Playing the Summit Golf Course

I made my way down to Cannon Falls, 45 miles south of the Twin Cities today for a round of golf at the Summit Golf Course.  Built in 2002 this is a great course that does not offer a lot of amenities, other than a fun round of golf.

Featuring what might be the smallest clubhouse I have seen, don't expect to find a big bar or fancy food for sale here.

The Summit is kind of a tail of 2 nines. The first 9 is generally pretty open, while the back 9 gets pretty tight amongst the trees.


The tightest holes on the front are probably the par 3s, along with the par 4 4th hole. 

I think the 389 yard 4th hole is the one hole they need to change.  They should trim back the trees on the right and the bushes on the left.  Especially from the forward tees, there is just nowhere to aim off the tee.

The front nine is relatively open, with holes like the 426 yard par 4 7th hole shown here.

The Summit also features probably the best looking tee shot in the Twin Cities, on the 552 yard par 5 13th.  As you can see above it features a tremendous elevation change from the tee boxes down to the fairway which then doglegs left around a grove of trees and the bunker in the distance before rising to an elevated green.

Driving from the tees down the steep hill, there is a warning sign due to the grade of your descent.

The 13th is followed by another white knuckled tee shot on the 397 yard par 4 14th that rises uphill to a back to front sloping green.  The entire right side, and most of the left is tree lined, requiring a straight long ball.

Not to be outdone, the 15th hole is the hardest of this three hole stretch.  A 589 yard par 5, is a double dogleg right hole in the shape of a C.  Driver off the tee can find the trees through the fairway unless you can move the ball left to right.

The par 3 16th offers a bit of respite before the 17th.

The 17th offers a fairly wide open tee shot.  You want to get your ball as close to the aiming stick you can see as possible.  That stick is the 150 yard marker on the hole.

From the 150 yard marker the hole falls away into a gully before rising up to a large green.  If you cannot carry the 150 yard distance, you are going to face an uphill blind approach to the green.

Here you can see that uphill approach shot.

And one view back down the hole past the green.

To finish off the gauntlet that is the back nine, and your round, the par 4 18th arrives with a narrow fairway to hit with trees lining the left side and water down the right.  The 390 yard hole doglegs  around a pond and features a large green in front of am old barn.

All in all I played well.  My wife played good too, especially on the back where she shot a 43.  This was her first time playing the course.  My dad didn't play too good and struggled with the tree lined fairways.  I hit the ball really well on the back, with 7 our of 9 GIR.  Only problem was that I three putted 6 of those!  Still I managed to get around with an 80.  If I could have putted I would have gone seriously low.