I've worked in the high-end private golf club industry for over a decade in PA (9 years) and Montana (3 years) so I'm basically a phone call away from playing 97% of the private clubs in the USA and Canada. Merion and The Yellowstone Club (billionaire members, Brady/Gisele etc) are easily the two most exclusive courses I've gotten on. With that said, some of the best courses/clubs are the ones that lay low and don't advertise. Northland (Donald Ross masterpiece) in Duluth is really high on my list. If I had more time in July I was going to figure out how to get over there.
There's a stretch from basically Kohler through Sand Valley/Wisconsin Dells up through Minnesota and Western ND that is home to some awesome golf courses. Northern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have become world class destinations. Jay Bilas gave a shoutout to Bully Pulpit and the Links of ND a couple of weeks ago when he was doing a game. The only time he's ever been to ND was to golf and he was blown away.
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