Where the fairway is frozen

Star Tribune

If you can't hit the links in a warm-weather spot, employ a golf club and green tennis ball on Big Pelican Lake.

By JOSH P. ROBERTS, Special to the Star Tribune

Last update: February 11, 2009 - 4:51 PM

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IF YOU GO

Breezy Point Resort is about 140 miles north of the Twin Cities (1-800-432-3777; www.breezy pointresort.com). For dining and other activities, contact the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce (1-800-450-2838; www.explorebrainerd lakes.com).

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Get off the plane and feel the 80-degree sunshine. Change into shorts and step onto the green, palm tree-lined fairways. There's nothing like Hawaii or Florida for a winter golf vacation, right?

How about a white, pine tree-lined fairway near Brainerd?

Forget the airplane (and the airfare), and hop in the car. And you might as well forget about the 80-degree weather, too, and hope for a balmy 30 as you head off to play snow golf on Big Pelican Lake. And I mean on the lake.

The venerable Breezy Point Resort has groomed the frozen lake in front of their marina and restaurant each winter since the 1970s. Fairways meander back and forth across the sculpted tundra, mimicking a typical golf course. Some years the links has nine holes, some years there are only six - it depends on where the fish houses are when the course is laid out. And with the holes only about 80 yards or less, it shouldn't be too hard to make the so-called green. But be careful, warns general manager Dave Gravdahl: "When you swing, you're going to slice."

Like at summertime links, for the last decade or so snow golfers get to play among the trees. "The day after Christmas we pick up all the Christmas trees from the local dealers that aren't sold, and we line the fairways with them," Gravdahl said.

Employees and locals sometimes donate their old trees for the course, too. If there are enough, "we try to put them around the skating rink," Gravdahl added. "It makes it look a little nicer out there."

Easy-to-spot green tennis balls substitute for the smaller white variety. Golfers borrow the balls and regulation clubs for free from the resort's rec center, which also boasts a snack bar, table tennis and other games. There are no "greens" fees or designated tee times, so players simply pick up the equipment and play.

"It's just for fun," said Gravdahl, noting that guests like to send photos of themselves on the frozen course to friends and relatives in warm-weather spots. A round on the links can be satisfying no matter what the temperature.

Josh P. Roberts is a Twin Cities-based photographer and travel writer.

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