The Prairie Club (Dunes)

Several years before The Prairie Club opened in 2010, founder Paul Schock set about acquiring over a thousand acres of a former cattle ranch along the Snake River Canyon in Nebraska, with a view to offering visitors a unique golfing experience in a remote location.

When land was purchased and permits were in place, Schock and business partner Cleve Trimble interviewed a number of prospective designers before selecting three who would bring their golfing vision to life and this resulted in three very distinct layouts from the architects who were chosen.

Tom Lehman and architect Chris Brands designed the 18-hole Dunes course, an eminently walkable out-and-back layout with wide fairways and enormous greens set out on a rolling landscape punctuated by sand hills.

Lehman says that “it took Chris Brands and me over a year to finalize routing of the 18 holes. There are dozens and dozens, if not hundreds out there in the sand hills of the Prairie Club. The real battle was to overlook that which was extremely good for which was and will be truly great”.

Regarding the other layouts at The Prairie Club, Graham Marsh fashioned the 18-hole Pines course and Gil Hanse set out a fun, 10-hole par three course named Horse. Another 18-hole course (provisionally named Old School) was due to be built at The Prairie Club in the near future by Gil Hanse, but has so far failed to materialize.