St. Paul could soon make its golf game a little less tied to sunset, with city leaders weighing zoning changes that would allow nighttime lighting at golf facilities and remove a ban on pitch-and-putt mini golf. The immediate target is Highland National’s driving range, where a few extra hours could turn dusk from a hard stop into an invitation.
The City Council is expected to take up final adoption at its Wednesday, Aug. 5, meeting after amending and laying over the ordinance in July. The proposal would allow Highland National’s range to remain open until 9 p.m., with lights used for another hour so crews can collect balls and finish maintenance, according to the Pioneer Press; the council’s calendar lists the Aug. 5 meeting.
One zoning rule, two unusual restrictions
St. Paul has five golf courses, including four public courses operated by the Parks and Recreation Department and one private course at Town and Country Club. City zoning currently prohibits lighting golf courses for night use and bars pitch-and-putt miniature golf in residential districts.
A city planning memo says Parks and Recreation requested the changes while updating its operating plan for Highland National. The memo also notes that zoning does not impose similar lighting restrictions on other outdoor sports, such as soccer and baseball, and says the city is unsure why golf ended up with the stricter rules.
Highland’s lights already exist
This would not begin with a giant new lighting project. Highland National received lighting in 2025, but the zoning quirk has limited its use to winter recreation rather than golf, while other city facilities have used lights to extend seasonal programming.
The city’s goal is to let the driving range operate until 9 p.m. during golf season, then keep the lights on until 10 p.m. for cleanup and maintenance. That could help workers retrieve range balls after dark and give residents more chances to practice after work, as reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Mini golf is a possibility, not an immediate rollout
The proposed ordinance would also eliminate the city’s prohibition on miniature golf at golf facilities. That does not mean St. Paul is about to unveil a new putt-putt course; Parks and Recreation officials have said there are no immediate plans to add one, but the zoning rewrite would leave the door open for future proposals.
The City Council record says the broader goal is to give Parks and Recreation more operational flexibility, potentially creating new revenue while making city-owned recreation facilities useful for more of the year.
The final version could be broader than the first draft
The original council proposal would have allowed lighted golf facilities to operate no later than 10 p.m. But the Planning Commission recommended deleting the entire lighting subsection instead, arguing that existing lighting standards and the Parks Department’s operational review process could handle future changes more consistently.
At its July 22 meeting, the council amended the ordinance and laid it over for final adoption, according to Saint Paul’s legislative records. Nearby residents have raised concerns about brightness, while the Highland District Council has supported the original language, so the debate is not only about whether golfers want to keep swinging after sunset.
If approved, the zoning change would not automatically light every course or guarantee a mini-golf buildout. It would give the city another tool to extend access, capture more evening demand and perhaps make St. Paul’s public golf system a little more flexible — one after-work bucket of balls at a time.
