Walk onto the first tee at Hiawatha Golf Course in Minnesota on a humid July morning and you’ll feel it immediately. It’s not just the smell of damp grass or the sound of the light rail humming nearby. It’s the weight of the place. This isn't just eighteen holes of municipal golf tucked into a neighborhood. It is a battlefield.
Honestly, if you just looked at the scorecard, you might think it’s a standard, flat, par-73 layout. You'd be wrong. For decades, Hiawatha has been the heart of Black golf in the Twin Cities, a sanctuary during an era when other clubs wouldn't even let a person of color through the gate. But today, the threat isn't social exclusion. It's water. Millions and millions of gallons of it.
The Underwater Reality of Hiawatha Golf Course Minnesota
Water is the protagonist here. Or the villain, depending on who you ask at the clubhouse. The course sits in a topographic bowl. To keep the fairways from becoming a literal swamp, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) has to pump roughly 242 million gallons of groundwater every single year into Lake Hiawatha. That is a staggering number. Imagine 360 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Every. Single. Year.
It’s unsustainable. Or at least, that’s what the hydrologists say. The city’s pumping permit from the DNR has been a point of massive contention for years. When the big floods hit in 2014, the course was devastated. It took forever to recover. Since then, the debate has basically split the community into two camps: those who want to save the historic 18-hole layout at all costs, and those who think the land should be "re-wilded" or turned into a multi-use park that handles water more naturally.
Why the History Matters More Than the Birdies
You can’t talk about Hiawatha without talking about Solomon Hughes Sr. He was a trailblazer. A legend. In the 1940s and 50s, when the PGA had a "Caucasian-only" clause, Hiawatha was one of the few places where Black golfers could compete and feel at home. It was the home of the Upper Midwest Bronze Tournament. This isn't just "flavor text" for a brochure; it’s the soul of the property.
Removing nine holes—which is a major part of the current master plan—feels like an erasure to many. It’s a gut punch. If you take away the back nine, do you take away the history? The Bronze is still played there. People like Darwin Dean and the members of the Twin Cities Golf Club have spent years screaming from the rooftops that Hiawatha is a cultural monument. They aren't just protecting a hobby; they're protecting a legacy of resilience.
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The Master Plan Drama
The Minneapolis Park Board finally approved a master plan after years of shouting matches and public forums. It’s a compromise that basically pleases no one. The plan involves reducing the course to nine holes and adding a whole lot of "ecological restoration" features. We're talking wetlands, bike trails, and better trash mitigation for the lake.
Trash is a huge problem. Because the storm pipes from a massive chunk of South Minneapolis drain right into Lake Hiawatha, the lake gets hammered with plastic bottles, cigarette butts, and urban runoff. The environmental groups, like Friends of Lake Hiawatha, have been documenting this for years. They want the water cleaned. They want the pumping stopped. They see the golf course as an artificial barrier to a healthy ecosystem.
Is the Golf Actually Any Good?
Let’s talk about the actual game. If you're a long hitter, Hiawatha is kinda weird. It’s long—over 6,600 yards from the tips—but it’s flat. You’d think that makes it easy. It doesn't. The wind off the lake can be brutal. The greens are notoriously tricky to read, mostly because the subtle breaks are influenced by the drainage patterns of the entire basin.
It’s affordable. That’s the "muni" charm. In a world where private club memberships are skyrocketing and tee times at high-end public courses cost a week's worth of groceries, Hiawatha stays accessible. You see everyone here. Kids with hand-me-down clubs. Retirees who have played the same loop for 50 years. Professional athletes looking for a low-key round. It’s the "People’s Country Club."
The Infrastructure Nightmare
Nobody likes talking about pipes, but here we are. The engineering required to keep Hiawatha Golf Course in Minnesota dry is aging. The pumps are old. The pipes are corroded. If the city decided tomorrow to stop pumping, the back nine would be a marsh within months. Literally.
