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Nebraska: Golf’s Hidden Holy Land?
World-class dunes golf in Nebraska? Huskers get last laugh
By Chris Wheeler
Few things bring more pleasure to longtime Coloradans than poking fun at our friends who live in the neighboring state to the northeast.
What’s the best thing to come out of Nebraska? Interstate-80.
Not long ago, the mere suggestion of a buddies’ trip to Nebraska would be the punch line of just another Nebraska joke.
The golf enlightened, however, know it’s now a destination.
Nebraska is a golf paradise that’s often mentioned in the same breath with Bandon Dunes, Pebble Beach, and even St. Andrews. Legendary players like Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw and Tom Lehman have planted their design flags in Nebraska. Rock star architects like Gil Hanse, Tom Doak and David McLay Kidd have carved masterpieces into the pristine prairies.
As Coloradoans await the public dunes links opening here in 2026, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw are bringing Rodeo Dunes to the small town of Roggen – Nebraska’s dunes experiences are ready to give you an early taste.
For golf purists, the draw is a mythical place where cows outnumber cars. The Sandhills of western Nebraska is the largest sand dune formation in North America – 20,000 miles of dunes and prairie. This land mass comprises an area larger than the states of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Thousands of years ago, glacial sediment from the Rockies blew eastward into modern-day Nebraska, where winds whipped sand into dunes, some more than 300 feet high. Prairie grasses wrapped around the dunes, holding them in place. The result is a sea of sandhills that to this day remain largely untouched.
Since the days of the Oregon Trail, settlers have scoffed at the Sandhills, saying the soil was not good for cultivating crops. In the 1990s, golf pioneers took a different view. They proposed the unthinkable: build a golf course that is a 400-mile, five-hour drive from the nearest major city.
The course would be far from any hotel chains or fine dining. When guests arrived, there would be no concierge, no hot tubs, no coffee shops, no cell service, and certainly, no entertainment. The only clubs in the Sandhills would be the kind you carry on your back. The Sandhills visionaries were adamant about one thing: this place would be all about the golf.
So they built it. And they came.
The first was Sand Hills Golf Club in Mullen, Nebraska.
Dick Youngscap, a developer from Lincoln, had a dream for land he owned near this sleepy town of fewer than 500 souls. In 1991, he lured the architectural dream team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw (Bandon Trails, Cabot Cliffs) into the Sandhills.
When the duo first saw the stunning property, they knew a golf course had to be built.
By the spring of 1993, Coore and Crenshaw had identified a staggering 130 holes, which in time, were reduced to 18. They famously moved little dirt, letting the natural beauty of the sandhills shape the course design. For the fairways, they chose not Bermuda grass but fescue, which was better suited for the sandy soils.
Blowout bunkers, hazards meant to reflect the natural features of the Sandhills landscape, were built onto the fairways. Bent-back greens were placed atop a sandhill stew of quartz and feldspar. When Sand Hills opened in 1995, Coore and Crenshaw were hailed for creating what many considered to be the most natural golf course in America. In 1999, Sand Hills broke into Golf Digest’s Top 100 Courses in America, where it has stayed for a quarter century. This year, Sand Hills is ranked 8th, just above the 9th-ranked Pebble Beach.
Sand Hills GC is a private course and next to impossible to play for non-members. However, the masterpiece by Coore and Crenshaw laid the groundwork for more outstanding courses in Nebraska, many of them open to the public. The properties offer not only world-class golf, but comfortable lodging and 5-star dining. Here’s a look at some of the best.
GRAYBULL – Maxwell, NE
David McLay Kidd has rocketed to stardom in the world of golf architecture. Creating courses at Bandon Dunes (1999) and Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley (2018) will do that. He was recruited by The Dormie Network, a company offering a membership to seven luxurious golf resorts, to design a course on its new property in Nebraska.
For David, the rolling Sandhills evoked memories of his native Scotland. Ground was broken in 2022 on a site near North Platte that was personally chosen by Kidd. The links style Graybull opened in 2024 and has become an instant classic, hailed not just for its beauty but for its playability. If you have been fortunate enough to golf Bandon Dunes, you will find Graybull strangely familiar.
DISMAL RIVER CLUB – Mullen, NE
Don’t be fooled by the name. “Exhilarating” is a better descriptor for this course located just 14 miles from Sand Hills GC. The rugged White Course, unveiled in 2006, was designed by none other than Jack Nicklaus.
It offers the classic Sandhills experience – dramatic elevation changes, blowout bunkers, and never-ending views of the Nebraska prairies. The Tom Doak-designed Red Course opened in 2013. Doak’s walkable mas- terwork begins at the course’s high point on hole #1, then slowly descends to the magnificent 18th. The closing hole follows the meandering Dismal River for a perfect Sandhills finish. dismalriver.com
THE PRAIRIE CLUB – Valentine, NE
Remember the Rockies’ Blake Street Bombers of the 1990s – Bichette, Walker and Galarraga back to back to back? The Prairie Club has its own golf version. Let’s call them the Sandhills Sluggers.
The three courses near Valentine, Nebraska, were designed by heavy hitters Tom Lehman/Chris Brands, Graham Marsh, and Gil Hanse. Lehman/Brands created The Dunes Course, a Sandhills classic known for its stunning blowout bunkers.
Marsh, a former Australian tour player, designed The Pines Course to be a very different experience from The Dunes. This course transitions from prairie into a forest of Ponderosa Pines lining the Snake River Canyon. Hanse’s Par-3 Horse Course, which was co-designed by Geoff Shackelford, sits on the rim of the Canyon and is the fun way to round out an unforgettable day of golf in the Sandhills. theprairieclub.com
LANDMAND GOLF CLUB – Homer, NE
It’s a few hours east of the Sandhills but getting a tee time at one of the most coveted public courses in the US is worth the extra drive. Homer, Nebraska – population 517- sounds like a fictional town straight out of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Landmand’s story, however, is more like a golf version of “Field of Dreams.” Will Andersen, a farmer with golf in his veins, dreamed of transforming 588 acres of family land deemed too steep for farming into a golf course. An innovative design by Rob Collins and Tad King, combined with stunning hilltop views, has made Landmand – Danish for farmer – into the hottest ticket in golf. At 8 a.m. last December 31st, about 10,000 tee times for the 2025 season at Landmand became available. Within 50 minutes, all tee times were taken. landmangc.com
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