The next course up on my Minnesota visit was Keller Golf Course. The course is in Maplewood, about 10 minutes from downtown Saint Paul. I read many good things about the course prior to my round and was happy to find a tee time. Make sure to book your time early because they go quickly.

Keller is a municipal course with a lot of history. The course opened in 1929 – a renovation was done in 2014 – and it has hosted the PGA and LPGA tours. The PGA played the St. Paul Open here for many years and the LPGA played the Patty Berg Classic from 1973 to 1980. Other events have been played at Keller as well – I took a picture of the course’s welcome sign which lists all the tournaments that have taken place here. Cool stuff.

The county seems to take a lot of pride in the course. Everything was in great shape, especially considering the green fee was $51 to walk on a Friday. The fairways had good coverage with very few blemishes. The tees were pretty mint. The greens rolled pure and fast. There was some nice landscaping throughout the course and for a course in the Midwest, it has a great look – especially on a sunny morning.

Keller is a parkland style layout with many mature trees lining the fairways. Two holes – the 4th and the 17th – have trees in the line of play that you’ll need to carry. Interesting. While I’m not usually a fan of trees in fairways, it was just a short iron on both holes so it worked out fine. The course sits on top of a hill and while the back nine has some up and down holes, I walked it without a problem. Tees are close to the greens which made it easy to navigate.

I played from the black tees which are 72.0/134/6675. The toughest part for me was trying to figure out the slopes on the greens. Keller is one of those courses where you need to play well to score low, but at the same time you can still salvage a decent score on a bad day. Three of the four par-5’s are reachable and an offline tee shot will rattle around in the trees or end up on another hole. The front nine (par-35) is shorter than the back nine (par-37).

I really enjoyed the back nine. The stretch from the 12th through the 16th is solid. The 12th and 13th are probably the signature holes. The 12th is a 519 yard par-5 that doglegs slightly left. The fairway slopes to the right in the landing area before dropping down to the green. A pond guards the green. The 13th plays over that same hazard with a green that cannot be seen from the tees.

Keller is a course that has many things that I like. It strikes a good balance in all areas. For example, there is just enough bunkering to keep shots interesting without being overdone. The yardages are mixed well. It can be walked. It is priced right. If I put together a list of the best municipal courses I’ve played, Keller would be on that list. Think hidden gem status. If you are in Saint Paul and looking to golf, I’d wouldn’t skip a round here.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):