I didn't know what to expect when arriving at Side Lake today. Literally no idea since there were no reviews for it. Plus it was a little out of my way. Boy am I glad I decided to make the trip. This is a hidden little gem of a course. And it looks to be improving every day, judging by the pics on here.

The baskets are a mix of Discatchers and older Mach II's or III's. The front nine features one of each kind on each hole if I remember correctly. There might have been one hole on the front nine with only one. The back nine holes all feature a single Discatcher. These are all mounted level and catch well enough. Nicely done here.

The tee signs are fantastic now. The pictures on here show some basic hand carved wood signs. That's not the case anymore. The signs now are probably 1'x2' metal signs attached to metal sign posts. These are really well done. They feature the hole # in big, bold black font, anice detailed hole overview map showing both tees and pin placements. They also have the distances from each tee to each pin and the elevation change for each tee/pin combo. Oh, and there are next tee arrows on them too. They literally have all the information on them that you could ask for.

The tees are black rubber mats. There's 2 of them on the majority of holes, which is always a plus.

Navigation here is a breeze. I only had to check the map one time during my round. There are next tee arrows on the majority of the holes too, even when it's pretty obvious where you need to go next.

There's a solid mix of different shot shapes required to score well here. You'll need to pull out all the tricks, especially if you end up off the fairway. The elevation, while not overwhelming, is prevalent throughout and incorporated into the design very well. Just a very well designed track in general. Very impressed by this one.

The course offers a fair challenge for rec up to advanced players, depending on tee/pin combinations.

The course is permanent, clean, secluded and free to play.

The rough off the fairways can be pretty hairy in a number of areas. Not really a con per se, but the potential for lost plastic is there. Worth noting.

The tee pads are the number one con right now. The rubber mats are lumpy and very narrow. The length is fine but many are only about 3' wide. They also tend to hold water. Granted we played after some heavy rain, but many of them aren't going to see much, if any sunlight. And with how narrow they are, you don't have much for options of where to tee off from.

It would be cool if there was a second basket on the back nine, but that's being really nitpicky on my end.

I'm so glad I decided to check this course out. It's right up my alley. Holes 1 and 18 are wide open but the rest is tough, technical woods golf. And it's a blast.

I can't call this a destination course or anything but if you're ever in the area I'd highly recommend this one. It's just not quite a 4 in my eyes. With concrete tees, especially 2 sets on each hole it's an absolute 4. As is, it's still absolutely worth a visit. If you like woods golf this one won't disappoint.

This is a beautiful, rolling track through aspen and mature pines. The hand-crafted signage is unique and functional, though the wood-burning could be retouched. There was never any question of direction to the next tee. The tee pads are rubber, and provide good traction even when wet. There is a lot of use of change of elevation throughout the course. Though this course is not overly long, even from the back tees, it is fairly technical. I found it challenging without being overly penal. There were garbage cans at several tees and no garbage on the course. The grass was short and everything looked to be well-maintained. Brush at the edges of fairways was thinned.

The Discatcher-style baskets have heavier-than-normal chain that requires a little firmer touch when putting. It was quite windy when I played here, though, and I may have overestimated the effect of the heavy chains. Also, this course plays rather short. I'd like to see some longer holes.

Despite the adequate signage, this is a course that requires the first-time visitor to walk ahead and survey the layout of the holes. This course plays fairly quickly and invites you to play another round--another 9 holes would be nice. But this is still a fairly new course...we can only hope!

The rubber tee pads provide nice traction. Nice mix of holes (but would love to see nine more), and interesting use of eleation changes. Good signage, but some are getting a bit weathered and harder to read.

Needs nine more holes (more holes would get a higher rating from me). Needs a couple good dog leg holes (all are currently a pretty straight shot from the tee to the hole). You'll spend a long time searching if you send a disc off into the woods.

Played this course after hunting grouse all day and not seeing any...saw more wildlife while playing the course than while hunting. Stop at Bimbos nearby for pizza, wings, and beers, or Riverside for burgers and beers. This course is a nice break to a day of other activities in the area, or while playing the nearby courses.

Great Rubber tee pads. Course has a nice mix of short and long holes, and wide open and technical holes. If they added another nine of this quality I'd give it a five.

Some holes are very heavily wooded. Hole eight is very deceptive. Always ends up in the woods there. Eight of the nine baskets are homemade versions of the discatcher baskets. They are spot on other than the chains. The chains are a bit heavy.

