Let the games begin

July 21st 2014


The first stop was Friend CC just southwest of Lincoln. The course was in excellent shape. The fairways and greens were very well manicured and the rough was thick and tough to play out of. Gentle rolling hills and tree lined fairways made you keep the ball in play for a good score.

Last stop for the day was at Hidden Hills in Geneva. It was quite dry and needed water, so lots of roll. However a creek through ran north to south through four of the holes which made you decide about your second shot on both par 5's. A unique thing on number 9 was a bell that you would ring after hitting your second shots. I had not seen that since playing the Fitzsimmons Army Hospital course in Denver while playing on the Peterson Field Air Force team of Colorado Springs.

Neither course was very busy so play was not slow which is my hope for a lot of the courses.


Scoreboard: 69 courses played

Miles Driven: 150

It all started here

My love for golf started in the summer of 1965 when I got a job at the Norfolk Country Club working for the late Glenn Blakeman. They had just completed a construction of a new club house and adding 6 holes to make it an 18 hole course and my first work project was to assist members in moving their stuff to the new club house. A short history of NCC can be viewed from the link http://www.norfolkcountryclub.biz/about

During the first week of the job, I was allowed to play golf with friends that were members of the club. After a few short lessons from Jim Shade who dominated the are amateur golf circuit during the late 1960's and 1970's, I set out on the course with my buddies. I bogeyed the first hole and have been bogeying a lot ever since. During the time from 1965 to the present, I have played 67 courses in Nebraska from tournaments around northeast Nebraska  to Junior College golf in the fall of 68 to spring of 70. From Ponca to McCook and from Alliance to Falls City, I have crisscrossed Nebraska with golf clubs.  It is great to say that you have played The Champions Club  and Shadow Ridge in Omaha or Firethorn, Lincoln Country Club and Wilderness Ridge in Lincoln or Norfolk Country Club  or Iron Horse and Woodland Hills near Ashland or The Sandhills in Mullen and Wild Horse in Gothenburg but you need to experience the charm and scenery of the small Nebraska communities working together to keep golf thriving in their area.   Recently I sat down and built a spreadsheet of all public access courses and the few private country clubs that I have played and the ones I need to play to complete my goal Golfing ALL of Nebraska! I then made a pin map with color codes to represent what is left to play...142 courses!! Being retired should be fun!

I decided to start the venture on Monday July 21st by playing Friend CC and Geneva GC. I was home to Lincoln by 1:30 before the temperature reached 100!

It is my goal to complete this adventure and to inspire others to experience "Golfing Nebraska"