TOWER, Minn. (Dec. 15, 2005) -- With the announcement that The Wilderness at Fortune Bay here has been named Best New Upscale Public Course for 2005 by Golf Digest, golf course architect Jeffrey D. Brauer has made history. The honor marks the first time in the 23 years of the ratings that an architect has won back-to-back annual honors for golf courses in the same state and category.

The Wilderness joins The Quarry at Giants Ridge, a Brauer-designed course in nearby Biwabik, which won the honor for 2004 and whose sister course, The Legend at Giants Ridge, debuted in Golf Digest’s Top Ten Best New Upscale Public Courses in 1998.

“Anytime you get a course on the list its’ an honor,” said Brauer from his Arlington, Texas, office. “When you come out on top, that honor becomes a thrill.”

The Wilderness, an 18-hole resort course that weaves through rugged, rolling terrain with granite outcroppings and towering pines and along picturesque Lake Vermilion, scored a hat trick of sorts with the Golf Digest accolade. It had earlier been named among the Top 10 Best New Places To Play by GOLF Magazine and as one of the 10 Best New Public/Resort Courses in America by Travel & Leisure Golf.

The latest ranking, released in Golf Digest’s January 2006 issue, is icing on the cake, according to Andy Datko, CEO of Fortune Bay Resort Casino, which is owned by the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa.

“We had our hopes for Number 1. We’re ecstatic about it,” Datko said, adding that, combined with The Quarry and The Legends at Giants Ridge, Northeast Minnesota is now becoming recognized as one of the highest quality golf destinations in the nation.”

Joe Wisocki of KemperSports, who serves as general manager and director of golf at The Wilderness, said: “It’s a great test of golf for all skill levels. Everyone can be tested.”

He mentioned that The Wilderness hosted the three-day 2005 Minnesota Section Club Professionals Championship, which was won with a 7-under par, with only three guys breaking par. “All those players were so pleased with the way the golf course played. It challenged them from every aspect,” Wisocki said.

Brauer, who has designed more than 45 courses since opening his own firm in 1984, is no stranger to Golf Digest’s “Best-New” lists. In 2003, his new Legacy Course in Norwalk, Iowa, and in 2004 his renovation of Indian Creek in Carrollton, Texas, also secured places on the Golf Digest Best-New lists. Previously, Golf Digest design awards went to his Canterberry in Parker, Colo., in 1997 and Avocet Course at Wild Wing Plantation in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in 1994, while Colbert Hills Golf Club at Kansas State University is the No. 1-ranked course in Kansas and rated among the Top 10 college courses in the country and his Cowboys Golf Club, designed for Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, has also won accolades, including being named Zagat’s Best New Course of 2002.

In his article announcing The Wilderness’s ranking, Golf Digest Architecture Editor Ron Whitten described it is “as beautiful as it is cunning” and added that its “options outnumber its rock outcroppings, and there are outcroppings galore.”

“It’s unusual,” said Brauer, “they are only 25 miles apart and so different in character that some can’t believe both are designed by the same architect. The Quarry is the greatest unnatural site I’ve ever had. The Wilderness is the greatest natural site. The Quarry is probably the tougher course, but from the feedback I get, most golfers, including many good ones, prefer the natural beauty of The Wilderness to the stark contrasts and jagged edges of The Quarry. Of course, I find both attractive in their own way”

The Wilderness and the two Giants Ridge courses are each unique in difficulty as well as look. “Giants Ridge directed us to specifically design The Quarry to be difficult in reaction to feedback from good players that The Legend wasn’t’ challenging enough for them,” Brauer said. “Fortune Bay told us to design a course harder for the good player but similar to The Legend for the average player. We gave them the best blend of championship golf and friendliness to the average golfer.

“Apparently we were successful. It’s the right bowl of porridge for most golfers: not too hot, not too cold, but just right.”

Brauer also credited The Wilderness superintendent Vince Dodge for managing the course for firm and fast conditions. “There are some holes where we couldn’t move a lot of earth and they look like they were built 100 years ago. Vince’s conditioning works perfectly. It both looks and plays like an old-fashioned golf course.”

Besides the golf course and casino, Fortune Bay boasts a 115-room hotel that overlooks Lake Vermilion and part of the golf course.

Brauer and his company, GolfScapes, can be reached at 2225 E. Randol Mill Rd. #218. Arlington, TX 76011; telephone 817-640-7275; e-mail: jeff@jeffreydbrauer.com; website: www.jeffreydbrauer.com