Black Bear course is beautiful, player-friendly

It's a fact: most golfers don't like being in sand traps or hitting the ball out of these hazards. But, if you must, the Black Bear golf course in Carlton is the place to show off your skills, just like the professionals. Here, beautiful white sand from Georgia is, indeed, the same as the picturesque sand found in traps at Augusta National Golf Course - the home of the Masters Tournament.

The Black Bear golf course is located at the junction of Interstate 35 and Minnesota Highway 210. It is owned and operated by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Since August of 2010, Dan Walker has been the course's golf professional.

Walker grew up in Superior, Wisconsin. Playing mostly at the Nemadji golf course, he always loved the game. Walker tried out for the Superior high school golf team as a freshman and made it. It was a time of a lot of increased interest and growth in the sport. He said about 25 kids tried out for the team when he was a freshman and that number went to 80 by the time he was a senior. Walker said he believes it was the first team from Superior to make the state high school golf tournament.

He continued his education at Ferris State in Michigan, majoring in PGA golf course management. Walker was hired right out of college at a private course in Chicago, the Donald Ross-designed Exmoor Country Club. He spent 15 years there before "coming home" to his current position as the pro at Black Bear.

Black Bear was designed by Gilmore Graves Golf, and opened for play in 2003. It took tons of gravel and fill to build the foundation of the golf course adjacent to the casino and resort. Water is "present" on 14 of the 18 holes. From the blue tees, it measures 6,560 yards and from the red tees 5,072 yards. There are four sets of tees to accommodate all levels of golfing ability.

In my short walk on the course, the fairways looked like carpeting and the greens impeccable. Thanks to a state-of-the-art watering and sprinkling system, weeds are nearly nonexistent. The course is beautiful with a large budget for flora and flowers.

The course has a fantastic clubhouse which includes a large pro shop, and grill, dining and bar area. An outside balcony with seating overlooks the first tee.

"I am sure we make and serve the finest club sandwich in the state of Minnesota," Walker said. "It's on cranberry-wild rice bread. Delicious!"

Walker said some people come just for the food and don't even golf. Dan overseas about 60 total employees between the clubhouse, pro shop, and course maintenance.

The Black Bear course, when first opened, was deemed a bit too difficult for most golfers. Since then, many holes have been cleared to wider landing areas - making it more player-friendly. Rounds played per year have increased from about 10,000 in 2010, to now over 22,000 rounds annually.

They are running some great golf specials now, including two people for golf and a cart for $80 Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m .; and a Twilight special, $20 golf and cart for all the holes a player can complete before sunset. All carts are equipped with touchscreen GPS systems, so a player can touch the screen to determine how far away the fairway bunker is or the pin on the back of the green.

Black Bear has organized active men's, women's, and couples golf leagues. They attract many "mini" groups of 12 or more players who come for the play-and-stay packages in conjunction with the resort hotel.

"Black Bear has amenities of a private resort golf club that is open and affordable to daily players," Walker said. "Come and play!"

Steve Korby's interest in writing goes back to when he was in fourth grade and editor of the Scan-Satellite school newspaper in Scanlon. Steve loves sports, especially golf. He welcomes human interest stories and tales regarding Carlton County residents, projects, history, and plans.