Birdies at the Woodpile – Longville, MN

Played on July 10, 2020

Reviewed by the Pink Putter

On our first getaway from home during the 2020 pandemic, we headed “Up North” to the Brainerd area of Minnesota. We visited many new courses for us, including Traditions, Wildwedge and Birdies at the Woodpile. Mr. Tee had found out about Birdies online, but he couldn’t find a website or much information about it. Because it was a bit of a drive out of our way, we didn’t want to get there to find out they were closed or defunct. Since Mr. Tee couldn’t even find a phone number for Birdies, he finally used Google Maps, saw there was a bank next door, and called the bank to see if the mini golf course existed. The bank confirmed it, so we were on our way!

After we learned that the name had changed to The Woodpile Mini Golf, we were finally able to find some more information about the course and have just learned that the course we reviewed here has since been completely torn out and they are rebuilding a brand new mini golf course set to open in spring 2021.

Rating

This course was full of classic mini golf kitsch, which we absolutely adore and it was built by Mini-Golf, Inc. It had classic obstacles such a bowling pins, a windmill, and a weathervane along with some more homemade-looking obstacles that reflected local themes such as campfire logs, bears, and deer. Perhaps the most interesting hole was number 17, a Car Wash themed hole, which is something that we’ve never seen before. It even had a hose that spritzed you with water/mist which was a clever touch. While we loved the theming, decor and style of this course. The maintenance and upkeep definitely fell short, causing a lot of issues and frustration with game play, thus bringing this course to a Par rating. The course itself is next to a food cart/trailer called The Woodpile Grille Up North Eatery with its own picnic area, so it makes for a great day trip and lunch spot. However, as noted above, we’ve since learned that the course is being completely rebuilt and set to re-open in spring 2021. We look forward to checking it out in the future on a post-pandemic road trip!