baker national golf course

I live in Colorado, but my mythical “home” public links course is Baker National Golf Course in Edina, Minnesota. Edina is northwest from the heart of the Twin Cities and is an absolute must play course.Located in the heart of the Baker Park Reserve, this 210-acre golf course features practice areas, a driving range, the 9-hole Evergreen Executive Course, and the nationally recognized 18-hole Baker National Championship Course. There is also a lot of teaching and junior golf played at the facility.They’ve taken great care to preserve the natural beauty of Baker National with native vegetation across the landscape. In 1995, Baker National received the designation of “Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary” from Audubon International. This program, sponsored by the United States Golf Association, encourages courses to protect and conserve natural resources and preserve the character and integrity of the land.This golf course has received numerous accolades over the years and is still deserving of that high praise. The course is as beautiful as it challenging. Experienced golfers will appreciate the many nuances and subtleties of this course. The best day that I can think of would be playing Baker with my best golf buddy, enjoying an expensive cigar or two, and taking on each hole of this great layout.The course is affordable and it is generally advisable to call ahead to get a tee time due to high levels of play. The tee sheets looked to be booked full as I entered the pro shop. I paid $54 for 18 and a cart the day I played. I have played the course many times over the years and have only grown in my appreciation and admiration of the facility. Baker National is an acceptable walking golf course of moderate difficulty. A few of the holes have significant undulations and elevation changes, but I have seen many players carrying their bags or using push carts over the years. Baker National has several tree lined fairways and the golfer must keep his or her drive in the fairway to have decent playability. Some recovery shots can be hit out of the woods, but this is luck dependent.Baker National plays to 6762 yards from the tips and 5313 yards from the forward tees. On the day I played, we selected the white tees which play to 6294 on the card. This is an acceptable length for my game which generally tops out right at 6300 yards maximum. The greens at Baker National are moderate to large and have significant undulations. Placement of the approach shot on the correct part of the green is essential to avoid three putts. The greens roll very fast and some practice reading greens is advised. Many of the greens are well protected by sand bunkers. If you have a lengthy approach shot, you may wish to consider laying up to get a scoring wedge in your hand in order to get the ball on the right place of the green and give yourself a shot at a par putt. Bogie is also an excellent score on many of the holes. Some practice on greenside bunker shots is likewise essential before playing Baker National.The most difficult hole on the course is the par 5, 6th. Although the hole measured just 447 yards off my tee box, it was essential to land the ball on the fairway and avoid the loon infused lake to the right and the woods to the left. Hitting an iron or hybrid off the tee is the best choice. A well placed second shot is likewise important and a good short iron or wedge into a smallish green is a tough challenge. Any errant shots to the green will likely end up in the water. It may be best to intentionally fetch up short of the green on the third shot and chip on to give yourself a shot at par.The 180 yard, par 3, 15th hole is also a very challenging hole. Although it was rated as the third easiest hole on the course, it was visually intimidating. The day we played, we had a forced 180 yard carry across a cattail infested lake to a postage stamp size green. I hit a shot that I thought went into the drink, but we found my ball clinging to the edge of the grass just out of the water. I managed to chip on and two putt for the bogie, but the sightlines really messed up my tee shot. Baker National doesn’t let up as you finish the round, either. The par 4, 18th, begins with an elevated tee shot over a deep ravine that will leave a decent drive hanging on the upslope of a huge hill for your approach shot. This hole would be great as a ski or tubing run in the winter. Walking the last 200 yards nearly straight up will really bring on the burn in the leg muscles. Heck, the golf cart even started wheezing on its way up! A fun and challenging hole to be sure.Course composition is a traditional par 72 with four par 3’s, four par 5’s, and 10 par 4’s. I managed to shoot a 94 gross, and an 80 net with my 14 handicap. A buddy and I played the course in just under 5 hours. It was just a so-so day for me, but I left with renewed understanding of the importance of course management. A lost ball and a couple of double bogies inflated the score card, but did not reduce my enjoyment of the day. This course must be played carefully and shown appropriate respect. Trying to overpower the course by blasting a driver off every tee will likely not work for any but the very best players.My guess is that beginners and infrequent players would probably really struggle on this golf course. They would probably be much better off playing the executive Evergreen course with its six par 3’s, and three par 4’s. If you’re up for 27, then the Evergreen course may be just the ticket for a cool down after a round, or as a precursor/warm-up to your day on the “National.” This course is walking only.Baker National has a nice clubhouse with typical food and drink, plus a pro shop with a decent selection of clothing, balls, shoes, shirts, gloves, clubs, etc. The staff was friendly and welcoming. We played on a weekday morning and the course was moderately crowed, but our playing pace was acceptable and monitored by a course ranger. I suspect weekends would be even more crowded and pace of play would be more of an issue. More information about the course may be found at www.threeriversparks.org/parks/baker-park/baker-national-golf-course.aspx. I urge you to not miss Baker National if you are in the Twin Cities area. 5 Stars.

My adult daughter and I played this for the first time and thought it was in country-club shape, challenging, picturesque and fun. The price was so reasonable for the area, a great value. We would definitely play it again.

I play Baker a lot and really enjoy the course. I've played it a couple of times this year and the course is in decent, not great shape so far this year. Water hazards come into play on several holes. The course isn't too long from the whites but from the blacks/blues it plays pretty long. A weekend afternoon round can last a little long but so far this year play has moved along pretty well. An sunny afternoon round at Baker is very enjoyable for the scenery.Beverage cart service on weekends is pretty good, Clubhouse at the turn has food for purchase.Overall I would recommend Baker to any golfer who enjoys a fair but decent challenge.

challenging, with lots of hills and hazards but great fun to play! Handy to the twin cities and always in great shape.

Beautiful setting with lots of scenic tee boxes. Well laid out for almost every golfer. Very difficult landscaping!! One foot in the super deep rough punishes even the best golfers. Greens a little shaggy and not consistant from green to green. The staff there appeared to be there for their county check with little concern for the guest / golfer.. Top of the facilities.

This is a very challenging and very well kept course. It demands accuracy, and there are very few holes where you can grip and rip without concern. It is a very popular course, so you my struggle a bit to get a preferable tee time. It hosts a number of private and public clubs and leagues, so weeknight tee times can be very difficult to get prior to 5:30-6:00. The driving range is big but a bit hokey, as you shoot down into a virtual hole, so you lose the ability to judge how far you are truly hitting your shots. The Pro Shop/Clubhouse is standard municipal fare; hot dogs and pops, uncomfortable seating, etc. All that being said, if you are a fair player, you will probably be glad you came.

Baker National is a beautiful nature course in a rural setting. Baker, Willingers, and Mississippi Dune ar in my top five. Every hole is unique. There are no blind shots. Lake side holes are challenging yet fair. This course will intimidate and chew up first timers. This course has plenty of ups and downs but walkerable. Only downside to this course is that there are water coolers, so stock up before teeing off and at the turn. Oh, heaven help those who get stuck first timers, newbies, and slow players. Play can really slow down. Slow play and no water makes my overall rating a 4, otherwise, it would be a 5.

Nice course, very popular, excellent walk in Baker Park, decent conditions, I can see and understand why some people just love it. But... for some reason (shaggy greens, maybe), Baker National doesn't quite make the must play list. Can play better conditioned courses in metro at same price point. Maybe it's just my belief that Baker could be so much more.