Interlachen Country Club

A Ross-redesigned parkland course in Edina where Bobby Jones won the 1930 U.S. Open, the third leg of his Grand Slam, after skipping a shot across the 9th-hole pond.

Interlachen sits in Edina, just southwest of Minneapolis. Willie Watson laid out the original course in 1911, and Donald Ross redesigned it about a decade later; the Ross version is the one the club has spent recent decades restoring. Robert Trent Jones and Geoffrey Cornish both made changes in the second half of the 20th century, and Andrew Green's later work has aimed at bringing back Ross's bunkering and green shapes. The club has been a fixture of Golf Digest's national ranking for decades.

The club's place in history comes from the 1930 U.S. Open. Playing the par-5 9th, Bobby Jones mishit his second shot toward the pond in front of the green; the ball skipped across the water and stayed dry, and he made birdie. Locals still call it the lily pad shot. He went on to win the championship, the third of the four titles in his 1930 Grand Slam, and the hole remains the course's best-known.

The course plays over rolling ground with tree-lined fairways, water on six holes and ten elevated greens that are small and quick. The back nine has a series of doglegs that reward shaping the ball. Its championship list leans toward amateur and women's golf: the 1993 Walker Cup, 2002 Solheim Cup and 2008 U.S. Women's Open, won by Inbee Park. The U.S. Women's Open is scheduled to return in 2030.

Holes to know

9

Par 5 · 530 yd

Doglegs right with a lake guarding the inside of the bend beside the green; site of Bobby Jones's skipped 'lily pad' shot in 1930.

Championships

• Western Open 1914
• U.S. Open 1930
• U.S. Women's Amateur 1935
• U.S. Senior Amateur 1986
• Walker Cup 1993
• Solheim Cup 2002
• U.S. Women's Open 2008
• U.S. Women's Open (scheduled) 2030

Design history

• 1921: Donald Ross redesign
• 1963: Robert Trent Jones changes
• 1986: Geoffrey Cornish changes
• Andrew Green restoration of Ross features