Cragun's Resort
Brainerd, Crow Wing County, Minnesota · Brainerd Lakes golf market
- Access
- mixed
- Holes
- 45
- Architect(s)
- Tom Lehman
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Cragun's Resort is a century-adjacent Gull Lake golf resort in Brainerd that has, since 2019, become the Brainerd Lakes region's most actively documented golf-real-estate build-out story. Where most of the area's classic lake resorts sell vacation ownership or rental interests, Cragun's has stood up its own platted residential neighborhoods -- Legacy Village, Legacy Pointe, and the 53-lot Legacy Ridge -- directly around its golf product, including the new Tom Lehman-designed Lehman 18 championship course that opened in July 2023. Trade press covered ground-breaking on a further 'Private Collection' of luxury homes in April 2023, with the first homes sited directly on the Lehman 18 fairways.
The defining feature for a golf-oriented buyer is what home purchase actually conveys: every Legacy Ridge and Legacy Pointe lot comes with a complimentary three-year Resort Club Membership, reported at a $7,500 value, which unlocks discounted golf, marina, dining, and lodging pricing charged to a resort account. That is a genuine, developer-documented benefit tied to purchase -- but it is a discount and resort-account privilege, not a free, unlimited golf membership. Buyers who want unlimited golf still purchase a separate Legacy Unlimited or Players Club membership, the same as any other resort guest or local golfer.
Cragun's therefore sits between the region's pure vacation-rental resorts and a true membership-bundled private club: it is best understood as a resort that has built real, developer-organized neighborhoods around its own golf courses and attached a real (if time-limited and discount-based) resort benefit to ownership, rather than a club that requires or automatically grants golf membership to every homeowner.
Golf & Course
Cragun's Legacy Courses comprise two 18-caliber layouts totaling 45 holes: Dutch 27, an older 27-hole complex with three rotating nines (Red, White & Blue), and The Lehman 18, a Tom Lehman-designed 7,400-yard championship course that opened in July 2023 and winds through a 1,000-acre wooded sanctuary past Stephens Lake and natural wetlands. A Par 3 short course and practice facility round out the golf product. Some Cragun's marketing references a larger 54-hole historical total; current course-listing sources (the resort's own site, Golf Digest, GolfPass) consistently describe the present lineup as the 45-hole Dutch 27 / Lehman 18 combination.
Membership & Access
Does buying a home here include club membership?
Homeownership at Legacy Ridge or Legacy Pointe does not include a permanent golf membership. What it includes is a complimentary three-year Resort Club Membership (reported $7,500 value) that grants discounted golf rates and preferred pricing charged to a resort account, plus access to the resort's boat club and other sporting amenities. Full, ongoing golf access -- the Legacy Unlimited Membership, Players Club Membership, or Par 3/driving-range membership -- is a separate purchase available to homeowners, resort guests, and the general public alike, with pricing not published online.
Living in Cragun's Resort
Three distinct platted neighborhoods have emerged since 2019: Legacy Village, a maintenance-free, single-level community on quarter-acre lots marketed for resort-lifestyle living; Legacy Pointe, 16 building lots of roughly a half-acre to nearly two acres on the edges of the Lehman 18 course; and Legacy Ridge, 53 lots ranging from a half-acre to 2.5 acres, also fronting the Lehman 18 course, with new-build home pricing reported starting around $639,900. A further 'Private Collection' of premium homes broke ground in 2023, with the first units sited directly on the Lehman 18 fairways.
Lifestyle & Amenities
Cragun's markets a full four-season resort lifestyle around the neighborhoods: a marina and boat club on Gull Lake, the Legacy Grill and other on-site dining, and resort-wide sporting amenities accessible at homeowner-discounted pricing through the Resort Club Membership.
Location & Surrounding Area
Cragun's sits on Gull Lake just north of Brainerd, in the heart of the Brainerd Lakes golf-resort corridor alongside Grand View Lodge (Nisswa), Madden's on Gull Lake, and Breezy Point Resort.
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What Buyers Should Verify
- Confirm current Legacy Unlimited/Players Club golf membership initiation and annual dues directly with Cragun's.
- Confirm whether the complimentary three-year Resort Club Membership benefit also applies to Legacy Village lot buyers, not just Legacy Ridge/Pointe.
- Confirm what happens to the Resort Club Membership benefit after its three-year term (renewal cost, lapse, or automatic conversion).
- Reconcile the 45-hole vs. historically-cited 54-hole course-count discrepancy directly with the resort.
Notable
- The Lehman 18 championship course, designed by Tom Lehman, opened in July 2023.
- Legacy Ridge and Legacy Pointe lot purchases include a complimentary three-year Resort Club Membership reported at a $7,500 value.
- A 'Private Collection' of luxury homes broke ground in April 2023, with the first two homes sited directly on the Lehman 18 course.
- Legacy Ridge comprises 53 lots from a half-acre to 2.5 acres, with new-build home pricing reported starting around $639,900.
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Considering a Move to Cragun's Resort?
Whether you're comparing Cragun's Resort with another Brainerd Lakes golf community or you're ready to start looking at homes, US Golf Living can connect you with a local real-estate specialist.
US Golf Living provides independent real-estate research and can connect consumers with real-estate professionals. Golf membership, availability, fees and approval are determined independently by the applicable club.