The Summit Golf Club

The Summit Golf Club sits on the western edge of Cannon Falls, Minnesota, on ground marked by dramatic elevation change. Tees, fairways and greens are all bent grass, and the setting is heavily wooded, bordered by a limestone quarry on one of the highest points in Goodhue County.

The property began as a farm of more than 160 acres bought by Olaus "Ole" Benson, who built the first homestead there and raised horses alongside his family. Benson also constructed a barn for his horses using stone quarried on the farm itself and moved by horse and wagon. Because the building materials came from the land, the work stretched out longer than planned, and the barn was finished in 1890, shortly before Christmas. It remains part of the property's story, still recounted by Benson's descendants.