The Refuge Golf Club
About
Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
---|---|---|---|---|
Black | 72 | 6534 yards | 72.3 | 143 |
Green | 72 | 6188 yards | 70.6 | 138 |
White | 72 | 5819 yards | 69.0 | 134 |
White (W) | 72 | 5819 yards | 74.3 | 143 |
Gold | 72 | 5372 yards | 71.9 | 132 |
Gold (W) | 72 | 5372 yards | 71.8 | 138 |
Purple | 72 | 4819 yards | 68.8 | 126 |
Purple (W) | 72 | 4819 yards | 68.7 | 132 |
Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Black M: 72.8/148 | 333 | 531 | 142 | 406 | 508 | 195 | 408 | 163 | 510 | 3196 | 387 | 370 | 503 | 380 | 207 | 359 | 184 | 426 | 522 | 3338 | 6534 |
Green M: 71.3/144 | 322 | 494 | 140 | 384 | 491 | 183 | 395 | 149 | 464 | 3022 | 367 | 356 | 483 | 363 | 192 | 340 | 164 | 405 | 496 | 3166 | 6188 |
White M: 69.8/134 W: 74.3/143 | 314 | 468 | 133 | 375 | 465 | 175 | 386 | 142 | 403 | 2861 | 358 | 347 | 463 | 354 | 167 | 291 | 144 | 367 | 467 | 2958 | 5819 |
Gold M: 67.8/130 W: 71.8/138 | 293 | 452 | 117 | 356 | 425 | 161 | 318 | 132 | 347 | 2601 | 337 | 331 | 443 | 337 | 157 | 278 | 121 | 319 | 448 | 2771 | 5372 |
Purple W: 68.7/132 | 271 | 427 | 103 | 310 | 387 | 145 | 248 | 127 | 286 | 2304 | 301 | 299 | 416 | 303 | 141 | 256 | 97 | 275 | 427 | 2515 | 4819 |
Handicap | 11 | 13 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 15 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 4 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 18 | |||
Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 36 | 72 |
Handicap (W) | 9 | 5 | 17 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 10 | 14 | 4 | 18 | 8 | 16 | 12 | 6 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
Bar, RestaurantAvailable Facilities
Clubhouse, Banquet FacilitiesAccolades
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Golf Advisor: Top Courses in Minnesota (2019 #24)
Reviews
Reviewer Photos
Good Course- Could be Better
There are many positive aspects about The Refuge golf course, along with a few negative ones. The course has an excellent practice area, including a large driving range, an enormous putting green, and practice bunkers and chipping green. A good warmup will prepare you for the first hole, a short (314 yards from the middle tees) par 4 with water all along the left side of the fairway and woods on the right. The fast green slopes severely from back to front, so if you haven't tested the speed on the practice green you might find yourself putting a long way past the hole. Remember the speed, because most of the greens will be similarly fast. The second hole is an S-shaped par 5, not too long at 531 yards from the back tee and 468 from the middle tee. As you move on to the following holes, you will never be bored, as you will find right and left doglegs, forced carries over marshland, water on many of the holes, and strategically placed bunkers. The 9th hole, a short dogleg right par 5 (510 yards from the back tee and 403 yards from the middle tee) is a real gem. The first four tee boxes are actually set on islands that have been built in the middle of the marsh. (You'll find similar island tees on several other holes.) The tee shot must carry the marsh and not run through the fairway. Reaching the 200 yard marker in the middle of the fairway is really not terribly difficult if a golfer has chosen the correct tee box, requiring only a 203 yard shot from the middle tee. Nevertheless, the psychology of the shot, looking at that expanse of marsh grass, makes it more difficult. Most foursomes will find at least one member losing a ball. Assuming a golfer is successful in carrying the marsh, what's left should be an easy 4 shots for a par. But the long, undulating green is protected by a complex of bunkers on the left and lots of trouble right and long. Maybe that's why it's the number one handicap hole. The few negatives that I mentioned earlier start with a very slow pace of play. Five hours on a Monday afternoon is really not acceptable. Foursomes ahead of us spent way too much time looking for balls lost in the woods and we never saw a ranger on the course to keep groups moving on. There is also no drinking water on the course, and there were no ball washers on any of the tee boxes. Courses in Minnesota remove the ball washers in the winter, but September seems a bit early to have done this. No ball washers on the carts, either. Finally, even though the carts are equipped with GPS, I was never able to get the one on my cart to work, and the GPS on my playing partners' cart went in and out throughout the round. Very annoying. The bottom line is that I really like this course and plan to continue coming out occasionally, but I really can't give it a five star rating.
Slow
Pace of play was unacceptable! If you book your Tee Sheet all it’s going to do is disappoint and make for a bad experience and frankly from a business standpoint that’s NOT the way to start 2024 Golf season!
Early spring at The Reffuge
Considering the early time of the year, The Refuge was a joy to play. Surprisingly, the course was already in pretty good condition. Most of the lies in the fairway were true. The greens were a little slow (to be expected in Minnesota in April) and the greens were also somewhat bumpy. We all enjoyed the round and look forward to the next time we play there.
I rated "pace of play" low because my group got stuck behind a 5-some of old guys. We ended up waiting on most shots, especially on the back 9. I felt really bad for the single who was behind us (we offered to let him go through, but he declined).
