Wild Horse - Nebraska - USA

My brother and I played Wild Horse last week and were both blown away. What a great golf course. So many fantastic holes that are simply designed without a bunch of unnecessary bunkering. The bunkering that is on the course is perfectly placed. The condition of the course far exceeded expectations for the cost. Simply put, it is the best value I've ever had for my money in golf. The fairways were green and lush fescue. And the greens rolled perfectly. The view of the plains/sand hills of NE adds to the experience. Even though several houses have gone up on this course it still feels pretty isolated and probably will even with more houses. They are on big lots and don't take away from the view. Wild Horse is a perfect example of simple golf being better. Its a must.

Along with Rustic Canyon, Wild Horse has a strong reputation for great golf at very affordable prices to the public golfer. But was I prepared for the greens at the public course in Gothenburg, NE to be the best-conditioned greens I’d played all year? Certainly not! With low budget isolated golf courses, one generally expects mediocre conditioning, but Wild Horse (July 2018) was in splendid shape with beautiful receptive putting surfaces.

On the outskirts of the Sand Hills region, the golf course has limited change in undulation, but does have more interesting land movements in the corners of the property.

In 2006, the Top 100 website graciously ranked Wild Horse among the US Top 100, while we’re all a lot more educated since then, the golf course has many delightful holes including the strong par 4 8th with a large blow-out bunker and the tricky short par 3 11th hole with a devilishly small green surrounded by bunkers. I can certainly see the appeal to play here and commend the green-keeping staff for a fun presentation at exceptional value.

Since its opening, Wild Horse has been consistently ranked in the Top 100 courses you can play and is ranked here as one of the top courses of Nebraska. After playing it, I have to agree with all the rankers.

The routing is mostly fantastic and there are a tremendous amount of blind shots. The fairways and greens were in great shape despite playing it in the middle of a hot summer and I bet during the Fall its even better.

It definitely helps to have played the course as the line off the tee is not obvious and there is an unfortunate overlap of the second and third fairways but for the most part this course is a great time and one you shouldn't miss.

Double bonus, Wild Horse has built several cabins which are right on the property that are well maintained and you should definitely stay there if they have availability.

No way is this better than Rustic Canyon in California. I thought this course lacked the intelligent design factor that Rustic presents. Wild Horse is nice and in a cool location but the course is over rated, doesn't live up to rating.

This course is very nice and fun to play. But it simply isn't world class. Perhaps it is world class on a dollar spent per amount of fun ratio, but it shouldn't be on a Top 100 in the world golf course website. I am not knocking it as it is fun, but many courses are a lot of fun and are not recognized as Top 100.