land of 10,000 lakes. It hasn’t reached the national acclaim of its sibling, but The Legend is no slouch.
“Everyone has their preference, and here’s mine,” said one writer at GOLF after a trip in 2021. “The Quarry, I thought, was the better course, yet I had more fun on the legend, which is more open, more forgiving and more in front of you.”
More things to like: A trip to Giants Ridge is a wildly affordable golf trip, an extreme value considering the quality of the golf, and one that comes with a real sense of getting away from it all. Based on a quick search for some weekend dates in July, you can snag your own room during peak golf season for around $250 or choose a four-bed condo with the group for less than $650.
And then there’s the fact that you can complement your Giants Ridge excursion with some other strong options for golf. The Wilderness at Fortune Bay—Golf Digest‘s 72nd-ranked public in the U.S.—sits about a half-hour away. If you’re really feeling frisky, you’re about two and a half hours from Brainerd, where you’ll find The Classic at Madden’s Resort and Breezy Point. Might be time to head north.
Pricing details
Overall range (golf + lodging): $585 – $910
• Assumes two days, two nights
Golf: $260 – $410
• Greens fees (5/29 – 9/27): $130
• Replays: $75
Lodging: $325 – $500
• One-bed room: $250/night
• Four-bed condo: $650/night
Travel considerations
• Giants Ridge is 40 minutes from Range Regional, which services Delta flights in and out of Minneapolis-St. Paul.