Tower, Minn. – Golf course architect Jeffrey D. Brauer’s The Wilderness at Fortune Bay, which in January was named among the Top 10 Best New Places To Play by Golf Magazine, now has been honored by both Travel & Leisure Golf and American Airlines’ Celebrated Living magazine as one of the 10 Best New Public/Resort Courses in America for 2004.
These accolades come in the wake of The Quarry at Giants Ridge – another Brauer-designed course in Biwabik, Minn. – being ranked in January by Golf Digest as the Best New Upscale Golf Course of 2004, and The Quarry and its older sister, The Legends, being named Golf Development of the Year by Golf Inc. magazine in December.
“Thirty minutes up the road from his twin triumphs at Giants Ridge, Jeffrey Brauer has given birth to a Bunyanesque course on the pastoral shores of Lake Vermilion,” T&L Golf writes of The Wilderness, built as part of Fortune Bay Resort Casino. “This rugged, rolling track, framed by towering pines and granite outcrops, skirts one of the continent’s prettiest lakes, a body of water that brims with trophy walleyes. The layout itself brims with watery carries, strategic cross-bunkers and risk-reward split fairways – for those who like to take their gambling ways onto the golf course.”
Golfers “Love the golf course,” says Andy Datko, chief executive officer of
Fortune Bay. “The word of mouth has been fabulous. We have a lot of repeat business. The people who come here rave about it and want to come back."
Datko said the recognition of the Kemper Sports-managed course “confirms what we thought and it confirms that we and Jeff Brauer achieved our objective: to be a first-rate destination golf club, something that would have national appeal and national recognition.”
Saying that the property was “gorgeous to begin with,” Datko added that Brauer was able to design The Wilderness in a way that enhanced that beauty.
“Lake Vermilion is a big part of it, but even the holes that are not in sight of the lake are some of the most beautiful because of the spectacular scenery, the way Jeff used the natural bedrock, and the pine forest,” he says.
While the course builders encountered massive amounts of bedrock and spent much more on rock removal than expected, the project came in under budget, said Datko, who was planning coordinator during construction.
“We knew as we got into it that we would have problems with rock removal,” he says. “But Jeff did a real good job in working with us and minimizing cost in other areas. The amount of earth that was moved was a lot less than you would think on a course of this size.”
“I’m as excited for the people of Minnesota as I am for this honor,” says Brauer. “Now they have three exceptional public golf courses to play – enough to create a tourist destination in an area that has been hard-hit economically. Giants Ridge now has the state’s No. 1-ranked golf and ski resorts and, well, The Wilderness at Fortune Bay can obviously stand on its own, too.”
Besides the golf course and casino, Fortune Bay includes a 115-room hotel that overlooks Lake Vermilion and part of the golf.
Brauer is no stranger to awards. The former president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects has won many others since opening his own firm, GolfScapes, in 1984. Lost in the shadows of accolades for The Quarry and The Wilderness is the fact that Brauer’s complete reconstruction of Indian Creek’s Creeks Course in Carrollton, Texas, earned it the seventh spot among Golf Digest’s Top Affordable Public Courses.
These accolades come in the wake of The Quarry at Giants Ridge – another Brauer-designed course in Biwabik, Minn. – being ranked in January by Golf Digest as the Best New Upscale Golf Course of 2004, and The Quarry and its older sister, The Legends, being named Golf Development of the Year by Golf Inc. magazine in December.
“Thirty minutes up the road from his twin triumphs at Giants Ridge, Jeffrey Brauer has given birth to a Bunyanesque course on the pastoral shores of Lake Vermilion,” T&L Golf writes of The Wilderness, built as part of Fortune Bay Resort Casino. “This rugged, rolling track, framed by towering pines and granite outcrops, skirts one of the continent’s prettiest lakes, a body of water that brims with trophy walleyes. The layout itself brims with watery carries, strategic cross-bunkers and risk-reward split fairways – for those who like to take their gambling ways onto the golf course.”
Golfers “Love the golf course,” says Andy Datko, chief executive officer of
Fortune Bay. “The word of mouth has been fabulous. We have a lot of repeat business. The people who come here rave about it and want to come back."
Datko said the recognition of the Kemper Sports-managed course “confirms what we thought and it confirms that we and Jeff Brauer achieved our objective: to be a first-rate destination golf club, something that would have national appeal and national recognition.”
Saying that the property was “gorgeous to begin with,” Datko added that Brauer was able to design The Wilderness in a way that enhanced that beauty.
“Lake Vermilion is a big part of it, but even the holes that are not in sight of the lake are some of the most beautiful because of the spectacular scenery, the way Jeff used the natural bedrock, and the pine forest,” he says.
While the course builders encountered massive amounts of bedrock and spent much more on rock removal than expected, the project came in under budget, said Datko, who was planning coordinator during construction.
“We knew as we got into it that we would have problems with rock removal,” he says. “But Jeff did a real good job in working with us and minimizing cost in other areas. The amount of earth that was moved was a lot less than you would think on a course of this size.”
“I’m as excited for the people of Minnesota as I am for this honor,” says Brauer. “Now they have three exceptional public golf courses to play – enough to create a tourist destination in an area that has been hard-hit economically. Giants Ridge now has the state’s No. 1-ranked golf and ski resorts and, well, The Wilderness at Fortune Bay can obviously stand on its own, too.”
Besides the golf course and casino, Fortune Bay includes a 115-room hotel that overlooks Lake Vermilion and part of the golf.
Brauer is no stranger to awards. The former president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects has won many others since opening his own firm, GolfScapes, in 1984. Lost in the shadows of accolades for The Quarry and The Wilderness is the fact that Brauer’s complete reconstruction of Indian Creek’s Creeks Course in Carrollton, Texas, earned it the seventh spot among Golf Digest’s Top Affordable Public Courses.
