Golf in Kimball, Minnesota

This site is not Kimball Golf Club and cannot book tee times. For rates, tee times, leagues and opening dates, go to the club's own website, kimballgolfclub.com.

Kimball's golf course is Kimball Golf Club, an 18-hole, par-72 course just outside the town, in the farm and lake country of southern Stearns County. Golf listings put it at about 6,650 yards from the back tees and about 5,300 from the forward tees, with a practice range.

How Kimball Golf Club started

Kimball Golf Club was started by two friends, only one of whom played golf. In a personal account recorded in 2009 and published by the Kimball Area Historical Society, Luvern Hinz, who ran the town's bowling alley, remembered his friend Elwood Erickson, the local banker, saying one day: "You know, we should build a golf course." Hinz had never played golf.

Their first choice was the Fogarty land on both sides of the railroad in Kimball, where the ball park is now. They dropped it when the federal Farmers Home Administration (FHA), which was lending money for projects that took land out of farming, told them they would need to build a bridge over the Soo Line tracks.

In 1966 Hinz heard that the 160-acre Frank Hienig farm, then owned by Albert Wyatt, was for sale for $19,000. Five local men borrowed $1,000 to hold the farm for a year, each promising $200 if the deal fell through. When the year ran out they paid another $1,000 for a second year. Then the FHA agreed to lend $85,000 at 4 percent, repaid at $5,000 a year, to build the course with help from many volunteers.

Nine holes for 29 years, then 18

The club was established in 1968 as a nine-hole course designed by Joel Goldstrand. It stayed at nine holes for almost three decades. In 1997 the second nine opened, with some of the new holes woven in among the originals rather than added as a separate loop, so a round today mixes holes from the 1960s and the 1990s.

The Tri-County News later wrote that the move to 18 holes "challenged the golf club members to support an ambitious financial plan." Leo Wirth, a longtime board member and president, was among those who pushed for it. The club is still governed by member shareholders who serve as volunteer directors.

Older directory listings, some still online, describe Kimball as a nine-hole course. They date from before 1997.

The architect, Joel Goldstrand

Joel Goldstrand (1939–2022) grew up in Worthington, Minnesota, played college golf at the University of Houston on NCAA championship teams, and qualified for the PGA Tour in 1965. In eight seasons on Tour he was known as one of its longest drivers. He finished tied for 12th at the 1970 U.S. Open at Hazeltine, played the 1971 Masters, and was the first Tour player to put PING irons in his bag. He won the Minnesota State Open in 1973 and 1985.

He began designing courses as a sideline in the late 1960s, and Kimball's original nine was among his earliest work. He went full-time in 1989. By his death in 2022 he had designed or reworked close to 100 courses, most of them affordable public and semi-private layouts within a day's drive of the Twin Cities. He was inducted into the Minnesota Golf Hall of Fame. Whispering Pines in Annandale, nine miles east, is also his work.

The course today

• Water on 11 of the 18 holes, according to the club, with many elevated tees and greens, mature trees and rolling hills.
• Rated by golfers: in 2022, in its 54th year, the club was ranked #7 among Minnesota public courses on GolfNow and GolfPass, based on 116 golfer reviews, 98.1% of which recommended it.
• Driving range open from 8 am to dusk in season.

Kimball golfers at state

Kimball Area High School has sent golfers to the Minnesota state tournament in recent years:

• Luke Ashbrook, a senior, led the entire 2023 Class AA boys' field after the first round, with a 70 at the Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan. The title went to Carter White of Staples-Motley at 144.
• Avery Maus qualified for the Class AA girls' tournament in 2023 and again in 2024, when she tied for 38th of 88 and finished her high school career by playing her last five holes in even par.

Before you go

• Book through the club. Tee times, green fees and league nights are on the club's website, or call (320) 398-2285. Third-party tee-time sites sometimes list the course too, but the club's own page is the one to trust for current prices.
• Check the season. Minnesota courses open when the frost leaves the ground, often in April, and close in autumn. Dates move with the weather each year.
• Choose your tees. At over 6,600 yards the back tees are a full-length test. Our guide to how handicaps work explains how your Course Handicap changes with the tees you choose.

Other public courses nearby

These public courses are a short drive from Kimball:

• Southbrook Golf Club, Annandale
• Whispering Pines Golf Club, Annandale
• Rich Spring Golf Club, Cold Spring
• Angushire Golf Club, St. Cloud
• Koronis Hills Golf Club, Paynesville

Golf directories disagree with each other on details such as whether a course is public or semi-private, so check each course's own website or call before you drive over.

For holes, par and distances side by side, see golf courses near Kimball, MN. For the town itself, see Kimball, Minnesota.

Why this page exists

This domain, kimballgolf.com, was the club's website until about 2019. The club now uses kimballgolfclub.com, and this is an independent site. Golf directories around the web still link here when they mean the club. This page sends those visitors on to the club, and gives a little background on the course for anyone planning a round.