| | As I travel the country playing golf, I am amazed to learn about some of the great golf deals the various states have arranged. The most well-known, at least east of the Mississippi, is Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, created simply to strengthen the Retirement Systems of the state. Tennessee has the Tennessee Golf Trail of Jack Nicklaus designed courses called The Bear Trace and its own state park courses. Florida has its Florida Historic Golf Trail of courses built during the golden days of golf from the early teens to the late 1930's. Kansas has a new Sunflower Golf Trail. And Kentucky, New York, Maine, Louisiana, and Arkansas among others have “trails” emphasizing their public golf courses. |
One of the states that flies under the radar is North Dakota with its Lewis and Clark Golf Trail. Within this trail is a deal I discovered in 2011 when I was planning my first excursion to the Upper Midwest. I was in the process of developing my route to cover all the Top 100 Public Courses in the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa. Bully Pulpit in Medora, North Dakota was the most remote of the stops I needed to make. To sustain my goal of playing at least two different golf courses a day, I needed to identify additional courses in the area.
While researching Bully Pulpit, I discovered something called “The Triple Golf Challenge”. For $140, I could play the top three rated courses in the state: Hawktree Golf Club in Bismarck (currently rated 81st on Golf Magazine’s Top 100), The Links of North Dakota near Williston (rated 53rd on Golf Digest’s 2009 list), and Bully Pulpit (currently rated 94th on Golf Digest’s Top 100). This was a no-brainer. My only challenge was the distance between the courses and as it turned out, lodging in the Williston area.
While researching Bully Pulpit, I discovered something called “The Triple Golf Challenge”. For $140, I could play the top three rated courses in the state: Hawktree Golf Club in Bismarck (currently rated 81st on Golf Magazine’s Top 100), The Links of North Dakota near Williston (rated 53rd on Golf Digest’s 2009 list), and Bully Pulpit (currently rated 94th on Golf Digest’s Top 100). This was a no-brainer. My only challenge was the distance between the courses and as it turned out, lodging in the Williston area.
I had assumed there would be no issues associated with playing these three courses over two days. I would play Hawktree, drive to Williston and spend the night, play The Links of North Dakota the following morning, and drive to Medora where I would play Bully Pulpit in the afternoon. One simple room in Williston was all I needed. But when I checked for lodging in the Williston area, I struck out. Every hotel and motel within 60 miles was booked. “What is going on?” I thought.
The Bakken Shale Formation is the answer. The Bakken Shale Formation contains one of the largest deposits of petroleum in the United States. And new technologies have changed the economic landscape of the area. Horizontal fracturing (or "fracking") of shale rock thousands of feet underground has made it economically feasible to unleash the gases in the ground. Horizontal fracturing is the fracturing of rock using a pressurized liquid. The liquid contains sand grains which holds the fractures apart after the pressure is removed so the gas can continue to flow. It is now said the United States can become the Saudi Arabia of natural gas provided we manage this resource carefully.
This new technology has resulted in a booming economy for North Dakota. It now has the lowest unemployment rate of any state. Today young men with little or no education are making six-figure salaries working on rigs and driving trucks. The Wal-Mart in Williston pays $20 and hour for cashiers and you can clean rooms in hotels for $16 an hour. The job boom and the housing it requires is what I ran into.
To bring it back to the trip, I played Hawktree on a misty Saturday morning in July. Hawktree, a Jim Engh design, is a Scottish links style course. Its most unique feature is its crushed black coal sand bunkers. I’ve seen black bunkers only two times at the nearly 900 courses I’ve played (Old Works in Anaconda, MT is the other). I must admit, they had a nice consistency. Hawktree has spent time on both the Golf Magazine and Golf Digest Top 100 Lists.
Learn more about Hawktree here: http://www.hawktree.com
The Bakken Shale Formation is the answer. The Bakken Shale Formation contains one of the largest deposits of petroleum in the United States. And new technologies have changed the economic landscape of the area. Horizontal fracturing (or "fracking") of shale rock thousands of feet underground has made it economically feasible to unleash the gases in the ground. Horizontal fracturing is the fracturing of rock using a pressurized liquid. The liquid contains sand grains which holds the fractures apart after the pressure is removed so the gas can continue to flow. It is now said the United States can become the Saudi Arabia of natural gas provided we manage this resource carefully.
This new technology has resulted in a booming economy for North Dakota. It now has the lowest unemployment rate of any state. Today young men with little or no education are making six-figure salaries working on rigs and driving trucks. The Wal-Mart in Williston pays $20 and hour for cashiers and you can clean rooms in hotels for $16 an hour. The job boom and the housing it requires is what I ran into.
To bring it back to the trip, I played Hawktree on a misty Saturday morning in July. Hawktree, a Jim Engh design, is a Scottish links style course. Its most unique feature is its crushed black coal sand bunkers. I’ve seen black bunkers only two times at the nearly 900 courses I’ve played (Old Works in Anaconda, MT is the other). I must admit, they had a nice consistency. Hawktree has spent time on both the Golf Magazine and Golf Digest Top 100 Lists.
Learn more about Hawktree here: http://www.hawktree.com
Given the lodging issue, I was forced to spend the night in Bismarck. With nearly 200 miles between the courses, I had to leave the hotel at 4:00 AM for the three hour drive. I was pleasantly surprised to encounter outstanding highways and I arrived at The Links of North Dakota in Ray, ND before the pro shop was even open.
