| | 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.
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