Order On The Course
Braemar Golf Course
Braemar Golf Course is everything you’d expect of a course run by the City of Edina. Upscale. Beautiful. Large. Orderly. Maybe a little too orderly. More properly termed a golfing complex than a golf course, Braemar includes 27 regulation holes (the Castle, Hays, and Clunie nines), a nine-hole executive course, a driving range, a golf dome and three practice greens. The setting is picturesque with rolling hills, abundant water, and mature hardwoods. During autumn’s full colors this course can be truly spectacular.
Keep it straight
The regulation nines are challenging but fair. Yardage from the white tees ranges from 6026 to 6410, depending on which nines you play. Landing areas are usually generously sized, so the driver gets a lot of action. Braemar rewards the golfer who stays on the fairway. One can usually play from tee to green without encountering significant obstacles, as long as you’re straight. Rebels who seek their own path to the green are harshly dealt with however. Water can come into play on 21 of these holes. Large traps protect the greens if you approach from the rough. While the fairways are relatively flat, they’re often lined with more rolling terrain.
A bit o’ Swiss
The course is in superb shape, with the conditions of the tees, fairways, and greens more typical of a good private course than public links. Yardages are well marked. Paths from green to tee are clearly signed. Rangers are omnipresent and really try to ensure that everything runs on schedule--one even offered to help locate one of our stray orbs. Playing Braemar feels a bit like being in Switzerland. Everything is beautiful and organized, but you feel a little worried about what would happen if you didn’t follow instructions. Even with the abundant supervision, though, our round took about four hours and 45 minutes (though the course tries to keep the rounds down to four hours and 15 minutes).
Dress sensibly
Edina (Every Day I Need Attention) residents can purchase a patron card which allows them to make tee times up to five days in advance. Non-locals can only call a day in advance, so it’s pretty hard to get weekend morning times. Rates are reasonable at $21 weekends for non-residents. A nicely appointed clubhouse serves 3.2 beer and decent enough food, but isn’t the sort of place that invites lingering. Shirts are required but collars are not. It turned out that wearing Kelley green or madras plaid, while certainly very common, was not actually a requirement.
Braemar,on balance, is truly a gem among Minnesota’s public courses. Highly recommended
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Braemar Golf Course 6364 John Harris Drive Edina, MN 55439 (952) 826-6799 Green fee:
$30 weekend for non-residents
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