Nebraska Trip 2023

Nebraska might prove to be the hottest state in golf in the next few years.  With new courses that just came online, and more planned that will open in the future, people are realizing that the land in Nebraska is ripe for great golf.  We returned to Nebraska for the second year in a row, to finally re-visit our favorite place on earth where we spent our honeymoon thirteen years ago.  We also discovered some great new courses, and a few old ones with a ton of character.

Sand Hills, my favorite place on earth!

We landed in Omaha on day one and began our trip at a very cool hundred year old golf course.  The Field Club of Omaha is one of the closest courses to downtown Omaha, and is full of character and quirk.

Field Club of Omaha, Par four 5th hole

The course crosses a very busy public road four times, and uses large fences to keep the cars from being hit.  

My wife found it very intimidating but she was up to the challenge.

After our afternoon round we headed to one of our favorite BBQ places in the world, Oklahoma Joe's BBQ in Omaha.

Day two of the trip began at a brand new course that opened just 11 months ago.  Lost Rail Golf Club in Gretna is about 20 miles west of Omaha.  The course was designed by Scott Hoffman, who was one of Tom Fazio's main associates for many years.  This is his first solo design, and he really came out of the gates strong!

Lost Rail Golf Club, Par four 4th hole

What really impressed me most about the course is that it's not really a very big piece of property, and yet the holes have an amazing sense of isolation, even though they are seemingly stacked right on top of each other.

Lost Rail Golf Club, Par three 5th hole

The par threes at Lost Rail are a work of art, with each one giving you a different look and challenge.

Lost Rail Golf Club, Par three 14th hole

Since I was fortunate to be off early at Lost Rail, I had time to check out the seven hole par three course, also designed by Scott Hoffman.

Lost Rail Par 3 Course, 1st and 7th green

We headed South to the town of Ashland for our next round on day two.  Iron Horse Golf Club was designed by Gene Bates in 2001.  It was built around a large rock quarry and lake, and is also a housing development course.  

Iron Horse Golf Club, Par four 9th hole in foreground and par four 18th hole in background

Bayside weather indicator!

We drove three hours west to North Platte after our round at Iron Horse.  North Platte is where people fly into when they are going to Sand Hills.  Before we headed there, I ventured a few hours further west to the town of Brule to check out a course designed by two guys who have worked for Coore & Crenshaw for many years.  Bayside Golf Club was designed by Dan Proctor and Dave Axland, and has amazing views of Lake McConaughy.

Bayside Golf Club, Par four 7th hole

We had two possible routes to get to Sand Hills from Bayside.  I chose the northern route that takes you through the town of Hyannis so that I could check out one of my favorite things in golf, a course with an honor box!  Pelican Beach Golf Club was built, and is maintained, by a volunteer crew of locals.  They knew what they were doing when they built it, and the course is incredibly fun and a great walk.

Pelican Beach Golf Course, Par three 2nd hole

From Hyannis it was just about an hour drive to our favorite place on earth, Sand Hills.  We spent our honeymoon at Sand Hills thirteen years ago, and had planned on going back for our ten year anniversary, but Covid changed our plans.  We were beyond excited to finally be back!

My wife and I at Sand Hills on our honeymoon in 2010

We arrived at Sand Hills in the early afternoon and immediately headed out to the course.  It was an overcast and blustery day with the wind blowing 20 to 30 mph all day.  

Sand Hills, Par three 17th hole, Day one

Even the wide fairways of Sand Hills proved to be a challenge to hit on day one!

My wife on the windy first hole at Sand Hills on day one

We had the extreme good fortune to be first out on the course on day two.  The sun was out, the clouds were gone, and the course played very different with just a gentle breeze. 

Sand Hills, 8th green in foreground, 7th hole in background

Thirty-six holes and two of the best burgers we've ever eaten later, we reluctantly said goodbye to what is still our favorite place.  If anything, our experience was even better the second time around.  Everything at Sand Hills is perfect, the course, the staff, and the food. It embodies the soul of the game of golf.

Sand Hills, Par four 18th hole

We drove back to Omaha after our amazing two days at Sand Hills.  The last day of our trip began about an hour and a half north of Omaha in Homer, Nebraska.  Landmand Golf Club was probably the most anticipated public course to open in the last ten years due to the huge social media platform the designers, Rob Collins and Tad King, had developed.  This is Rob & Tad's first eighteen hole design after two nine hole courses, Sweetens Cove in Tennessee, and Inness in New York.  

Landmand, Par five 7th hole

the original Sitwell green

The course has one of the most ambitious set of greens I have ever seen, including the 17th, which is a tribute to the famous green at Sitwell Park Golf Club designed by Alister MacKenzie

Landmand, Par four 17th hole with it's re-creation of the famous Sitwell Park Green

Everything about the course is big.  Obviously the greens, but also the bunkers, and the routing in general.

