GrayBull Club

The new kid on the block, GrayBull Club, is the latest addition to the Dormie Network’s catalog of private golf courses and the newest golf course built within the Nebraska Sandhills. Roughly 30 minutes north of I-80, the course occupies a set of medium- to large-sized dunes that provide an ideal canvas for golf. Approximately 2,000 acres of land were available to build the 18-hole layout, which gave architect David McLay Kidd the rare opportunity to hand-select precisely where he wanted to craft his golf course.

The course’s routing starts on top of a prominent ridge where the clubhouse and cottages reside and takes players down, out, around, and back up to the ridge in a large, clockwise loop. It traverses medium-sized dunes on the front nine in a more compact fashion and moves to more dramatically sized dunes on the back nine. With the design, there was a dedicated effort to make the playing surface a complete ribbon of low-mowed turfgrass that has no interruptions for all 18 holes. This means a lot of the holes play down and in between ridgelines and tall dunes that frame the sides of each hole, making the routing follow the path of least resistance. This continuous flowing style creates a very different look and feel from the other Sandhills courses, as does the unique approach to the bunker style. GrayBull features the largest amount of exposed sand of any course in the Nebraska Sandhills, presenting a plethora of visual stimulation. While nearly every other course in the region has bunkers that are built to resemble naturally occurring blowouts, GrayBull has expansive waste areas with grass islands that take after the bunkers of Mammoth Dunes and Gamble Sands (two other Kidd designs). The pathbreaking design is very fun to play and provides a different product than what is already available in the Sandhills, creating further diversity in the region.

Take Note...

Quadfecta. The completion of GrayBull marks an interesting point in time where the four most notable and prolific architects of the 2000s each have an original design within the Nebraska Sandhills: Coore & Crenshaw’s Sand Hills, Tom Doak’s Red Course at Dismal River, Gil Hanse’s CapRock Ranch, and Kidd’s GrayBull. 

‍Through the fire and flames. Just five months prior to opening day, a large prairie fire broke out near the golf course and was exacerbated by 40-mph winds. Garrett Morrison covered the event in detail, but thanks to the maintenance staff's efforts and good fortune, the course made it out unscathed, along with no personal injuries despite the entire surrounding landscape being scorched to nothing.

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