Potential Midwest Meetup at Wild Horse GC: Gothenburg, NE

[Preeway]

Greetings fellow spies! I am putting forward the notion of organizing a Midwest meetup. Of course, the invitation is open to anyone that wishes to chime in. I organize an annual trip for a group of friends so I already have a rapport with the event coordinator at Wild Horse. I don't have a specific date in mind but I was looking at the weekend of July 13th or the 20th. 

The three courses I would be booking at Wild Horse, Bayside and Awarii Dunes. All three are links style course with Wild Horse being the crown jewel of public golf in Nebraska. I would need to get the ball rolling with make the reservations in the next couple of weeks. We would be staying in the Howard Johnson (nothing fancy but its a bed) in Gothenburg. Depending on the number of days we wanted this to cover, can either play all our rounds at Wild Horse, play Bayside and Wild Horse, or play all three. The group I organize plays Bayside, 36 holes at WH and then we finish at Awarii before heading home. The total cost (golf and hotel) would be around $350-$450 depending on how many days and rounds we wanted to play.

To wet your apetite, I'm including a YouTube link the No Laying Up put together showcasing Wild Horse. Let's get the chatter going and if we get at least 4 people together I'll do the leg work to get the reservations made. The best part of it all is no money will be due until we show up to play at Wild Horse.

[cksurfdude]

Other than driving through on the interstate many, many years ago I've not spent time in the Mid West... But I've read about some of the courses around the area and def a place of like to visit.

So would love to join in, if at all possible! I'm following along to keep up as things progress.

Thx!

[Preeway]

Traveling here is a challenge as Omaha is about 3.5 hours away and Denver is about 4 hours away. Gothenburg is right off I-80 so at least the drive is relatively straightforward. @cksurfdude I’ll put you down as a maybe for now

[Preeway]

Throwing out a few names of folks I know are also in the Midwest. Not meaning to leave anyone out so tag anyone else you think might have an interest. 

@BallsLeon @hckymeyer @taylorjonasher @WaffleHouseTour @Rygolf32 @TG8 @TSauer @Siamese Moose @Coachbutnotgolf 

[GolfSpy_BNG]

I’m in the Midwest in North central Iowa but even this location is almost 8 hours from me. I don’t necessarily see SW Nebraska as Midwest but good luck. Hope guys can make it. 

[fixyurdivot]

It's great that you are trying to pull a meet-up together .  I participated in and helped coordinate our handful of PNW Spy Meet-up's and we all had a blast.  With the western states being so big, it can be a challenge to find a location that is convenient to many.  That's where the east coast members have an advantage. I started a "Rocky Mountain States" meet-up thread some time ago but could never get enough of a commitment.

Anyway, I was all in until I saw the "Toll on route" notice... what the hell is a toll? 

[Preeway]

We drove to the Grand Canyon a couple years ago without tolls. Bet you could find a route without tolls

[Preeway]

34 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BNG said:

I’m in the Midwest in North central Iowa but even this location is almost 8 hours from me. I don’t necessarily see SW Nebraska as Midwest but good luck. Hope guys can make it. 

I hear ya. Once you get that far west it’s not really Midwest but it really Rocky Mountain either. Sandhills in Nebraska has some great golf opportunities. There are a lot of courses in MN too that would be fun to try to organize as well. 

[GolfSpy_BNG]

Don’t wanna give up too much yet as I’m still not sure exactly what I’m gonna do but I have an idea in my head for a little something around the MN/IA/IL/WI border with some surprises.   Good luck with this one. These spy meetups are always fun to follow

[Preeway]

6 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BNG said:

Don’t wanna give up too much yet as I’m still not sure exactly what I’m gonna do but I have an idea in my head for a little something around the MN/IA/IL/WI border with some surprises.   Good luck with this one. These spy meetups are always fun to follow

If this doesn’t get traction then I’m all eyes on you

[BallsLeon]

Definitely intrigued! Courses look great! Would be a 6hr drive for me. 
My wife’s bday is the 16th, so need to figure out which weekend we’re doing birthday festivities.

[Preeway]

I can make either work. Pre or post birthday is the bigger question for you, lol

[hckymeyer]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_BNG said:

Don’t wanna give up too much yet as I’m still not sure exactly what I’m gonna do but I have an idea in my head for a little something around the MN/IA/IL/WI border with some surprises.   Good luck with this one. These spy meetups are always fun to follow

I do believe Sand Valley is in that general vicinity

[GolfSpy_BNG]

44 minutes ago, hckymeyer said:

I do believe Sand Valley is in that general vicinity

Could be. Haven’t looked too hard yet. Biggest issue may be weather for what I’m looking to do. 

