Gross National, also known as Francis Gross Golf Club is the best kept of course in the Minneapolis city courses. Opened in 1925 it was the third course opened by the city. It was built largely in response to the popularity of the game in the roaring 20s and the success of the Theo Wirth course, and then the Columbia course. Originally called the Armour Golf Club after the Armour & Company meat packing business which developed the golf course and then sold the land to the Minneapolis park board on a 20 year loan. This was the first course with grass tees and greens, and rates here were more than double the previous two courses ($1 instead of .40 cents for eighteen holes!)
Unfortunately, like all courses in the area, the great depression happened and for 23 years the city struggled to pay the loan owed on the course. Armour & Company was remarkably generous and over time helped pay operating costs and then eventually forgave some of the interest owed on the loan when it agreed to let the park board re-negotiate and purchase the course outright in 1947. In 1964 the National Amateur Public Links tournament was held here.
So back to present day, as I mentioned the course very well kept, especially for the rounds played per year (40,000-50,000). Due to our recent dry spell with high heat the ground was especially hard which caused some favorable and some unfavorable bounces.
The course offers three sets of tees, blue, white, and yellow. The blues are recommended for handicaps of 6 or better, the whites from 18 to 6. We played the whites. There is not a lot of danger on the holes other than the trees lining every hole. If you can manage to miss the trees and keep it straight the only other hazards in play are some green side bunkers. In general the rough was fairly playable, though some areas were a little thicker than others it never played too penal.
Hole 1 is a straight ahead par 4 at 351 yards. 200 yards out from the tee you can find a hill that will add extra yards to your drive before turning uphill. The green slopes rather severely from back to front so anything long can lead to a very quick downhill putt.
Hole 2 is a slight dogleg left par 4 at 386 yards. Hitting driver off the tee is too long as the hole turns at around 230 yards. The better play is a 3 wood moving right to left off the tee. You can cut the corner but the fairway slopes left and that side is heavily wooded so it is safer to play center or right. The right side has more room past the fairway than it looks before the trees.
Hole 3 is an uphill par 3 at 179 yards. Again this green is sloped back to front and being long is trouble.
Hole 4 is another par 4 at 405 yards. The first hole where driver is safe off the tee for me. You must avoid the large tree on the left side of the fairway off the tee. A high drive can clear that tree and leaves a short iron to the green.
Hole 5 is another par 4 at 347 yards. The fairway is somewhat domed so anything hit to either side will tend to run off to that side. A straight tee shot makes for an easy hole. One stuck off line makes for a hard hole with many trees to contend with.
Hole 6 is a 365 yard par 4. The ideal shot here is to split the trees down the middle of the hole. The right side is the less problematic as the left has a lot of tree to contend with.
Hole 7 is a long par 3 at 198 yards. I nearly jarred my tee shot, missing just left of the hole by less than 6 inches. You can see my pitch mark in the photo below. The green is rather large but relatively flat.
Hole 8 is a 378 yard par 4. A slight dogleg right, I hit the most perfect draw shot off the tee here and ended up with a 303 yard drive. One of my prettiest shots of the year. Unfortunately I juiced a half swing wedge just a little too much and one hopped off the green.
Hole 9 is the only par 5 on this side at 520 yards. Favor the right side of the hole here as a large tree is on the left and beyond that a stand of trees on the left blocks any attempt to advance the ball on line to the hole.
The course, like the other Minneapolis courses is an old school layout the favors shot making and placement off the tee, rather than just letting you bomb away. I really enjoy that kind of course and Gross is one of the better public examples of it in the Minneapolis area. The fairways and greens were in really nice shape.
This is my first round played here this year. The only bad thing about the course, and something I seem to always find when I play here after work is the incredibly slow pace of play. We had a 6:08 tee time and did not finish our nine holes until just after 9:00. That is just too slow. I did get to see a nice sunset on hole 8 though.
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