Brauer-Designed Giants Ridge garners High Golf Digest Ranking


September 24, 2009. The two Jeffrey D. Brauer-designed courses at the Giants Ridge Golf & Ski Resort in Biwabik, Minnesota highlight the resort's placement as one of North America's top golf resorts by Golf Digest magazine, as released in its Oct. 2009 issue.

Only 75 resorts made the rankings and Giants Ridge was listed at No, 46, making it the highest ranked Minnesota resort on the honor roll. This marks the initial time the northeastern Minnesota golf resort has claimed such a prestigious tribute.

But this is not the first time Giants Ridge has been listed as a top resort. In 2005, Giants Ridge earned mention as a Top Five Mountain Resort by Golf for Women magazine and in 2003 was named as one of the top six golf destinations in the world by Golf World magazine.

The backbone of the golfing experience at Giants Ridge is the two Brauer-fashioned courses at resort. The Legend, which opened in 1997, and the Quarry, which first welcomed play in 2003, have been staples of various "best of" lists throughout their existence.

The Legend at Giants Ridge received a prestigious 4½-star golf rating five years in a row from Golf Digest, which has also named it as the top public golf course in Minnesota in 1999. The Legend was recently ranked in the latest Golf Digest list of Best Public Courses as No. 3 Public Course in Minnesota and as the 72nd Best Public Course in the Nation.

The Quarry has earned even higher acclaim, and this year was named Minnesota's No. 1 public golf course as well as the nation's 20th best public track by Golf Digest and as the No. 2 public golf course in the state by Golfweek magazine. The Quarry was listed as the top golf course you can play in Minnesota by Golfweek in 2008, and has earned Golf Digest's 4½-star ranking every year since 2004.

"My work in Minnesota is among my best, with both courses at Giants Ridge in Golf Digest's Top 100," said Brauer, who is the principal of Arlington, Texas-based GolfScapes, Inc. "One critic told me that he had no idea that both courses were designed by the same golf course architect, which, I think, is the highest tribute I have received. It says I designed with what I had, as I was able to utilize the nature of The Legend course and the man-made quarry at The Quarry course to create two distinct golf experiences at one great resort."

The Golf Digest ranking of top golf resorts was created with the help of Golf Digest's 900-plus course-rating panelists, who also produce our biennial ranking of America's 100 Greatest Courses. They rated hundreds of U.S., Canadian, Mexican and Caribbean golf resorts on a scale of 1 ("awful") to 10 ("perfect"). Golf Digest averaged their ratings and multiplied the result by 10 to come up with a score for each.

"This impressive rating highlights the quality golf of The Legend and The Quarry and puts Giants Ridge on the map along with some of the nation's most outstanding golf resorts such as Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Sandestin, and Bandon Dunes," said John Kendall, director of golf at Giants Ridge.

About Jeffrey D. Brauer and GolfScapes, Inc.

Jeffrey D. Brauer knows golf and the courses which make golf great. Now in his 25th year of private practice, and with 32 years in the business of fashioning golf courses overall, Brauer's work - from his 36-hole masterpiece at the Giants Ridge Golf Club in Minnesota to the Avocet Course at Wild Wing Plantation in South Carolina to the sublime Cowboys Golf Club in Grapevine - speaks to his knowledge of expert design and ability to use of the land to make each course distinct.

Brauer began his career in the Chicago area; his first project was Kemper Lakes Golf Course, site of the 1989 US PGA Championship. In 1984, he formed his own company - GolfScapes, Inc. - and moved to Arlington, Texas, where he has developed a national portfolio of both new course and renovation projects. Brauer has been commended for his work in such publications as Golf Magazine, Golf World and Golf Digest. He is currently working on a handful of projects around the United States.

A member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects since 1980, Brauer served as president of that organization during its milestone 50th anniversary year in 1995-1996. As that role, he spearheaded the development of the USGA's Environmental Principals of Golf. The book, Golf Has Never Failed Me by Donald Ross, is a result of Brauer's efforts to produce a commemorative work for the 50th anniversary of the ASGCA.

Brauer's completed projects, both individually and in conjunction with some of the world's top designers, include:

The Legends at Giants Ridge (Biwabik, MN)
The Quarry at Giants Ridge (Biwabik, MN)
The Wilderness at Fortune Bay (Tower, MN)
Sand Creek Station Golf Course (Newton, KS)
Colbert Hills Golf Course (Manhattan, KS)
Cowboys Golf Club (Grapevine, TX)
Tangle Ridge Golf Club (Grand Prairie, TX)
Indian Creek Golf Course (Carrollton, TX)
The Wilderness (Lake Jackson, TX)
The Bridges of Preston Crossings Golf Club (Gunter, TX)
Ridgeview Ranch Golf Course (Plano, TX)
Squaw Valley Golf Club, Apache Links (Glen Rose, TX)
Whitestone Golf Club (Benbrook, TX)
Black Bear Golf Club (Parker, CO)
Wild Wing Plantation, Avocet Course (Myrtle Beach, SC)
Holiday Hills Golf Club (Branson, MO)
Champions Run (Omaha, NE)
Highlands Golf Course (Lincoln, NE)
Links at Sierra Blanca (Ruidoso, NM)
Gaylord Springs Golf Links (Nashville, TN)