Royal Golf Club

Lake Elmo sits at the eastern edge of the Twin Cities metro, where Washington County's open farmland and oak savannas create a quieter, more rural backdrop than the denser suburbs to the west. It's a setting that lends itself to golf that breathes — courses with room to spread out, tree lines that mean something, and sky that actually shows up.

The name "Royal" carries a certain ambition, and 18-hole, par-72 layouts in this corridor of Minnesota tend to serve a broad range of players — weekend regulars, league golfers, and families looking for a full round without the pretense of a private club. Whether this is a daily-fee or semi-private operation, the experience in this part of the metro is shaped by the region's distinct seasons: a short but intense summer window, dramatic autumn color through the hardwoods, and the kind of spring golf that feels genuinely earned.

Without deeper records on this specific club's founding or designer, what's clear is the context: honest Midwestern golf in a part of the Twin Cities that hasn't entirely forgotten what open land looks like.