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There is also the issue of the "Great Flood" of 2014. That event changed everything. It proved that the current system can’t handle the increasingly intense rain events we’re seeing in the Midwest. The bunkers turned into ponds. The fairways were silt-covered graveyards. The cost to repair it was massive, and it sparked the realization that the status quo is a ticking time bomb.
The Cultural Significance vs. Environmental Reality
This is the central conflict of Minneapolis urban planning right now. How do you honor Black history while acknowledging that the climate is changing? You’ve got people like Charles Birnbaum of The Cultural Landscape Foundation weighing in, arguing that the course is a "nationally significant" site.
On the other side, you have residents who live nearby and deal with flooded basements. They argue that the massive groundwater pumping might be shifting the water table under their homes. It’s a mess. A total, complicated, expensive mess.
- The Pro-Golf Argument: Hiawatha is one of the few places where Black golfers feel a sense of ownership and history. Cutting it in half is a slap in the face to the elders who fought for the right to play there.
- The Environmental Argument: Pumping 200+ million gallons of water to keep a golf course dry in a flood zone is ecological madness in 2026.
- The Compromise: A 9-hole course with a massive learning center, focusing on bringing more youth of color into the game, paired with a park that actually functions as a flood-mitigation tool.
What You Should Know Before You Go
If you want to play it, do it now. Seriously. The timeline for the master plan is always shifting because of funding and political hand-wringing, but the 18-hole version of Hiawatha isn't going to be around forever.
- Check the weather. If it rained three inches yesterday, call the pro shop. The drainage is better than it used to be, but it’s still a low-lying basin.
- Walk the course. It’s one of the best walks in the city. Very few elevation changes make it perfect for a Sunday stroll with a bag on your back.
- Visit the Solomon Hughes Sr. plaque. Take a second to read it. It puts your three-putt on the 9th green into perspective.
- Look for the birds. Because of the lake and the proximity to the creek, the wildlife is incredible. You'll see blue herons, hawks, and the occasional turtle crossing the cart path.
The Future of the Fairways
What happens next? The funding for the $40 million+ renovation plan isn't fully secured yet. There are still legal challenges being discussed. There are still activists trying to get the course listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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If it stays 18 holes, the city has to figure out a way to handle the water that doesn't violate DNR rules or bankrupt the park board. If it goes to 9 holes, the city has to prove it can actually preserve the heritage of the site without it feeling like a hollowed-out version of its former self.
Ultimately, Hiawatha Golf Course in Minnesota represents the "New South Minneapolis." It’s a place where different worlds collide—history, sport, race, and the environment. It isn't just a place to hit a ball into a hole. It's a living, breathing example of how we decide what to save and what to let change as the world gets wetter and more crowded.
Actionable Steps for the Interested Golfer or Resident
If you want to support the course or just experience it before it changes, here is exactly what you should do:
- Book a tee time early: Weekend mornings are packed. Use the Minneapolis Park Board’s online reservation system. It’s easy.
- Support the Bronze: The Upper Midwest Bronze Tournament is a piece of living history. Follow their schedule and see if you can volunteer or participate.
- Read the Master Plan: Don't just listen to rumors on Reddit or Nextdoor. Go to the MPRB website and actually look at the "Hiawatha Golf Course Area Master Plan." See the maps for yourself.
- Speak up: The Park Board meetings are public. If you have a strong feeling about the 18-hole vs. 9-hole debate, tell the commissioners. They actually listen to the volume of emails they get.
- Clean the Lake: Join the Friends of Lake Hiawatha for a shoreline cleanup. Even if you love golf, you have to admit the trash in that water is a disgrace. Cleaning the lake helps the golfers and the neighbors alike.
The fairways are still green for now. The lake is still there. The history is written in the soil. Whether you're there for the birdies or the civil rights history, Hiawatha remains one of the most important patches of dirt in the entire state of Minnesota. Enjoy it while the pumps are still running.