Introduction
Grand View Lodge, the sprawling resort on the shores of beautiful Gull Lake in central Minnesota, celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2026. Among its seemingly endless recreational offerings are two 18-hole golf courses, the Pines (check out my review HERE) and the Preserve. The Preserve at Grand View Lodge is a par 72 championship style golf course that combines a blend of challenging and straightforward holes, a beautiful setting, and lots of elevation change that make it an attractive option for golfers of all abilities.
Practice Facilities
The Preserve has a good-sized driving range with plenty of balls laid out for players upon arrival. There is a large practice green nearby, just behind the first tee. The green runs quick and true and is a good preview for what to expect on the course. In recent years the nines were flipped, so the first tee is now closer to the practice area, making it more convenient for golfers and improving pace of play in the process.
Customer Service & Amenities
The Preserve is one of two 18 hole golf courses operated by Grand View Lodge. It sits on a different site from the resort, about a 10 minute drive north of the main property. Upon arrival, it was clear that Grand View Lodge is elite when it comes to customer service and amenities. It’s more of a family resort than a golf resort, where there are tons of things to do for people of all ages, golf being just one of those things.
At check-in, we were given a small packet listing the schedule of events that were available throughout the day. You could go there, not even play golf, and be busy with fun outdoor activities all day. The food we ate was uniformly delicious. The people we interacted with were genuine and helpful. The grounds are situated in a beautiful part of the world and are immaculately maintained. If you’re going to vacation in the Brainerd lakes region, I doubt you can do any better than what Grand View Lodge has to offer.
As far as The Preserve itself is concerned, its clubhouse and restaurant are nice, if nothing spectacular. There’s a rustic northwoods ambiance to the place, and the amenities can be largely defined as “everything you need, nothing you don’t.” Our first attempt to play the course was postponed by a tornado warning, and the staff did a great job of not only dealing with the weather situation but also providing lunchtime service to an unexpectedly full clubhouse. Clearly, the ethos of quality customer service is consistent at the Preserve, as it was at the Pines and at the main lodge. [Learn More / Plan Trip]
Beauty & Scenery
The Preserve is, like its name implies, situated on a parcel of land that at times appears like a nature preserve. Its setting is undisturbed by homes or other properties, so one can just feel immersed in the round and the sense of place. Many of the holes are tree-lined and feature a mixture of evergreen and deciduous trees. Where many Minnesota golf courses lean into the 10,000 lakes identity with water hazards and marshy forced carries, the Preserve features comparatively little of that, with a forced carry only coming into play on a single occasion.
Perhaps the most defining characteristic of the site is the many elevation changes. Ten of the holes play from elevated tee boxes, and there is a lot of movement up and down hills. While typically I prefer to walk, the Preserve was our second round of the day, and I was glad to have chosen to ride. Golfers who rarely play courses with much elevation change will be thrilled by many of the dramatic views from the tees, especially on several of the par 3s. While some of the holes feel isolated from the others, there are plenty of occasions where adjacent holes are visible.
Tee Shots
Between the two courses at Grand View Lodge, I’d say the Preserve asks a few more questions of golfers, but it tends to be pretty forgiving off the tee. It’s a course that is designed to balance challenge with playability so most tee shots give you plenty of room to miss or recover from a wayward shot. It is definitely possible to blast one into the woods on several holes. If you do that, I recommend you take a local with you who has played the course countless times and can sniff out your ball under a pile of brush like a bloodhound.
Many of the tees are elevated and play considerably downhill. Most of the fairways are straight, with only an occasional subtle dogleg coming into play. If you have decent control, you shouldn’t have an issue playing the course with a single ball. There are five sets of tees so the course can play anywhere from 4,800 to 6,600 yards.
Approach Shots
The approach shots at the Preserve at Grand View Lodge present a fair amount of variety. While you won’t necessarily use every club in your bag, you’ll have to use most of them, assuming you’re driving the ball fairly consistently. If you choose the correct tees, you’ll have plenty of holes where you’ll have a wedge or a short iron in your hand, but not many where the result is a flip wedge or a chip onto the green.