Don't think about it, just play it. Great course. Use bright colored disc the first time you play, you may lose one. It has some heavily wooded areas on some holes.

Nice signs, tee pads are unique but really not bad, hold your footing well, much better than just gravel. Interesting holes, some short, some elevation used, 8 or the 9 are very technical, through deep woods, straight is a priority. Very friendly locals. One good open bomber hole from the top of the hill (hole 9). Really a very fun course, well maintained.

Baskets are a knockoff of the Yellow rings, the chains are not quite right, and don't grab discs as well as others do, pretty minor complaint. The woods are very thick, if you lose a disc in there you will be looking for it.

Bimbos up the road has some pretty good pizza, and I've heard the wings are worth a special trip. This is a very small town in Northern Minnesota, if you are up playing Hibbing, make the trip to Side Lake, we spent a weekend to come up just to play Hibbing and Giants Ridge, next trip Side Lake will be added as a must play.

Fun little course in the far reaches of Northern Minnesota.

Variety of Holes. On nearly every hole I found myself taking at least a few moments to walk the hole, check out landing areas, and plan my shot accordingly. A variety of shots are required from technical wooded holes to a wide open bomb off the top of a hill.

Tees. Tee pads were level covered witih rubber sheets, multiple tees locations are nice.

Baskets. This site says they are Innova Discatcher, I'm pretty sure that's not the case - though they appear to be home made replicates of the discatcher basket with the yellow top band and everything with a sticker that says "Manufactured at {such and such location}" These baskets catch well and seem a little more beefy than regular discatchers.

Signage. Nice hand made signs on every hole give a detailed layout, hole number, distance, and par.

Navigation. Tough to get lost out here, everything is well laid out once you get to hole 1 at the bottom of the hill.

Clean and Well maintained. Garbage cans on several holes,. not heavily used, and well maintained result in a very well kept course, the fairways are mowed and cleared through the woods.

Not crowded. I saw nobody else playing this course while I was there.

Use of Elevation. Most holes have some elevation.

Public park. I occasionally had to wait for screaming kids to continue playing their game and get out fo my way

Thick Rough. Occasional errant throws took some time to find in the thick underbrush.

Ended too soon. I could have gone for at least another nine holes at this quality.

A great course to go out of the way for if you're in the Hibbing area - especially if you're going to hit up Northern Hibbing anyway, worth the 15 mile drive.

This course is truly a pleasure to play!

Despite being a young course, everything is detailed and clean.

Fantastic signage!!! (photos to come) Someoneput serious time into hand carved wood signs with burnt etching to show details. The designer actullay carved the number, footage, and layout of the hole into the sign, and then went over it with a torch to burn in the highlights of the script and hole layout,

Tee pads are really nice. They used recylced rubber to create nice smooth pads with lots of space to run up on. Wood chipping around tees for a little fancy detail. Dual tees on every hole, but they aren't setup like Red Oak. The 2nd pad is for recreational distance, not for creating a different type of shot.

Great mix of open and wooded holes. Open hole fariways are nicely mowed, and the wooded holes are undercut very well so if you miss your mark, you can still find your disc easily. They even cut out some relief areas on the wooded holes, so if you can annie your disc to the hold, you can bail out and still have a makeable/attemptable 2nd shot.

Elevation on every hole, and is featured on two holes. Number 7 is a big uphill shot through a decent size alley of trees, no mando here you have to get it going straight. Number 9 is a big bomber downhill to a basket jailed in pines.

It really hard to find negative things about this course.

We tee'd off around 8am, and the gate to the park was locked even thought he park was open. We had to park outside on the road and walk in about 300 yards to the first hole. That's about the only negative thing I can come up with, especially when we finished and the gate was open.

This might be the best 9 hole course in MN. Very impressive with it's desgin and small touches, i.e. signage. I'll upload photos soon!

Course is part of the Side Lake Community Center (ice rink, playground, etc.)

Great camping nearby at McCarthy Beach State Park. Eat a meal at Bimbos on the lake, great pizza and tap beer.

Please respect this course, it would be a shame to see vandalism after all the ahrd work and time that went in to designing the course.

As always with me, if you come up to this area go play Giants Ridge and Hibbing DGC. The combination of the three courses is a treat! It doesn't get any better than frolf on the Iron Range!