10 Best Golf States: Golfdigest.com

So This week Golf Digest put out what they thought to be the 10 Best Golf States: Golfdigest.com. There was one surprise to me, and one that was not. Both Wisconsin and North Dakota were named. Wisconsin didn't surprise me. It has tons of courses that are 4 star rated or above by Golf Digest. In fact I found quite a few 4 star and above courses by where I stay during the Summer. Which I may have to try out since it looks like their prices are decent during off peak times. Also Wisconsin has tons of mid-level courses for someone that is looking to golf on the real cheap. Also there are even courses in Wisconsin that are pretty much fields behind a bar, if you want to go real cheap. Overall I completely agree with Golf Digest's pick there and think maybe they should have even put it up higher on the list.

The surprising choice was for me of course though was North Dakota. Coming here after being in Wisconsin all summer it seemed like they had hardly any courses compared to Wisconsin. Which even according to Golf Digest, North Dakota only has 6 four star and above golf courses. But, after reading their reasoning, and how the decisions were made I completely agree with their decision. North Dakota has less than 700,000 people in their population, and Golf Digest used 4 star and above courses over the state's population. Considering those things North Dakota should be in the top 10. I have a few other reasons as well. First, of all is price. North Dakotan's are cheap compared to many other states, also price of living here is cheap. These things combined keep the price down more than most on golf courses. Especially comparing prices vs states like Florida. Bardmoor Golf & Tennis Club a 4 and a half star course as rated by Golf Digest has a $90 green fee whereas The Links of North Dakota a course considered by many to be the best course in North Dakota only has a green fee of $60. Remember this course also has a 4 and a half star rating in Golf Digest just like The Bardmoor Golf & Tennis Club in Florida.

This comes to my suggestion of two budget golf vacations in North Dakota. The first one is golfing in Grand Forks. Grand Forks has 3 public golf courses you can golf at, one owned by the University of North Dakota and two owned by the city of Grand Forks. They also have one private course the Grand Forks Country Club, but I nor no one I know around here knows much about that. Grand Forks has one 4 star rating course by Golf Digest. That course is Kings Walk which is a Arnold Palmer signature course. It is the only 18 hole course I'm going to talk about for Grand Forks. The other two courses are Lincoln Park Golf Course which is owned by the city and Ray Richards Golf Course which is owned by the University of North Dakota. These two courses are fair, but when checking out green fees for them the price seems reasonable especially if you are making this a golf vacation. All the prices seem fair for the courses in Grand Forks, but what makes it a good cheap vacation is the cost of hotels and everything else you plan to do in Grand Forks is very reasonable to make your golf trip a budget one.

The second North Dakota city I suggest for your budget golf vacation is Bismark. Bismark has 4 courses that are 3 star or above rated by Golf Digest. One of the courses Hawktree Golf Club is 4 and a half stars rated. The price is a higher than Kings Walk, but it is also higher rated.  I am sure the lodging prices are the same as the rest of North Dakota, which is reasonably priced.

So in closing I completely agree with Golf Digest's pick of Wisconsin and North Dakota for top 10 golfing states. I also hope you consider my budget golf vacations.