LAFAYETTE CLUB
🇺🇸 Minnetonka Beach, MN, USA
Designed by Tom Bendelow



The Lafayette Club in Minnetonka Beach occupies a wooded site along the shores of Lake Minnetonka, approximately fifteen miles west of Minneapolis. Tom Bendelow designed the course in the early twentieth century, during his prolific period as a traveling architect for the A.G. Spalding sporting goods company. Bendelow laid out hundreds of courses across the Midwest and beyond, typically working with modest budgets and natural terrain to create straightforward, playable designs that introduced golf to communities throughout the region.
The routing moves through mature hardwood forests and rolling terrain characteristic of Minnesota's glacial landscape. The property's elevation changes and tree-lined corridors create definition and variety across the eighteen holes. Lake Minnetonka itself provides scenic backdrop and influences the microclimate, though the course does not play directly along the water's edge for most of its length.
The Lafayette Club operates as a private facility serving the western Minneapolis suburbs. Over the decades since Bendelow's original work, the course has likely seen modifications and updates to accommodate modern equipment and maintenance practices, as is common with designs from this era. The club maintains a year-round presence in the community despite Minnesota's seasonal climate, with golf available from spring through fall. The setting offers members a wooded, relatively secluded golf experience within the Twin Cities metropolitan area, reflecting the early country club movement's emphasis on retreat from urban life while remaining accessible to city professionals and families.
Reviews
Very quick 9 holes. Fastest round completed in 48 minutes on a way too cold to be playing morning. Incredible views of the lake and unreal food
9 holes and fun. Awesome place to hang out that happens to have a golf course.
FAQ
Ratings, design, and course details pulled from Course Vaults.
Lafayette at Lafayette Club has a Course Vaults score of 7.3 out of 10 based on 5 explicit golfer ratings.
Lafayette was designed by Tom Bendelow.
Lafayette at Lafayette Club is listed as private on Course Vaults; guest access is typically restricted.
Par at Lafayette is 31.
Lafayette plays 2,148 yards from the back tees on Course Vaults.
The slope rating at Lafayette is 108.