Wild Horse

This oft-lauded course is surprising as much for the way it suddenly appears out of the hills near Gothenburg as for its bang-for-buck build. David Axland and Dan Proctor, who helped to create the upmarket private Coore/Crenshawdesigned Sand Hills GC up the road in Mullen, also built this 18-hole public beauty at a cost of roughly $1.6 million—and that’s including the land. A friendly and unpretentious pro shop is complemented by incredibly reasonable greens fees, and at first blush it might be fair to question what all the noise is about. But Wild Horse has been on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses list since it opened in 1999, and for good reason: It’s been called a “field of dreams” experience, and that’s about right, cut as it is from high prairie grasses. Like so many Nebraska courses there’s a vastness here that mirrors some of Scotland’s famous tracks, holes like the par-5 No.3 evoking visions of the old country with its prevailing winds, pot bunkers and wide views for miles. The par-4 No.10 wakes you up after the turn with a cavernous fairway bunker guarding the inside of a dogleg right, and a small green that adds a steep tilt to its several mounds, while the short par-3 that follows is a make-it-or-lose-it affair, with only thick prairie brush between the tee and the green. The finishing holes don’t let up in terms of challenge or beauty, and a round here leaves you feeling as if you’ve touched the essence of the game. Surely golf’s earliest days weren’t far off what’s on offer at Wild Horse, and that’s a good thing.

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