The Links of North Dakota is a Stephen Kay design. Kay chose a minimalist approach to this design and thus, moved a minimal amount of dirt. The Links was rated as high as 53rd on Golf Digest’s Top 100 list. I was the first golfer out on Sunday morning and enjoyed a solitary round on a bright, sunny day. I saw no other golfers during my round. The course offers gorgeous vistas in all directions. The Links has five sets of tees with recommended handicap indexes that limit the length of forced carries for your ability.
To learn more about The Links of North Dakota, go here: http://www.thelinksofnorthdakota.com
The Links of North Dakota is a Stephen Kay design. Kay chose a minimalist approach to this design and thus, moved a minimal amount of dirt. The Links was rated as high as 53rd on Golf Digest’s Top 100 list. I was the first golfer out on Sunday morning and enjoyed a solitary round on a bright, sunny day. I saw no other golfers during my round. The course offers gorgeous vistas in all directions. The Links has five sets of tees with recommended handicap indexes that limit the length of forced carries for your ability.
To learn more about The Links of North Dakota, go here: http://www.thelinksofnorthdakota.com
A Dewy Sunday Morning at The Links of North Dakota with Lake Sakakawea in the Distance
One more thing about the Williston area. The air was pungent with the odor of petroleum. In every direction were many natural gas flames, caused by a process called natural gas flaring. Flaring is done for two primary reasons. The first is to test the pressure, flow, and composition of the well. The second and most prominent reason is because the transportation infrastructure is insufficient for the volumes of gas being released. Many of these flares can be seen from outer space.
I left The Links by 10:00 A.M. and set out on the 165 mile trip to Medora for my 1:00 tee time at Bully Pulpit.
Let me digress. One of my hobbies outside the realm of golf is reading biographies of Presidents of the United States. Many times during my long trips, I’ll listen to audio versions of these books. I’m currently reading The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a book about Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft (the first presidential golfer), and the golden age of journalism. In truth, this book reminded me of my two days in North Dakota and gave me the idea for this article.
While reading the book, I learned that Theodore Roosevelt’s mother, Mittie, and his first wife, Alice, died on the same day, February 14, 1884. Mittie died of typhoid fever and Alice died of kidney failure two days after giving birth to Theodore’s first child. What sorrow!
To work through this sorrow, Theodore sought refuge in the area surrounding the Dakota Territories’ Little Missouri River. He had discovered this area during a hunting trip the previous September. Theodore loved these “Badlands” and invested in two open-range cattle ranches and purchased 1400 head of cattle. He seriously considered a life as a full-time rancher. He built a home in Medora and spent most of his time during a two year period in the area. His need for companionship and a huge drop in the price of cattle hastened his return to his native New York.
Theodore was legendary for his use of the press to further his agenda and famously is known for his use of “the bully pulpit”.
So I was now in The Badlands of the Dakotas. The scenery is easy on the eyes and reminders of Theodore Roosevelt are everywhere. My route from Ray, ND required miles of driving through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Bully Pulpit Golf Club was designed by Dr. Michael Hurdzan. The course is bordered by the Little Missouri River and is striking for its landscape changes. There are holes weaving through meadows and woodlands by the river and others cut through the North Dakota Badlands. Luck was against me for this round as recent flooding of the Little Missouri made several of the holes unplayable. But the scenery was breathtaking.
Learn more about Bully Pulpit Golf Course here: http://www.medora.com/do/outdoor/bully-pulpit-golf-course
I left The Links by 10:00 A.M. and set out on the 165 mile trip to Medora for my 1:00 tee time at Bully Pulpit.
Let me digress. One of my hobbies outside the realm of golf is reading biographies of Presidents of the United States. Many times during my long trips, I’ll listen to audio versions of these books. I’m currently reading The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a book about Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft (the first presidential golfer), and the golden age of journalism. In truth, this book reminded me of my two days in North Dakota and gave me the idea for this article.
While reading the book, I learned that Theodore Roosevelt’s mother, Mittie, and his first wife, Alice, died on the same day, February 14, 1884. Mittie died of typhoid fever and Alice died of kidney failure two days after giving birth to Theodore’s first child. What sorrow!
To work through this sorrow, Theodore sought refuge in the area surrounding the Dakota Territories’ Little Missouri River. He had discovered this area during a hunting trip the previous September. Theodore loved these “Badlands” and invested in two open-range cattle ranches and purchased 1400 head of cattle. He seriously considered a life as a full-time rancher. He built a home in Medora and spent most of his time during a two year period in the area. His need for companionship and a huge drop in the price of cattle hastened his return to his native New York.
Theodore was legendary for his use of the press to further his agenda and famously is known for his use of “the bully pulpit”.
So I was now in The Badlands of the Dakotas. The scenery is easy on the eyes and reminders of Theodore Roosevelt are everywhere. My route from Ray, ND required miles of driving through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Bully Pulpit Golf Club was designed by Dr. Michael Hurdzan. The course is bordered by the Little Missouri River and is striking for its landscape changes. There are holes weaving through meadows and woodlands by the river and others cut through the North Dakota Badlands. Luck was against me for this round as recent flooding of the Little Missouri made several of the holes unplayable. But the scenery was breathtaking.
Learn more about Bully Pulpit Golf Course here: http://www.medora.com/do/outdoor/bully-pulpit-golf-course
The North Dakota Tourism bureau has created a wonderful opportunity to experience three top rated, nationally renowned golf courses. The 2014 price will be $165. I would gladly pay that price today to experience these courses again. Learn more about the Triple Golf Challenge here: http://www.ndtourism.com/best-places/triple-golf-challenge
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