FIND COURSES. FAST.
WELCOME TO GOLF LEMONADE!
We believe that finding a great public golf course should be fast, fun, and easy. Our first priority is to show you a smart map to help narrow down your choices quickly. We provide official or estimated scores and rates for every course on our map. Our scores attempt to provide you the best estimate of what a large group of normal golfers would rate a course on average.
Our map covers all locations equally and Golf Lemonade (GL) does not accept compensation or exchanged services from any venue other than discounted rounds for review purposes.
Our national map is on the path to highlighting every golf course in the United States that would score an estimated 8.5 or higher under our 20 point review process.
Our Twin Cities map attempts to cover every local public course regardless of cost or prestige.
We hope this can be a valuable tool in your golfing journey!
ACTUAL VS ESTIMATED SCORES
Official reviews with actual calculated scores:
The first thing we did was establish a comprehensive 20 point review process that focuses on the attributes shared by the most liked courses. We do not award one star for a stale cupcake experience or five stars because we made a hole-in-one :) We also do not include things like "tournament history" and "prestige of the course designer." These are certainly valued traits by many but we focus on what most people would think if they played the club without any knowledge of its background. We strive to be the most unbiased and accurate rating source around so that you know how much course you are getting for your hard earned money!
Next, we linked this rating with the most common info needed like rates, number of holes, and par.
Last, we put in a link to the review details and a link to the golf course so you can click and go.
Estimated scores:
We use extensive online and personal research to best estimate how nice a given course is. This is an estimate and only intended to help save time and narrow down your choices. Although not a perfect process we should be within a couple tenths of a true rating. We are not compensated in any way by the courses listed. Hope this helps you find your next great destination!
WHO ARE WE?
We are Minnesotans that love to golf and have backgrounds in accounting, engineering, and number crunching. We love to solve problems, do research, and establish better processes.
We are Daryl Kariniemi (Founder) and Troy Kariniemi (Co-Founder). Our team also includes Sarah K., Jared K., Shawn K., Ryan P., Ross J., Chad Z., and many others!
WHY DO WE NEED ANOTHER GOLF WEBSITE?
Because it is a pain to rapidly find information about multiple golf courses. We are all busy and want our info faster. We also want to see reviews that are actually helpful. Many of them are, but too often a few poorly done reviews throw off the total rating. We feel you should not have to read all 96 posts in a comment section to make a true determination on best place to make a tee time. We think once you use our site, you will see how easy it can be to do your search.
WHICH GOLF COURSES ARE COVERED BY GOLF LEMONADE?
Initially we covered every single public course in the Twin Cities loop and some close to it including western WI. Did you know that Google charges a premium to be listed at the high level map view? We show you all courses equally regardless of size or status.
Now we are expanding to cover Gold and Silver facilities across the entire United States!
DO WE SELL TEE TIMES?
No. There are plenty of tee time resellers out there and we prefer to give you a link to the official golf course site for that.
DO GOLF COURSES PAY GOLF LEMONADE FOR THE REVIEWS?
No. All our reviewing rounds are discounted or compensated but that is it. We do not receive any other compensation from golf courses.
--- MAP AND SCORING DETAIL ---
MAP DEFINITIONS:
Golf Lemonade Score - Score calculated by our review team out of 10. See section below titled "How to Read the Scores" for more info.
Public / Private - At this time we only review public courses. Any course that can be easily played on by the general public is classed as public for GL purposes.
9 or 18 Hole - Most courses are 18 holes but the exact number of holes will be listed if not 18.
Peak Rate - Top walking rate charged during premium times such as Sat and Sun morning. If cart is included, rate will have a "C" next to it.
Off Peak Rate - Also called Twilight. Most courses have multiple off peak and discounted rates. We publish the most common off peak rate that should easily allow 18 holes to be completed to the best of our knowledge but always call the course to verify times.
HOW TO READ THE SCORES.
All scores are out of 10. We average the three sub scores to create one final score but that is sometimes slightly tweaked. The sub scores are generated from our detailed internal 20 point review. Our main goal is to show you the level of quality you should see at each golf course. We understand that not everybody will agree with our exact scores and that is OK. We assign an exact number but really, our intent is to show you the approx. level of quality. You should be confident that a 9.0 course will give you a higher-end playing experience than a 7.5 for example. Courses within a tenth or two are not significantly different. Because of all the averaging, it takes several small differences or one large one to change overall score. This helps minimize scores being way off due to one element "scored incorrectly." As a note, we will often comment on "non-course" features such as the clubhouse, staff ability, or quality of food but we do not included items like this in our rating score. The score is only for quality of the golf course.
Note about conditions: We attempt to publish what normal course conditions will be like through a variety of methods including prior year conditions, current conditions, and other factors that indicate condition. Ex. 1: Winter kill can destroy one course and leave the next one almost untouched. One month later, the kill may be completely gone while another course may suffer all summer. Ex. 2: Heavy rains can make some courses unplayable and others are barely impacted. A few hours later the course may be fine. Ex. 3: An afternoon tournament can make greens very rough if people did not fix their marks. Ex. 4: Some courses aerate and temporarily create very rough greens while others do it differently and have milder affect.
Their are many more examples but if you are concerned about conditions, simply call the course and ask for an update
HAVE A COMMENT? WANT US TO REVIEW A COURSE? HAVE A BURNING QUESTION?
Awesome! Send us an email and we will respond as soon as we can. Use our email form or just email Daryl@GolfLemonade.com.
Happy Golfing!! Hit em straight.
Daryl