TOWER, Minn. - Feb. 5, 2005 – No sooner had Golf Digest named golf course architect Jeffrey D. Brauer's The Quarry at Giants Ridge the Best New Upscale Golf Course of 2004 then GOLF Magazine named his The Wilderness at Fortune Bay among the Top 10 Best New Places To Play.
The back-to-back honors are no surprise to Minnesotans, who first experienced a Brauer design when Giants Ridge opened The Legends Course, which was immediately rated by Golf Digest as one of Top Ten Best New Upscale Public Courses in the nation in 1998 and Best Public Course in Minnesota in 1999.
When Minnesota's Iron Range Resources Agency (IRRA), which is developing Giants Ridge to turn 2,000 acres of old sand and gravel quarry into productive land, witnessed the success of The Legends Course, it engaged Brauer "to outdo himself" with the Quarry Course. Soon thereafter, the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, who operate Fortune Bay Resort Casino, also brought Brauer on board to weave his magic on their property some 20 miles away from Giants Ridge.
Construction was ongoing at both courses at the same time, with The Wilderness lagging a bit behind. While he labored to weave The Quarry through spoils, piles and pits, the challenge was 180 degrees different at The Wilderness. Brauer said he had "some of the prettiest land in Minnesota, fronting on the prettiest lake in Minnesota," Lake Vermilion, at this site. The bow on this present-of-a-property was tens of tons of granite that was blasted to make way for fairways. The granite rock, flashing white in the sunlight, adds an aesthetic edge that, along with Brauer's dynamic design, sets the course apart.
Since 1984 Jeffrey D. Brauer and his firm, GolfScapes, have designed more than 48 golf courses, while renovating nearly 100. Several of his courses have merited national recognition, in Golf Digest¹s Best New Course Competition and other magazines. In 2004, The Quarry at Giants Ridge was the winner in the Upscale Public category, and his total renovation and rerouting of Indian Creek's Creeks Course placed 7th among Affordable Public Courses. Several others were rated among the Best New Courses of the Year,including: The Legacy Golf Club in Norwalk, Iowa, in 2003; The Legends at Giants Ridge in 1998; Canterberry Golf Course in Parker, Colo., in 1997; and Avocet Course at Wild Wing Plantation in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in 1994.
Also, Champions Country Club is rated 5th in Texas; TangleRidge Golf Club is 12th in Texas; and Colbert Hills Golf Club at Kansas State is the cornerstone golf course for The First Tee program as well as the first collaboration between the PGA of America and Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Brauer served as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects during its 50th anniversary year in 1995-96.
Contacts:
Mark Leslie
207-933-6708
gripfast@ctel.net
Kevin Leecy
800-555-1714
kevinleecy@yahoo.com
Jeffrey D. Brauer
817-640-7275
jeff@jeffreydbrauer.com
