Northland Country Club

Overview: Northland Country Club is a private Donald Ross course in Duluth, laid across wooded, gently rolling ground above Lake Superior. The setting gives the classic parkland routing an unusually broad horizon: trees frame the holes, while glimpses of the lake add scale without becoming a constant water hazard. Ross's influence is clearest around the greens, where approach angles, fall-offs and changing slopes reward a controlled short game. It is a course of restraint and precision rather than theatrical earthmoving, with the natural rise and fall of the property doing much of the architectural work.

History: Northland Golf Club was founded in 1899 after Duluth golfers returned from St. Paul with ideas for a local course. Ward Ames Jr. designed the first layout, which crossed and followed Superior Street in the early years. The course expanded to 18 holes in 1912, and after Northland acquired higher ground in 1921, Donald Ross was commissioned to lay out a new course. That present Ross routing was completed in 1927 and remains the foundation of the club's identity. Northland later hosted the 1956 U.S. Women's Open, a landmark event in the club's tournament history.

Did You Know? Early Northland maintenance was remarkably literal: sheep acted as the grass cutters, and caddies reportedly herded them down Superior Street toward the course and, later, the packing house. The story captures how different golf-course operations looked when the club was still a young Duluth institution.