10/22/2015
After just completing a three day golf trip to Valentine and Niobrara with golf buddies from Omaha and Lincoln, my wife decided to travel with me to play some course on Hwy 20 west of Norfolk. We drove up to stay with my mom in Norfolk which means honey do's for me. She had me help her put the patio furniture into the garage for winter, but a just reward was mom's home cooking! I had previously talked to the Ewing course and O'Neill course. Good and bad, Ewing would be open about 8:30 and O'Neill was closing for the season on the 20th, two days before we would be there. Summerland Golf Club at Ewing was about a 45 minute drive from my home town of Norfolk, so we left about 7:30 am for a day of golf on Hwy 20.
I was greeted at Summerland by Doretta, the clubhouse manager. She had been waiting for me since our previous conversations. Her husband Alan maintaines the course as they live on site for the season. Sounds like a job I would like! Another gentle rolling wide fairways course with large undulating greens and very well manicured. Very few trees come into play and grassy moguls guard most of the greens. The finishing par 5 hole is guarded in front by a pond with a high spaying fountain. If you look close at my picture of teh 9th hole, yo can see my third shot in close for a finishing birdie, which was made!
Back on the road west to O'Neill, but not for golf since it was closed earlier, but for breakfast at The Blanary Stone. After a good breakfast ( I think we stop here every time we travel through) we set out for Atkinson. My wife had brought along reading material to pass the time in the car and at the courses, but Atkinson Ne is different for female shoppers because of "Something Special by Marilyn" ( www.christmas-gift-shoppe.com )
So she dropped me off at the course and headed back to Marilyn's.
The Atkinson-Stuart Country Club is all I have heard and then some. The course is next to a scenic state recreation area. The course is in excellent condition with a fairly level terrain and large greens with slight undulations that putt very true. Ponds come into play on four of the holes and trees line most of the fairways.
The finishing hole is a long par 5 with OB on both sides of an "L" shaped fairway and a pond in front of an elevated green. This is a "well worth another visit" course!
When I reached the 9th tee, I called Pam to pick me up at the course. She was just checking out at Marilyn's which I guess means she bought something! After packing up, including boxes from Marilyn's, we headed to Bassett Country Club. Thirty minutes down the road we found Bassett CC west of town, but rain began to fall as we drove into the lane. As I looked around, I found a sign on the club house that they had limited hours on weekends. We headed out to Ainsworth where we had booked a motel for the evening. Pam lived here until age 14 when they moved to Norfolk. She still has aunts and cousins there. She had also made a date to have dinner with one of her aunts so we checked in and got ready for dinner. The rain got heavier that evening but I was holding out for a clear sky in the morning so I could play Springview and Butte on Hwy 12 north and east of Ainsworth. The weather did not agree with me overnight and continued into the morning so we went to Long Pine and visited with one of Pam's cousins, had lunch at the Sandhills Bar in Long Pine then headed back to Norfolk for supper with my mom. After a short visit it was off to Lincoln.
Next spring I will schedule a trip to O'Neill, Bassett, Springview and Butte to finish that area.
Scorecard: 146 courses played
Miles Driven: 537
Total Miles since 7/21/2014: 5763
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