If you have golfed at The Classic at Madden’s Resort, you can confidently say that you have golfed one of the top 100 public golf courses in America.

According to Golf Digest, The Classic at Madden’s Resort is the 59th greatest public golf course in America for 2019. The Classic has been ranked on the list since 2003, with the highest ranking received at 33 in 2003-04. It was also ranked the 43rd best course in 2018. The course plays at 7,102 total yards and is a par 72. 

Here is what the Golf Digest article had to say about the Brainerd course:

The Classic is a genuine amateur architect design, although course superintendent Scott Hoffmann consulted with veteran course architect Geoff Cornish as well as others when creating The Classic at Madden’s. It’s beautiful but not for the faint of heart, a hilly course with some narrow, pine-lined fairways and occasional challenging shots over water from sidehill or downhill lies. But, like other multiple course operations such as Bethpage and Cog Hill, Madden’s has easier alternate layouts for high-handicappers.

The other two Minnesota courses that made the list were:

• 31st – The Quarry at Giants Ridge
• 72nd – The Wilderness at Fortune Bay