Valleywood receives star rating from Golf Digest

by Todd Abeln
Thisweek Newspapers

Regular golfers at Valleywood Golf Course always knew that they had a special golf course to play.

Now the rest of the golfing world will know it too.

Just this week, Golf Digest Magazine gave the Apple Valley municipal golf course a 3 1/2 star rating out of five stars in its sixth edition of Best Places to Play.

“It reflects well on everybody's effort,” head golf pro and general manager of Valleywood Rick Dodge said. “All the staff deserves recognition.”

The ranking is based on overall golf experience, value for the money, standard of service, condition of course and normal pace of play for 18 holes.

“It's the culmination of many years of hard work by our maintenance staff,” Dodge said. “We also think our pro shop staff, kitchen service people relate with our customers well.”

Dodge said that they didn't know this ranking was coming or that Valleywood was even on the minds of the people at Golf Digest.

When Golf Digest decides to rank a course, they don't tell the course they are coming.

“We didn't know that they were coming. They just go out and rate the course,” Dodge said.

Dodge, who has been the head pro at Valleywood since 1982, said most of the credit should go to golf course superintendent Scott Lockling.

Lockling has been there since the beginning when the course opened in 1976 and even before that.

Lockling helped build the course and became the superintendent after the course opened.

About 15 years ago, Lockling and Dodge decided that the course needed an overall and they set about to do just that.

It has taken a long time and a lot of hard work but Dodge said the course is to about what the two planned when they set out to remake the course.

“It is a significantly different course now than it was 15 to 20 years ago,” Dodge said. “We've made a lot of changes in the last 15 years.”

Dodge didn't know if any other Minnesota municipal course received a 3 1/2 star rating, or if another municipal course was rated.

But getting a 3 1/2 star rating for any course is quite accomplishment, much less a municipal course that gets the amount of traffic Valleywood does.

To give some sense of the rankings, The Classic Golf Course in Brainerd received a 4 1/2 star rating, and it is ranked the 33rd best public golf course to play in the country by Golf Digest.

Valleywood plays 6,421 yards from the back tees, 6,116 from the middle tees and 5,144 from the forward tees.

The par is 71 and it features a course that winds around trees and has plenty of water to avoid.

The course also has a driving range, practice green, restaurant and private lessons.

The cost to play 18 holes at Valleywood is $27 for a weekday and $35 for the weekend.

They also offer golf carts and pull carts.

Tee times can be made by calling (952) 953-2323 or going to www.teemaster.com.

Tee times can be made 14 days in advance.

The sixth edition of Golf Digest's Best Places to Play rates more than 3,500 courses in North America and the Islands. The courses are evaluated by approximately 20,000 Golf Digest readers.