Giants Ridge Opens for the 2026 Golf Season This May By Brian Weis

Giants Ridge Opens for the 2026 Golf Season This May

By Brian Weis

Minnesota's Iron Range is thawing out, and Giants Ridge is ready. The Quarry opens May 1, with The Legend following eight days later on May 9. Tee times are open on both courses now at 218-865-8030.

Giants Ridge sits about three hours from the Twin Cities and has quietly built a case as the best golf destination in Minnesota. Both courses were designed by Jeffrey Brauer, but they play nothing alike.

The Quarry is the headliner. Built on a former sand quarry and iron ore mine, the course uses dramatically elevated tees and hazards carved from reclaimed mine land to create something you won't find anywhere else in the state. The views of the Iron Range alone are worth the drive. Golfweek's 2026 rankings put The Quarry at No. 35 among the top 200 resort courses in the country, which is serious company.

The Legend opened in 1997 and gets credit for putting Iron Range golf on the map in the first place. The layout winds through towering pines inside the Superior National Forest and along the shore of Sabin Lake. Golfweek ranked it among the top 125 resort courses in the U.S. as well.

Starting May 29 through August 23, Giants Ridge brings back its 36-Hole Golf Special: both courses, cart, range balls, and lunch between rounds for $210 on weekdays and $230 on weekends. That is a reasonable price of admission for a day you will talk about for a while.

When you are not on the course, the Iron Range delivers. Crystal-clear lakes, rivers, hiking and biking trails, and chairlift rides with views that make the whole trip feel bigger than just golf. On-site dining includes Burnt Onion Kitchen and Brews, Bunkers at The Legend, and the Wacootah Grill.

For tee times and lodging, visit giantsridge.com or call 218-865-8000.

Revised: 04/28/2026 - Article Viewed 26 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.