Blue Ribbon Pines Disc Golf Club – East Bethel, MN

I wish I had known about this course when I moved up to Minnesota initially. I would have been playing it all the time. This 27-hole disc golf heaven is a full-time disc golf “resort”, for lack of a better term. It’s a pay to play course, which I don’t mind, especially when they’re as well-maintained as this course is. You pay at the club house, which has a disc golf pro shop, snacks, sodas, energy drinks, and beers.

It’s $5 for an all-day pass and it’s totally worth it. The tees are all cement and plenty big.

The fairways are very well manicured and defined on every hole.
And the greens are mostly rock lined and mulched.
It’s what every course aspires to be.

The course also has some pretty slick amenities. There are benches, garbage cans, and recycling containers next to every tee. There are also brooms next to every tee so you can sweep them off (there’s a lot of trees overhead dropping leaves and branches in the fall). Some of the brooms have broken handles, which is a PERFECT re-use for a broom. Golfers don’t care if there’s no handle at all. It’s a fantastic idea. The clubhouse signage indicates the tees are cleared off every day in the winter snow, so you won’t even have to shovel. Amazing! Near the water hazards, which there are plenty, there are rakes, poles, and branches perfect for fishing discs out of the water. Another fantastic idea. The trees near the tee and in the fairways are also wrapped with thick plastic mesh to protect the trees from the damage of being hit with discs. This ensures they’ll be there a really long time.

There’s not a lot of elevation change on this course (unlike most of the other Minneapolis courses), but what it lacks in elevation, it makes up for in finesse.

There’s a LOT of wooded holes, some with wide fairways, and some with really narrow fairways – straight and 450’ – that’s what I like to see.

There are some well placed bail outs for short arms and there are also some trouble spots you don’t want to be in. There are also really well-placed water hazards RIGHT where you want to drive. You really have to decide if you’re going to go for it or lay up short.

Thinking man’s course is what this is.

I was really surprised how close some of the fairways are to each other, yet, I never once felt unsafe. There’s enough of a tree barrier that you really don’t seem to be in danger on most shots. It’s very well designed. There’s a good mix of lefty shots, righty shots, and straight shots. Some long, some short, some middle. There’s a really short hole where I threw a putter off the tee – I mean I stood there and threw 50 feet to the corner of the dogleg to make my next shot. Then there’s a couple cannon shots where you just grip and rip.

The course seems to be set up for tournaments as well. The club house has a HUGE deck with tables and a ledge for your drinks where you can watch the players finish on the final hole throwing straight at you. The final hole also has a water hazard (that I threw into), so you can mock your fellow golfers when they chuck it in the drink. Do yourself a favor and go check this course out. It’s north of the Twin Cities, which I know scares some of the out of towners, but suck it up. You won’t be disappointed.