Willie Nelson Once Golfed at This Minnesota Golf Course

I have spent the summer of 2020 golfing at Pine Ridge Golf Course in Sartell, not too far from St. Cloud. It was a great summer for golf, with COVID happening it is the perfect way to social distance while still getting some fresh air. There have been a ton of new golfers on the course, in addition to ones that have been playing for years.

Because of COVID, I didn't spend much time in the clubhouse at Pine Ridge. I would check-in, and hit the course as to not delay the next person coming in. The fall golf season is usually a little calmer, so I had a little more time to chit chat and hang out in the clubhouse. While I was there recently, I saw a photograph in a frame of country music icon Willie Nelson.

Willie Nelson is seen in the photo posing with another person, on the course at Pine Ridge, rocking a cut-off Jose Cuervo t-shirt. Unfortunately, there is no date on the photograph or any record posted of how he scored on his round. I did some Google searching to try to find a record of Willie Nelson performing in St. Cloud. The closest I could find that would match the attire in the photo is a performance at the Minnesota State Fair in 1980. Or a show at the Northrup Auditorium in Minneapolis in 2002, but that one was at the end of March and not golfing-in-a-cutoff season.

Either way, it's just cool to know that Willie Nelson once played at a course in our area. We too can live like country music royalty, or at least golf like them.