White Bear Yacht Club

About the club

Before he moved to California, where he laid the foundation of many of that state's best courses from the pre-Depression era, William Watson was a pioneer of golf in Minnesota. He arranged the first nine holes at White Bear Yacht Club in 1912 near the shore of White Bear Lake on some of the most roly-poly land imaginable. Several years later, Watson added another nine holes and proceeded to remodel the entire course. Donald Ross has long been rumored to have done the remodel work, but the club doesn't have evidence of this and is now of the mind that the course is entirely Watson's creation. The site's wildly rumpled, unmodified land is the heart and soul of White Bear Yacht Club. Modern architects would likely have leveled and softened the slopes and ravines, but here they bring the golf to life visually and psychologically, offering nary a level stance and asking the player to drive to high sides of the tilted fairways and hit approaches with extreme control. Over the last two decades, under the guidance of Jim Urbina, the surrounding canopy of forest has been pared back to better reveal the massive, enthralling undulations of the course, and several holes, including the par-3s at six and 11, as well as the 12th and 18th green complex, are currently being restored.