This Golf Course Is Home To Minnesota’s Biggest Green, And It’s Gigantic!
Nearly every golf course has a signature hole. Whether it is a passive feature, a spectacular view, or something that adds a unique flair or challenge to play on the hole, these signature holes are the crown jewels of golf courses around the world.
One of the most unique signature holes in Minnesota just so happens to be home to the biggest green in the Land of 10,000 Lakes!
Just how big is this thing? In a word, massive.
What golf course is home to Minnesota's biggest green?
Located in the heart of Minnesota's Brainerd Lakes Area vacation country, about 30 miles of north-northeast of Brainerd, is the tiny town of Emily, Minnesota. Just to the west of town on County Highway 1 is Emily Greens Golf Course.
Emily Greens is a charming 18-hole course that offers something for almost everyone. The course is accessible and inexpensive enough for golf novices, but offers enough of a challenge that even seasoned golfers will appreciate what this course has to offer.
The course isn't particularly hilly, and does only play 3,294 yards from the back tees, but tight fairways, tricky doglegs, some elevated greens, and other challenges will make this a fun play for everyone.
How big is Minnesota's biggest green at Emily Greens?
Cruising along on the back nine, the 17th hole is home to Minnesota's largest green. After snaking along a fairway that doglegs sharp to the left, then back to the right, you'll find a massive putting space that offers the potential of a putt that could be over 100 feet long!
From the view of the approach, this green measures about 140 feet wide by about 130 feet deep, offering about 14,294 square feet of putting green space. Yep, you read that right. Over 14,000 square feet!
As you can see this green is pretty flat, with the biggest challenge being contending with a potentially long putt.
Golf website Pitchmarks says the average putting green is somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 square feet - though some greens are significantly smaller or bigger.
That makes the 17th green at Emily Greens roughly three times bigger than the average!
Check out a video of this massive thing (and the rest of the hole) here:
How does Minnesota's biggest green compare to other big greens around the world?
Links Magazine published a list of courses with gigantic greens, including some very well known names like St. Andrews and Chambers Bay. The 14,000+ square foot 17th green at Emily Greens checks in around the same size as some of tge greens at courses like The Prairie Club in Nebraska, Bandon Dunes in Oregon, and bigger than the biggest one (12,700 #12) at Chambers Bay in Washington.
Emily Greens does pale in comparison, however, to the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, where you'll find an epically massive 37,000 square foot green.