10/14/14
After the fall monsoon season appeared to over and somewhat dry, I decided to make one last full day trip of golf for the year. Starting at Wildwood in Nebraska City, I mapped out a trail that would take me to five communities in southeast Nebraska that would put me with only two courses left in all of this section of the state. In hind site if I had waited one more day, I could have avoided the 20-30 mph winds which beat me up while walking all the rounds.
Wildwood is one of three during the day that was very hilly giving me a great cardio workout. Nestled along the city park, Wildwood was well maintained with large undulating greens that were very receptive to well struck medium iron shots and putted very true. Tree lined fairways made it imperative to hit fairways to score.
Second hole tee shot at Wildwood
Two things that I need more than anything when playing alone are a range finder and the ability to read greens that I have never seen!
Next I headed 20 miles south to Auburn. The course is located a couple miles south of town on another hilly layout that starts out with a 209 yard downhill par 3 with heavy grass behind the green. The greens are somewhat smaller than Wildwood and all elevated with no bunkers but a couple of ponds and creeks that come into play on half of the holes. I found this interesting statue by the clubhouse.
I call him Jack in honor of one of my Lincoln golfing buddies that I have been golfing with for over 25 years and is from Auburn,
First tee at Auburn
Headed about 25 miles southwest to Humboldt and Kirkman's Lakeview Golf Course. It is located north of town along the shore of Kirkman's Lake. The clubhouse is an old quaint farmhouse across the road from the course. My legs got new life as this course is an easy walk compared to previous two. Gentle rolling hills along the shore of the lake with very generous fairways and large contoured greens made this a fun course to play. The toughest hole was a 200 yard par 3 uphill into a breezy north wind.
A true hidden gem in southeast Nebraska!
Another 15 miles southwest is Pawnee City. As you drive into town there is a large billboard a picture of their favorite son Dan Whitney a.k.a Larry the Cable Guy. Ironically he lives 5 minutes east of me in Lincoln near Walton. Fairview Golf Club is a sand greens course located on the county fairgrounds. It is the only sand greens course located in eastern Nebraska with the closest one located in Central City. I have not played on sand greens for over 40 years since playing one round at Fairplay in Norfolk before they converted to artificial greens and then grass. If you cannot hit a high shot onto the "greens" you must play bump and run and guess how short to land the ball hoping for a chip shot to the target area.
Finally my last stop was 20 miles north of Pawnee City in Tecumseh. If you think that Wildwood and Auburn were hilly, then Tecumseh has two of the steepest fairways I have ever seen in Nebraska.
Here is an example of what I found on the 5th hole.
Would you call this a steep fairway or an extremely elevated green? How many extra clubs do you hit here? But on the next hole I hit a great second shot for a tap in birdie!
Then on the 7th hole, the last 300 yards were up another steep incline with a blind second shot to position for the third.
After a fun day I arrived home to Lincoln just in time to watch the Royals eek out another close game on their quest to baseballs Big Dance!
Scorecard: 86 courses played
Miles Driven: 176
Total Miles since 7/21/2014: 905
