BIWABIK, Minn. — Like the producers of “Lord of the Rings” filling their arms with Oscars, officials at Giants Ridge here continue to rake in national awards for what is now only the fifth resort with more than one golf course ranked among Golf Digest’s list of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses. The resort’s newest course, The Quarry at Giants Ridge, Golf Digest’s Best New Public course for 2004, has debuted as 16th best public course in America in the magazine’s biannual ranking.

Meanwhile, the 7-year-old Legend at Giants Ridge, which like The Quarry was designed by Jeffrey Brauer with Lanny Wadkins consulting, made its first appearance in the Top 100, at number 88.

That places Giants Ridge in exclusive but well-deserved company with Pinehurst Resort, Bandon and Pacific Dunes, Barefoot Resort and Whistling Straits, according to Director of Golf John Kendall.

“I think it’s a special achievement for a course located where we are, relatively off the beaten path in the North Woods of Minnesota, to get such recognition from people who have played all over the country and all over the world. To be recognized like this is truly an honor.”

Kendall said golf raters rave about The Quarry’s shot variety. “From all sets of tees it makes you go through your bag and hit all the clubs,” he said. “With technology the way it is, at most courses you play driver-8 iron, driver-9, or driver-wedge to the greens on par-4s. The Quarry is a different story. Because of the great mix of short holes Jeff designed, the par-3s and longer par-4s make you hit clubs you’re not used to any more. You’re hitting longer irons into greens. That is not the case at all the traditional-style courses designed 50 or 60 years ago.”

Kendall said golfers are also impressed with the creative use of the land, a former mining property that the state of Minnesota has been reclaiming into a four-season resort area.

“It was an ugly and useless piece of property and Jeff turned it into something that is pretty spectacular,” Kendall said.

The fact that The Legend also made the Top 100 Greatest list comes, in part, because of the success of The Quarry, Kendall explained. The Legend was listed among the Best New Courses when it opened in 1998. More golfers, and thus more magazine raters, were drawn to Giants Ridge because of the simple fact that there was more than one course to play here. In Golf Digest’s state-by-state public course ratings, The Quarry and The Legend were Minnesota’s No. 1 and No. 4 courses, respectively.

Kendall said that when The Legend opened, people voted on its “signature hole” and every hole received a vote. “That is a testament to how the course was received. There is something unique about every hole.”

Meanwhile, “having multiple courses opens us to different markets and makes us more attractive,” Kendall noted. “The Midwest is known for big family resorts. There is nothing west of Lake Michigan that can compare.”

As a destination, Giants Ridge has also been enhanced by the recent accolades garnered by The Wilderness at Fortune Bay, another Brauer-designed course 20 miles away, which was recently named among GOLF Magazine’s Top 10 Best New Places To Play.

“Up until 1997 no one would have thought of North Minnesota as a golf destination,” said Giants Ridge General Manager Linda Johnson. “Now, all the accolades prove to the country that there is top-quality golf in Minnesota, and it also helps to put the entire state of Minnesota on the map.”

For his part, Brauer was humbled by his creation surpassing the likes of Bethpage Black on Long Island, Barefoot Resort, World Woods in Florida, The Greenbrier in West Virginia, Pasatiempo Golf Course in California, Cog Hill in Illinois and all the Pinehurst courses except No. 2. He is not new to winning national recognition, but breaking into the Top 100, twice in one year, brings a special feeling.

“Designing playing fields for the game you love is a great life, a fascinating career,” he said from his Arlington, Texas, offices. “These awards? They’re icing on the cake. Or, in Texas, we might say it’s hitting a gusher.”

More information on Giants Ridge can be obtained at its web site: www.giantsridgecom.

Brauer and his firm, GolfScapes, have designed 48 golf courses, while renovating nearly 100, since 1984. Several other of his courses were rated among the Best New Courses of the Year, including: The Legacy Golf Club in Norwalk, Iowa, in 2003; The Legend 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.

CONTACTS:
Mark Leslie
(207) 933-6708
gripfast@ctel.net

Jeffrey D. Brauer
(817) 640-7275
jeff@jeffreydbrauer.com

Linda Johnson, GM
(218) 865-3013