Lies in the fairway tend to be mostly level. Shots occasionally will end on an up or downslope but rarely will you be faced with a challenging sidehill lie. Fairway bunkers are minimal so strategy regarding placement off the tee is more dictated by pin position or the tilt of the fairway.
While many of the tee shots are elevated, many greens are also elevated and require a shot played to an uphill target. None of these uphill shots feel too extreme, with only one or two resulting in a blind target. While blind shots can be divisive, I’m firmly in the camp that believes they add interest and excitement to a round and are additive to the experience when tastefully and sparingly deployed.
Greens & Surrounds
The greens at the Preserve at Grand View Lodge run true and are moderately quick. Putts running downhill occasionally ran out a surprising amount. Putts hit online had no issue finding their home as the greens were well maintained. Kudos to the grounds staff as well as the local members for keeping their greens in good shape. The contours of the greens were subtle. While some had quite a lot of tilt, there weren’t any greens that would be considered aggressively or dramatically contoured by today’s standards.
One of most memorable features of the course was how subtle yet extreme the tilt of the land was in some places. Our playing partners were local members of the course, and they warned us about how extreme the tilt of the green at the short par 4 5th was. But it just doesn’t look as steeply sloped as it actually is. You can see the hill to the left and that the hole is tilted from left to right, but once your ball is on the putting surface, it’s hard to overstate how quickly it wants to go right.
The green surrounds feature a fringe cut with low cut rough. There’s no intention to frustrate golfers with difficult shots hacked out of long rough here. Most lies around the greens are also right around the level of the green. You won’t find yourself chipping up to a putting surface you can’t actually see, or having to chip down from an elevated spot above the green. Most recovery shots are pretty straightforward. Greenside bunkers have some interesting shapes to them and are of moderate depth, making getting out challenging but nowhere near impossible.
Overall Design
The Preserve at Grand View Lodge is a championship-style golf course that presents a nice blend of challenging and straightforward holes. It is playable for all skill levels but still presents plenty of challenge for better players. Its woodland setting makes it a peaceful and enjoyable round, even if it’s best enjoyed accompanied by the hum of a golf cart.
While they don’t present anything revolutionary or mind-blowing from a golf course architecture perspective, the holes provide enough strategic interest and visual pleasure that should satisfy the vast majority of golfers. Paired with the Pines, it gives Grand View Lodge good variety in its golf offerings for its guests as well as locals and other golfers vacationing in the area. [Learn More / Plan Trip]
Favorite Holes
#4 – Par 3 – 159 yards
This narrow drop shot par 3 plays from a (very) elevated tee to a long, narrow green surrounded by a grove of trees below. Like several other greens on the course, it is deceptively sloped from left to right, so putts on the high side will run much quicker than they look. When the front and back nine were switched a few years ago, this hole became the first dramatic statement that players would encounter during their round.
#10 – Par 5 – 497 yards
This hole has switched from the first to the tenth. The change was made in part to speed up pace of play, and after playing this hole, you can understand why. It’s a tough par 5 that will play as a true three-shotter for all but the strongest and longest players. The hole is straight ahead until the last 75 yards when the hole takes a hard right and goes uphill. Players going for it in two will be trying to thread a fairway wood across a tight angle to a small elevated target. The prudent play is to lay up short of the bunkers and hit a precise wedge up the hill.
#16 – Par 4 – 375
This was probably my favorite hole on the course. Like many of the tee shots, this mid-length par 4 plays from an elevated tee, but unlike other holes it plays through a narrow chute of trees and opens up to a wider, subtly undulating fairway below. The approach shot plays to a green protected by a u-shaped bunker with a picturesque stand of trees in the background. [Learn More / Plan Trip]
Conclusion
With a blend of challenging and straightforward holes, smooth putting surfaces, and a serene environment, the Preserve has a lot to offer golfers of all abilities. Whether you’re staying at Grand View Lodge or just looking for a good course to play in the Brainerd lakes area, The Preserve at Grand View Lodge is a great option. [Learn More / Plan Trip]
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