[TSauer]

Man, if this weren't such a long drive for me I would join you all. It's about 9 hours from where I'm at here in Missouri. I checked out the NLU video as well as Callaway's, and that course looks like it would be so much fun to play. Pretty cool that it's flat as far as the eye can see and in there among the farm land is a golf course.

[Preeway]

First time I played there I didn’t know we were there until we turned down the road towards the course. It’s truly buried in all that farmland. 

[Rygolf32]

I'd be in assuming we don't have any club events...Let me double check the calendar and run it by the wife but put me down for a 'probably' as of right now. 

 

Definitely would be open to other options within reason throughout the surrounding states too. My annual guys trip with buddies has pretty much died off because of kids events (theirs, not mine) so something new to look forward to would be good by me!

[BallsLeon]

Watched the NLU Crash Course on Wild Horse, and then looked up videos of Bayside and Awarii. Go ahead and count me in @Preeway!

https://baysidegolf.com/golf-course/

https://www.awariidunes.com/course/explore-the-course/

 

[Rygolf32]

I have a couple of buddies in the area that might be interested as well...I'm not sure they are on the forums but they use MGS for reviews, etc. If we needed/wanted more bodies for a couple of tee times, I could always ask if they'd be interested also. Just a thought.

[Preeway]

Absolutely. It’s just as easy for me to book 8 as it is 4

[Preeway]

As it stands, we have three confirmed as in and one hard maybe, so I am going to pursue getting tee times and hotel reservations made in a couple weeks. If others are considering joining in please chime in by January 21. I will try to get firm pricing figured out by the end of the month. The dates will be July 19-21 with tee times at Bayside on the 19th, Wild Horse on the 20th (maybe 36 on this day?) and Awarii Dunes on the 21st. If you can’t make the outing in VA, you’re welcome to join us in July. 

[Preeway]

Checking in again to see if there is more interest in the Nebraska/Midwest meet up at Wild Horse. Still waiting to make contact with the course contact but I’m expecting the total price for three days of golf and hotel to be around $450-$500. @aguybadatgolf would you be interested? Only a few hours from you. 

[aguybadatgolf]

10 minutes ago, Preeway said:

Checking in again to see if there is more interest in the Nebraska/Midwest meet up at Wild Horse. Still waiting to make contact with the course contact but I’m expecting the total price for three days of golf and hotel to be around $450-$500. @aguybadatgolf would you be interested? Only a few hours from you. 

Hey thanks for reaching out! That’s very tempting only 4 hours or so from me. A friend is having his bachelor party either that weekend or the weekend before so depending on when that is I might be able to make it. When do you need a final head count by?

[LinksgolfFever]

Sounds like fun!!!  I’d be interested what would be the nearest airport?  Assuming golfers from California can jump on the invite??

[Preeway]

24 minutes ago, LinksgolfFever said:

Sounds like fun!!!  I’d be interested what would be the nearest airport?  Assuming golfers from California can jump on the invite??

This is open to anyone and everyone. Omaha and Denver are about the same distance but if you fly into Omaha you won’t need a rental car. You’ll have me!

[Preeway]

2 hours ago, aguybadatgolf said:

Hey thanks for reaching out! That’s very tempting only 4 hours or so from me. A friend is having his bachelor party either that weekend or the weekend before so depending on when that is I might be able to make it. When do you need a final head count by?

Probably by the end of next week. 

[BallsLeon]

Familiar course on a MGS article this morning (+ another course in Western, KS I need to get out to)! https://mygolfspy.com/news-opinion/our-favorite-budget-golf-courses-across-the-united-states/

Really excited to get out here, and big thank you to @Preeway for putting this together! Stumbled across another video on the course by the people at Fried Egg Golf, pretty cool channel focusing on golf architecture:

 

[Sunkids]

Wildhorse an MUST Play.fyi. July 12-14 is Member-guest & July 20 is a Big Teammates tournament 

[Preeway]

That’s good info to have. Still waiting to hear back from Wild Horse to get any dates sorted out. 

[BallsLeon]

Checked in on the Wild Horse site this morning, and saw this on the live feed ... sorry @Preeway & @Rygolf32 

Edited March 25 by BallsLeon