The Prairie Club awaits golfers looking for a unique experience that will leave a lasting impression for a long time. Located near Valentine, Nebraska in a region of the country called the Sand Hills, The Prairie Club is part of the growing family of links style courses that are starting to dot the northwest part of the state. Other courses such as, Wild Horse, the Sand Hills and The Dismal River golf clubs were built before The Prairie Club and received many accolades from publications like Golf Digest. The Prairie Club, however, is a little different than its predecessors. First off, there is a second 18 hole course that winds along a Ponderosa Pine forested ridge above Snake River canyon. Secondly, unlike the Dismal and Sandhills Golf Club, The Prairie Club is open to the public and offers stay and play packages at its luxurious lodge and cabins. This is a resort destination style course anyone can enjoy.
Founder and Chairman Paul Schock wanted to keep the course public to let people enjoy world class golf. His solution was to hire architect / professional golfers Tom Lehman and Graham Marsh. Lehman and also Chris Brands designed the Dunes course and Marsh designed the Pines Course. According to their website, Schock, Lehman, Brands and Marsh wanted to take things slow and took more than two years routing out holes through an immense amount of acres used for 36 holes of stunning natural landscape. To them it was all about the pristine land and the serenity. No houses, no distractions just golf. Very little earth was moved to make this course.
The Dunes Course
Rated the 35th greatest public course in America in 2015 by Golf Digest, The Dunes Course was designed for bump and run play with large greens and windy conditions. Half the holes play into the wind and half the holes against the wind. With its dramatic elevation changes, endless views of the Sandhills in all directions and immense blowouts golfers get a great feel for links golf.
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| Fairway blowout bunker on Dunes Course. |
At 7,583 yards and a par 73 the Dunes course will give you all you can handle especially if the wind is blowing. Built on fescue and collonial bentgrass the average green size is 14,000 square feet with an average stimpmeter of 12. The fairways are generously wide but that's about the only break you get on this challenging track. It's the approach shots and short game around these greens that will do most of the damage to your scorecard. The greens are guarded by large intimidating blowout bunkers and the big undulating greens can leave you crazy long puts over major slopes on the greens. Finally, there's the wind and the uphill or downhill shots to contend with that will leave you guessing on your club selection plenty of times.
Hole overviews and photos
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| View of tee box on par 4 hole 2 Dune Course. The right side of fairway is guarded by out of bounds fence row. |
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| Approach shot view of par 4 hole 2 Dunes Course. |
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| View of tee shot on par 5 hole 3 Dunes Course. A slice or push will land you in a monster blowout bunker on the right. A hook or pull left will run your shot over the fairway and down a steep hill into the tall fescue. |
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View from tee box of par 3 hole 4 Dunes Course. Its easy for a lot of golfers to end up with an 80 to 100 foot put on this green.
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For hole by hole tours of the Dunes Course see the Prairie Club's course tour on their web site at the following link http://theprairieclub.com/golf/dunes-course/.
The Pines Course
Rated the 75th greatest public course in America in 2015 by Golf Digest, designed by Graham Marsh, The Pines Course features five sets of tees ranging from 5345 to 7403 yards. On this course the prevailing prairie winds are blocked by the western rim and Ponderosa pines of the Snake River canyon. Built on fescue and collonial bentgrass the average green size is 8,000 sq ft and the average stimpmeter is 11 in peak season. The course starts off with holes 1-3 still in the same prairie landscape as the Dunes course. On hole 4 you start to enter the pines as the course gets closer to Snake River canyon. The Pines Course designs also features a lot of carries from the tee over large blowouts as seen below in photo of hole 5.
Hole overviews and photos
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| View from tee box on par 4 hole 5 Pine Course. This hole is a dogleg right that forces the golfer to carry the tee shot over an immense blowout in front of the fairway. |
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View from tee box on par 3 hole 6 Pines Course. Green is guarded by two blowouts bunkers and canyon on the right.
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| View from tee box on par 5 hole 11 Pines Course. |
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| View from approach shot into hole 11 green Pines Course. |
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| View of large blowout and tall fescue that guard the right side of par 5 hole 15 fairway Pines Course. The left side of the fairway has pines and fescue. Golfers are forced to either layup with an iron on the top of the hill left of this bunker or hit a fade with the driver close to the cart in this photo. |
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| View from tee box on par 4 hole 16 Pines Course. Golfers must carry the bunkers with their tee shots and keep it straight between the pines. |
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| Approach shot view of par 4 hole 16 Pines Course. |
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| View of par 3 hole 17 Pines Course. |
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| View from tee box of par 5 hole 18 Pines Course. This is easily one of the best holes in all of the Prairie Club. Tee shot must draw around the right side of the fairway to have a chance to go for the green in two. The 18th green is elevated behind a small canyon with large blowout bunkers guarding the green. Golfers have the option of laying up to the fairway right of the green on their second shot. |
For hole by hole tours of the Pines Course see the Prairie Club's course tour on their web site at the following link http://theprairieclub.com/golf/pines-course/.
To sum it up, if you're looking for a great place for a golf travel vacation The Prairie Club will deliver. TripAdvisor also has very high marks for The Prairie Club.
Accommodations
The Prairie Club offers several stay and play packages. Golfers can choose to stay in the main lodge, the Bunkhouse in one of its 12 single occupancy rooms or one of the cabins each with a four bedroom suite.
How to get there
The best option for traveling to the Prairie Club by commercial airline is to fly to Sioux Falls, SD. Then you will need to rent a car and head west on I-90 and south on highway 183 to Valentine, NE. The Prairie Club is located west of Valentine on highway 90. Google Maps link.
More Information
For more information on The Prairie Club I highly recommend checking out their website at http://theprairieclub.com/.
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