The 9th green at Landmand is . . . interesting

We drove down to Lincoln, Nebraska for the final round of our trip.  The Country Club of Lincoln was built in 1922, and designed by William Tucker.  It meanders across gently rolling property on the southeast side of Lincoln, and was a wonderful course to wrap up our short but amazing trip to Nebraska.

Country Club of Lincoln, Par three 5th hole

For the second year in a row Nebraska delivered a wonderful golf vacation.  Between the amazing destinations in the Chop Hills, and the courses around in the Omaha area, Nebraska might be the most underrated state for golf in the US, with more golf coming in the future!

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New England Trip

My wife and I spent two wonderful weeks in New England and Canada in July of 2023.  Due to the amount of courses played, I have decided to split the trip into Canada and the US.  This is the story of our wonderful multi-state adventure through New England.

Brae Burn Country Club

Our time in New England began in Maine.  Before we tackled the main reason for our being in this part of Maine, we had a warm up round to kill time at Fairlawn Golf course in Poland, Maine.

Fairlawn Golf Course, Par three 2nd hole

We made a short drive to Poland Springs resort after our warm up round.  Poland Springs is a 1913 Donald Ross design that retains the charm of the original design.  The resort is very proud of its history, and has signs on every hole that tell you something about it from the past.

Poland Spring Resort, Par four 4th hole.  A few more trees then the early days!

Day two of our New England trip began at Fox Ridge Golf Club in Auburn, Maine.  Designed by local architect Carol Myshrall Jr, the course opened in 2001 and traverses through some dramatic property, with some heroic carries thrown in to the mix.

Fox Ridge Golf Club, Par four 10th hole

Next up on day two was Martindale Country Club, also in Auburn.  This course began life in 1921 as a nine hole course designed by the pro at Portland Country Club, Alex Chisholm.  A second nine was added by Phil Wogan in the 60's.  Prominent New England architects Geoff Cornish and Brian Silva renovated the course in the late 1980's.

Martindale Country Club, Par four 10th hole

We headed a few hours North after our round at Martindale to the Bangor, Maine area.  The small town of Orono is the site of a wonderful 1923 Donald Ross design, Penobscot Valley Country Club.  This is another well preserved Ross design with one of the best opening holes I have played in recent years.  This was also my wife's 300th golf course.  Very grateful to her for enduring my madness over the years!

Penobscot Valley Country Club, Par four 1st hole.  Congratulations to my wife on her 300th golf course played!

The theme of the third day of the trip was nine hole courses.  We began in Lucerne, Maine at Lucerne Country Club, a Donald Ross design that has new owners who are committed to restoring and improving the course over time.  I am excited by their passion, as this is a course with great potential to be one of the best nine hole courses in the country if properly restored.

Lucerne Country Club, Par four 3rd hole

Next on the agenda on day three was a course that actually was rated as one of the fifty best courses in the world by Golf Magazine, Castine Golf Club.  This course was designed by Willie Park Jr., most famous for his designs at Maidstone and Olympia Fields.  Unfortunately, the extremely wet summer New England was experiencing resulted in my not being able to experience the course in any sort of normal form.  I hope to return when conditions will allow the course to play like it normally does.

Castine Golf Club, Par five 7th hole

Photo of Castine borrowed from their website to show it in better times.  This is the wonderfully blind uphill par four 6th hole

After our round at Castine, we headed North to Canada for a week so this narrative will resume when we returned to Maine.  You can read about our Canadian adventures here: Canada Trip

Day four in New England began with a course featuring nine holes from Donald Ross, Biddeford-Saco Country Club.  The Ross front nine, and Cornish/Silva back nine, blend together well, making for a very nice course overall.

Biddeford-Saco Country Club, Par four 1st hole

We finished day four in Kennebunk, Maine.  Summer home of two Presidents and the Webhannet Golf Club.  The course was designed by Skip Wogan, who learned under Donald Ross as superintendent of the Ross designed Essex County Club in Massachusetts.  The course is a wonderful walk less than a mile from the ocean.

Webhannet Golf Club, Par four 18th hole

Donald Ross continued to be the theme of the trip on Day five as we began at Cape Neddick Country Club, designed in 1919 by the master.  What really stood out to me at Cape Neddick was the par 5's.  Each one was routed perfectly over the land and provided great strategy and fun.  

Cape Neddick Country Club, Par four 18th hole

Next up was our first course in New Hampshire on the trip.  Atkinson Resort & Country Club is just over the border from Massachusetts near Andover.  New England architect Phil Wogan designed the course in 1996.  I had the thrill of holing out for eagle on the par five 6th hole.