Hello and thank you for your 5-star rating! We're delighted you enjoyed your round. Please book another round with us soon, and thanks for choosing The Refuge Golf Club!
Hello and thank you for your 5-star rating! We're delighted you enjoyed your round. Please book another round with us soon, and thanks for choosing The Refuge Golf Club!
Favorite course in North metro
My "go to" course during the week. Course is always in great shape. Good mix of long and short par 3's and gettable par 5's. Been playing here for years and never dissapointed.
Thanks so much for the great review, u572642873. We look forward to welcoming you back to our course soon. Thanks for choosing The Refuge Golf Club.
Good course
The greens aren’t all the way back after aerating. Generally the course is in good shape
Thanks so much for the great review, Rick1265411. We look forward to welcoming you back to our course soon. Thanks for choosing The Refuge Golf Club.
Very slow
Will not be back. Extremely slow pace of okay. Cheap carts and gps.
Hi, HappyLearnedToPutt! Thank you so much for leaving us with your feedback. We value our customer experience, so your review is important to us. We will make note and we hope to see you back at The Refuge Golf Club!
Hi, natEzati. We would love to hear more about your 4-star experience on our course. Please tell us what we can do to earn that last star, and thanks for golfing at The Refuge Golf Club!
Hi, u314161804877. We would love to hear more about your 4-star experience on our course. Please tell us what we can do to earn that last star, and thanks for golfing at The Refuge Golf Club!
toooo sllloooow
We teed off at 12:54, played the first two holes at a reasonable pace and then hit No. 3, where there was a group on the green and one on the tee. Then, it got worse. On No. 4, a group on the green, one in the fairway, three on the tee (inccluding the group behind us). It was that way for at least the next 8 holes. When we finally finished, it was 6:15. Perhaps the course would be more playable if they spread the tee times out more. Like maybe 15 minutes between tee times. The bottleneck at 4 and 5 is real and needs to be planned for.
Hi, hoosierdaddy! Thank you so much for leaving us with your feedback. We value our customer experience, so your review is important to us. We will make note and we hope to see you back at The Refuge Golf Club!
Aerator warning
Yes I played this course. I actually play it quite often and I understand on the golf course is aerating the greens that there’s a problem but to have the whole back nine greens closed and temporary greens that weren’t really done that well for the whole back nine is a little outrageous, I only played 11 holes because we were playing at a snails pace, and when we got to the back nine, which was actually the front nine all the greens are closed for aeration I played many courses were the greens were aerated summer. Good night summer not so good but You should be told that at the beginning
Hi, Rick1265411. We appreciate you taking the time to review the course and rate us. Your feedback helps us do better. Thank you for visiting The Refuge Golf Club. We hope you'll give us another try in the future.
Great course, slow play
Needed a ranger today, they had a starter, but no one on the course to keep it moving. A guy I played with found 30 golf balls though .
Hi, u486908480! Thank you so much for leaving us with your feedback. We value our customer experience, so your review is important to us. We will make note and we hope to see you back at The Refuge Golf Club!
Hello and thank you for your 5-star rating! We're delighted you enjoyed your round. Please book another round with us soon, and thanks for choosing The Refuge Golf Club!
Hello and thank you for your 5-star rating! We're delighted you enjoyed your round. Please book another round with us soon, and thanks for choosing The Refuge Golf Club!
Always Great
Love this place! Wish people would actually take the time to repair their ballmarks, but there was a tourney that wrapped up right before I teed off. Other than that-No complaints!!!
Thank you so much for the great review. We are glad you had an incredible time, and we hope to see you again soon! Thanks for choosing The Refuge Golf Club.
New favorite course
This course was amazing. Really nice, great location and views, nice staff. Some people complain about the pace but even at normal pace it's hour twenty minute play per the scorecard. It's a difficult course but so fun. A couple other players had attitude and actually yelled at us and other groups - totally uncalled for. But most people were nice and the facilities were great.
imiGPAr368jihwFHSimV, thank you for your kind words! We hope to see you again at the course very soon for another 5-star experience. Thanks for choosing The Refuge Golf Club.
Not a top 10 course
100$ to play 18 holes on Sunday with my friends. I’m standing on the 1st tee box and the ranger is digging through my golf bag while I’m teeing off, how distracting is that after I just payed. He didn’t find anything!!!!! We bought off the cart girl like why are you in my bag??!!! Never had that happen to me before. The cart broke down on the 2nd tee box had to get that replaced. I am lucky I didn’t get hit twice from the group behind us, both shots off the tee box before I can take my 2nd shot. One hit our cart and 1 almost hit me in the head I was angry I said something to them. I’ve never ever been treated that way at a golf course in Minnesota let alone claim to be a top 10 course. No one in the clubhouse cares that I almost got hit in the head with a drive, the refuge couldn’t care less. They told me see ya were sorry. I didn’t like how I was treated. Still broke 90 and I played terrible I wonder why I was so distracted!!!!
Hi rolliehockey27,
We’re sorry to hear of your less-than-satisfactory experience and hope you will accept our sincerest apologies.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
5Mike113,
Thank you for the 4-Star review! This is great hole-by-hole feedback our golfers can use. We appreciate your feedback as we strive to continue to improve. Come play again soon!
Best regards,
The Refuge Golf Management