Centennial Lakes Mini Golf – Edina, MN

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Played on September 13, 2014, August 30th, 2019 and multiple other times

Review by Mr. Tee

This 24 acre pond and park was brought to our attention by our guest reviewer/designer Jared. We had meant to play the course with him but feeling spontaneous celebrating our three year anniversary, we decided to take it in on a rare warm Fall Minnesota day.

Description from the Centennial Lakes website:

Not miniature golf, it’s golf in miniature! Centennial Lakes Park’s 18 manicured bent grass greens range in length from 57 to 125 feet and are surrounded by sand traps, ponds, boulders and planter beds. Players use only a putter to negotiate these heavily undulated greens. This par 51 layout is 1,662 feet in length and takes approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes to play. For a shorter round with the kids, try out the Scottish Links course.

Rating:

Par – If you’ve followed our blog at all, you’ll know that our bias leans towards kitsch / fun themed courses with lots of oversized obstacles. I gave the game of golf a try as a kid and it just never stuck. Mini golf was far more fun and less frustrating. All of this explains why we gave this a course our “average” rating of par. The course is meticulously landscaped and maintained. The real sand traps and large pond were a fun change of pace for us. The surrounding park is nice but it’s hard to ignore the massive condos and shopping malls outlining the whole area. If you’re a golfer, it’s definitely a good place to bone up on your putting skills. It definitely challenged us and I don’t believe either of us even got par on any of the holes. If you’re bringing kids that aren’t regular golfers or if you’re putting skills aren’t so hot, it could be a long frustrating experience.

A full course video from 2020 by our pals at O-Street Mini Golf

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Information and beverage options
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Score cards, pencils and limited ball selection. My goto color blue was not available.
Green grass and flowers
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Each hole had a marker listing the par and the distance from tee to the cup. This was one of the shorter holes.
Stuck near the rough
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Tee off area was delineated by brown patch. The greens played far slower than I expected.
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Pink Putter in the same trap and me on the fairway with condos off in the distance.
Mr. Tee working his way towards the cup.

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In the rough stuff trying to not fall in the man-made canals that goes the length of the course
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Guys in front of us didn’t fair as well but seemed to have a blast as well
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Starting on the back 9. The condos and pathway are only a short distance from the course.
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Finishing up. As you’ll see in the background, the park has a number of options including paddleboats

City of Edina’s Centennial Lakes Park Website

Pros:

Meticulously maintained fairways and rough
Challenging play
One of the few natural grass putting courses in MN
Surrounded by a lively park with a variety of outdoor entertainment

Cons:

No fun obstacles or environments throughout the course
Felt too much like a small version of a real golf course
Course appeals more to golfers than players of varied skill levels

Nerdy Notes:

  • $10 per person for 18 holes
  • All ages and abilities are welcome. However, due to the difficulty of the course, it is recommended that players be at least 8 years old.
  • 18 Holes, Par 51. 8 stroke limit
  • Real “golf” putters versus mini golf putters
  • Flags in all of the holes
  • Calls course “golf in miniature” versus mini golf
  • Open only through Summer to last weekend in September. Closes at sunset during the season. Monday – Friday: 2 p.m. – sunset, Saturday: 10 a.m. – sunset, Sunday: noon – sunset
  • Distance from tee to cup was between 57 to 125 feet
  • ADA Accessible

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