Played with a guy trying to monday q at Auburn Hills last year. Where he was getting to from the tips out there was jarring. Shot a casual 31 on the back. Naturally he hadnt made it through a KFT qualifier in his 2.5 years of attempts. Really nice guy
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Fully recommend getting with @japolo1987 for any Wichita trip. He gave me all the right tips when I was in town for work a few years back
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Wanted to get this convo started again for golfers in Wichita. Not a lot of golf happening between now and beginning of March but hoping 2023 leads to more connections in the ICT area. Currently a member at Crestview but always looks to connect with folks and play all over the place. Since the weather is going to be solid today, kicking 2023 off with a round at Sand Creek this morning. Looking forward to meeting some of you all!
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Andover, here. Member at Terradyne. Play most of my golf there, but also participate in Central Links events through the summer.
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Do u guys have a year round season down there or do most courses close down during the winter and then open back up in the spring?
We are thinking about driving down sometime in mid-March or early April from northern NE to try to get some rounds in. Wanting to make sure courses will be ready to play by then. Possible courses we are looking to play would be Sand Creek Station, Colbert Hills, Firekeeper, and Prairie Dunes (we have a possible hook up to maybe get us on).
I know these courses are north of Wichita but hoping u guys would still have some local knowledge for those areas of the state. If there are any other courses up in that area of the state we should be looking at let me know. We will probably only be able to play 2-3 rounds on our short trip.
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Awesome that you’re planning a trip to KS. Our public courses down here are always open unless there is snow on the ground or temps just above freezing. We don’t have any off-season, at least at the public courses (Sand Creek, Colbert, Firekeeper). I’m not sure of the situation at PD since that is private. Only real issue is that we do occasionally get some snow down here into mid-March. April is good to go though. Colbert is zoysia fairways so it will still be dormant that time of year but will still play great. Fingers crossed for low winds for you all on all of those courses!
If you’re coming down to play PD or Sand Creek, there is a Perry Maxwell nine hole course in McPherson (McPherson CC) that might be worth checking out. I haven’t played that one yet but would give a little different flavor to the SC, CH, Firekeeper, big designs.
Hope that helps but if you have any other questions, feel free to reach out anytime. Enjoy your trip to KS this spring!
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For the most part, the season is year round. I played last Saturday and walked, it was a beautiful day. Some times we can play once a month and sometimes 3-4 times a month.
Most of the courses are still pretty dormant and will start to pop late March/early April, assuming we do not get any nasty weather in the next 3-4 weeks.
Those courses you listed are always good.
If you have any connections to Flint Hills, Wichita CC, those would make my list, as well.
Colbert and Firekeeper are fun, have some difficulty, too. Sand Creek is usually in great shape.
Wichita has a couple fun city courses (not always in the best of shape, but affordable fun golf), McDonald Park and Auburn Hills.
I play over at Terradyne, if the timing is right and you get down this way, let me know.
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What would be a better course between McPherson CC, Crazy Horse GC, or Turkey Creek GC?
Looks like we have Prairie Dunes and Sand Creek Station on the agenda but are looking for 1 more course in the area to play.
Sounds like an awesome trip! I have only played Turkey Creek of the three options you mentioned so I might not be the best respondent here. I like TC as it’s a convenient meet up for me and some friends that live in the Salina area and it’s usually in pretty good shape, but it isn’t one that would be on the top of the list to show you if you were only coming down for a weekend. It’s fine but there is a lot of water (especially on the back) as the course weaves back and forth over the creek.
Crazy Horse I’ve heard is kind of a “poor man’s” PD, obviously without the history and design chops. A lot of the trouble you’ll see at PD will be present at CH (especially native heavy rough).
Out of the three, I’d probably lean Mac CC. There’s a lot behind that (I haven’t played it, it’s a Maxwell, etc.) but that’s probably where I’d lean on those three.
A little outside of the box, but Wichita proper has a couple good clubs that are unique and have some history. @RetiredClubPro threw out Terradyne in Wichita. It’s another awesome option on the east side and a completely different style of golf that what we typically have down here. Another would be Rolling Hills on the west side. Shorter, tighter course but was the host site for the first U.S. Women’s Open under the LPGA banner so there’s some history there. Either of those two clubs would offer you a different style of golf than either PD or Sand Creek. Happy to help if I can. Hit 'em true and far and enjoy your trip to KS!
stay away from crazy horse. turkey creek floods a lot and can be mush in the spring. of the three I agree on MCC. if you have an in at PD, I would rec Wichita CC.
I’m with @japolo1987 on this. If you don’t want to get down into Wichita, McPherson CC is nice. Some people really like Salina CC if you have access to that. Could also try Firekeeper on the way back up North as its just a little ways off Highway 75.
Where are you going to be staying?
We will be coming down and going back in Hwy 81. We will stay in Hutchinson, Newton, McPherson or north of there I’m guessing. Basically any courses north of Hutchinson or Newton fairly close to Hwy 81 is where we would be looking to get one more round in.
We will play PD and SCS on Friday and Saturday and are looking for a Sunday round before we head back north to NE.
Hutch, Newton and McPherson are fairly small. Stay in Hutch on Friday and then stay in Salina on Saturday and see if you can play Salina CC before heading home on Sunday. More to do in Salina, especially for bars and restaurants.
Best course on the North side of Wichita?
We cannot get on Sand Creek Station till 2 pm cause of an event. We are staying in North Wichita and are looking for a place to play a morning round before heading up to Newton.
Not a whole lot of great options on the north side. There is a course in Valley Center (Valley Point) but it’s basically an executive course with only a couple par 4s. It’s also turf greens not grass so that’s also lame. If you’ve got connections, Willowbend and Tallgrass are super easy to get to off K-96 on the northeast side. They’re both private and guessing if the weather is decent at all, those will prob already be jammed up. Haven’t played either this year but know that Tallgrass has been going through some renos which look pretty good.
There’s a nine hole course outside of Halstead (Wedgewood, like Caddyshack) that isn’t bad. That would put you about 15 minutes from Sand Creek. Guessing it isn’t in the greatest shape from the winter, but if you’re just using it as a warm up round, it would work. Another good option north of Wichita is Hesston. It’s a full 18 and one of the better conditioned public courses around usually. Again, might be too late to grab a morning time. If it were me, I’d opt for Wedgewood. Sand Creek will give you all that you need in the afternoon and if you just want a warm up, slap it around and not beat your brains in course, that would be a nice little spot to warm up. Probably going to be the least busy of all those too.
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy your trip!
JAP
We had a guy back out on us and are having trouble finding a 4th. If anyone is interested in playing 36 with 3 dudes from Nebraska on Saturday at Prairie Dunes and Sand Creek Station message me for more details. 18 at PD in the morning and 18 at SCS in the late afternoon.
FYI on this all.
Thanks for bringing this thread back. I hadn’t found it yet. I’m in Wichita, technically Goddard, and living here for my second time. Was here 12 years, gone 10 and came back last year over many other seemingly better choices for a lot of the reasons mentioned. Wichita has a lot going for it without all the crazy big city congestion. I was at Willowbend my first time and Rolling Hills now but have played almost everything in the area over the years. Happy to show people around as much as I can.
Hello everyone, new to the Nest here. I am a Wichita resident (going on 7 years now) by way of Nebraska looking to play some good golf and meet some new people. Definitely want to get out to Buffalo Dunes at some point this season. Happy to answer any Wichita golf/food related questions, or Nebraska as well. Just wanted to introduce myself, looking forward to meeting some of you!