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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Iron Horse Golf Club, Par four 9th hole in foreground and par four 18th hole in background |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Landmand, Par five 7th hole |
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| 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
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
FLAGS
SCORECARDS