Atkinson Resort, Par three 3rd hole

Atkinson Resort, Par five 6th hole where I holed it for eagle from 100 yards!

I finished playing the big course at Atkinson fairly quickly so I headed over to check out the nine hole par three course.

Atkinson Resort Par 3, 2nd Hole

The final course on this day was another wonderful Ross course, North Andover Country Club.  While only nine holes, this course really packs a punch.  Every hole moves up or down, with a a bold par three 2nd hole that requires a shot over a busy road and through power lines!

North Andover Country Club, Par three 2nd hole

I honestly don't know why this course isn't ranked as one of the best nine hole courses in the country, as every hole is solid and it's a ton of fun to play!

North Andover Country Club, looking back on the Par four 4th hole.

Massachusetts would be our home for the next couple days of our trip.  Day six, like most, had a Ross theme, but there was also a side trip to check a course by another one of my favorite architects, Seth Raynor.  First up was the municipal facility at Ponkapoag with two Ross courses.  I played the #2 course.

Ponkapoag #2, Par four 18th hole

Next we headed to Dedham Golf & Polo Club designed by Seth Raynor.  The course benefited from a recent renovation by Brian Silva that improved the bunkering and emphasized the Raynor template holes.  The course is much more undulating than your average Raynor course, and the view from the first tee is one of the best in New England.

Dedham Golf & Polo Club, Par four 1st hole

After my wonderful round at Dedham, I resumed my Ross quest with a round at Weston Golf Club in Weston, Massachusetts.  Ross designed nine holes in 1917, and added nine more in 1922.  

Weston Golf Club, Par five 2nd hole

The third and final Ross course on day six was Concord Country Club.  After already playing three rounds on this day, I was given an unexpected physical challenge as the course was walking only that day because it was still recovering from rain several days before.  I normally like to walk and carry, but lucky for me, I decided to take a push cart.  Having never played the course before, I didn't realize the first three holes climbed straight uphill.  I was not prepared for that, but I endured and had a great time with the wonderfully undulating holes.

Concord Country Club, Par four 5th hole

Day seven around Boston was all about . . . you guessed it, Donald Ross!  Are you sensing a theme yet?  I started the day at Belmont Country, a 1910 Ross design.  The course starts with the hardest hole on the course, a 447 yard uphill par four.  Normally Ross likes to make the first hole "A gentle handshake" to use his words, but that wasn't the case at Belmont!

Belmont Country Club, Par four 8th hole

One of the best courses on the trip was up next on day seven.  Brae Burn Country Club was renovated by Ross a couple times, and has hosted several USGA Championships. It will be hosting the USGA Women's Mid-Amateur next year.

Brae Burn Country Club, Par four 2nd hole

The pace at Brae Burn was good enough that I had time to check out the nine hole Highland course designed way back in the 1890's by Alex Findlay.  The course is fairly short, but provides a great contrast to the bigger Ross course.  If I were a member, I would spent a lot of time on the Highland.

Brae Burn Country Club Highland Course, Par three 9th hole

Another Donald Ross redesign was next up on day seven.  Tedesco Country Club in Marblehead was orignally designed by Skip Wogan.  The course crosses a public road several times with the holes worked on by Ross being on the far side of the road.

Tedesco Country Club, Par four 16th hole with an interested spectator

We headed to Vermont and New Hampshire for the final day of the trip, and to change things up, I only played one Ross course on this day!  The day began with one of the best nine hole courses in the country, Hooper Golf Club in Walpole, New Hampshire. It was designed by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek.  The opening hole is all world, and the course maintains it's momentum throughout the round.

Hooper Golf Club, Par five 1st hole

We headed over the border to Woodstock, Vermont for our final day.  Woodstock Inn & Resort was designed by Robert Trent Jones on a tightly routed piece of property with a creek that meanders through most of the holes.  This was my wife's first round in Vermont.  She has now played golf in 45 states!

Woodstock Inn & Resort, Par three 7th hole

We headed back to New Hampshire for our next round.  Carter Country Club is a nine hole Ross course with some short and quirky holes that run up and down a big ridge.

Carter Country Club, Par four 8th hole in background with 7th green in foreground

The last round of our trip was one of the rare modern-era courses we played.  Baker Hill Golf Club in Newbury, New Hampshire was designed by Rees Jones, son of the designer of Woodstock.  Baker has always been ranked as one of the best courses in New Hampshire and was a great way to end our epic two week adventure.

Baker Hill Golf Club, Par four 7th hole

So that ends our epic 14 day trip to New England and Canada.  I played 40 golf courses in 14 days, a new record for me.  The depth of quality golf in New England is amazing, and I think we will be returning several times in the next few years, if I don't end up working somewhere up there in the future.

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