Although there are lots of outdoorsy things to do in and around Siren, including hiking the Gandy Dancer Trail, fishing in one of the area lakes, or even getting married (Siren touts itself as being a wonderful wedding destination), I think the best thing to do is play a round of golf at the fascinating Siren National Golf Course. Located just a couple miles west of downtown, Siren National should be on everyone’s list of must-plays. Siren is an easy hour-and-a-half drive northeast from the Twin Cities, so if you are reading this in the Twin Cities, or if you’re already in the northwestern part of Wisconsin, and you are looking for a fun course with an interesting layout, I wouldn’t hesitate to advise you to check out Siren National. Let’s take a quick tour of this neat course.
Siren National starts out with a par-5 that looks menacing from the tee box, but turns out to be not too tough. From the tee, golfers are required to hit their tee shot over a small gulch that is filled with trees and shrubs, to the fairway that heads up a hill and around a corner to the right. The fairway is quite wide, and once you reach it, you’ll notice that the trees and shrubs disappear, and there really isn’t much in the way of hazards for the rest of the hole. Like I said, this 1st hole at Siren National isn’t all that tough.
Things get a little tougher, or at least there is more potential for danger, on the par-4 2nd hole. Measuring 363 yards from the back, the length of this hole isn’t too frightening, but there are two ponds in the fairway lurking like thieves. Be especially wary of the pond on the right side, since it is mostly hidden from the tee box, even though it is the more sizeable of the two ponds. It juts out about halfway into the fairway, so it might be prudent to play a lay-up shot off the tee. I’ve never been known to be prudent, so that’s just a guess on my part. From the landing area, the fairway heads up slightly to an elevated green that’s not very deep. If you go over this green, there’s a lot of room to maneuver, so you should have a pretty easy chip shot.
Earlier in this article, I called Siren National a “fascinating” golf course, and one of the most fascinating holes is the harrowing 3rd hole. The 3rd is a long par-3 that measures 206 yards from the back, and you better make sure you use enough club to get your ball to the green in the air, because running your ball up to the green is definitely not an option. First of all, right in front of the tee box sits a mid-sized pond, but that’s probably going to be the least of your worries. That’s because the green is fronted by a steep rock wall that will knock a golf ball in unforeseen directions. There is some green grass at the bottom of the wall, but you’ll have a tough chip shot up to the green, which sits almost 20 feet up. This is a visually stunning hole that is bound to cause fits for a lot of golfers. I love unique holes like this.
The 7th hole is the longest at Siren National, measuring almost 590 yards. This is a long, undulating dogleg-right that seems to snake up and down about a dozen small hills on its way to the green. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but it does go up and down several times before reaching the elevated green. The water on the left is quite a distance from the fairway, so it’s possible to hit a big, nasty hook on your second shot, like me, and still not go far enough left to reach the water. For that reason, alone, I would consider this a good golf hole.
The 9th hole is another of what I would call a “fascinating” hole. On the scorecard, this looks like it should be an easy par-5. After all, it measures only 456 yards, and that’s from the tips. Once you play it, you won’t think it’s all that easy any more. The difficulty arrives at about 300 yards out in the fairway, or to be more accurate, the marshy bog arrives when you get about 300 yards out in the fairway. That’s right, the fairway abruptly ends just passed the 150 yard markers, and a bog takes its place. The fairway starts up again on the other side of the bog, about 50 yards away, and then heads way up to a very elevated green that’s tucked in the hillside. It seems to me that there are two good ways to play this hole: hit your drive exactly 300 yards right down the middle, so you can go at the green from behind the bog; or play two 150-yard shots, then go at the green from just behind the bog. There are thick woods framing the fairway from the bog on up to the green, so you better have a good angle when you are aiming for the putting surface. Now that I know exactly how this hole is laid out, I think I know which strategy I will use next time I play it. That doesn’t mean I will play it well, but at least I’ll have a strategy.
I really like both the 11th and the 13th holes at Siren National, both of which are medium-length par-4s. They also share the characteristic of having a creek crossing through the fairway, although the 389-yard 11th has its creek directly in front of the tee box, and the 375-yard 13th has its creek dissecting the hole immediately in front of the green. The 11th is a sweeping dogleg up and to the right that you can try to cut the corner on, and the 13th is a rare find at Siren National because it does not have an elevated green. If you aim your tee shot on this 13th hole at the lonely oak tree that sits just off the right side of the fairway, you should have an excellent angle to attack the pin from. Actually the best angle would occur if you pushed your drive a few yards into the rough. If you’re comfortable doing that, I say go for it.
Siren National is a really neat layout, is not very spendy, and is in immaculate condition. And for most people on the eastern side of Minnesota and western Wisconsin, it’s not a long drive at all. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun new place to play. You could even hang out in Siren for a few days and do some hiking or some fishing, or heck, maybe you’ll even get married!
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