Defunct: Grand Rounds – Minneapolis, MN

Played on July 25, 2015
Reviewed by the Pink Putter

At just a one mile drive/walk/bike ride, Grand Rounds is the closest mini golf course to our house in Minneapolis. We’ve known about it all this time, we drive by it almost every day, yet we put off playing it until now because of its below average looks and confusing accessibility. It’s part of a city park, fenced in with Jim Lupient Waterpark which is a small neighborhood pool with slides. This summer, we finally ran out of excuses to not play and decided to just go for it.

The final season was summer 2019. Decommissioned and demo’d in the fall of 2019

Rating:

Sandtrap – The whole experience of playing Grand Rounds started off terribly. We had to enter through the waterpark, where we were the only people of thousands not in our swimwear. The woman at the desk instructed us to wait in line at the Snack Bar to pay for golf. We happened to get there at the worst possible time, as they made everyone get out of the pool (not sure why, it seemed like they were cleaning it or looking for a lost item), therefore the line for the snack bar was exceedingly long. We waited in the hot sun for about 15 minutes just to pay and then walked over to the course to play. The course itself is designed to be long, challenging fairways (about 30-40ft each) with some rough turf and faux sand traps. However, it was visually dull and too challenging to really be fun. It would be nearly impossible to get a hole-in-one on any of the holes. There was minimal landscaping, no fun signs or obstacles, nothing to really set this course apart. Grand Rounds is also supposed to be 18 holes, but we discovered two holes to be completely missing from the course, a first in all our mini golf adventures. We’re not sure if they were once there and had to be removed for flooding reasons, or if they were just never built. They are indicated on the map on the back of the scorecard, however on the actual course the sidewalk just stops in front of a large grassy area. Quite strange. Long story short, this course has no personality, no charm and can be tricky to play if the snack bar line is long. Pass on this one, there are better options in the area.