I’ve been muddling the idea of joining Hillcrest, played it a couple of times years ago but haven’t been there for golf in a long time. Can anyone here speak to the membership side of things? One of the main reasons I’m looking into it is I’m pretty sick of pace of play at a lot of the public courses, most of my rounds now are at highlands or crooked creek. I’m not 100% sold on jumping over to private but I would be joining with the Junior membership at $330/mo for Hillcrest really seems not bad at all.
The COVID bump in total rounds was crazy. Rounds per year in Nebraska:
2019 - 277,000
2020 - 414,000
I haven’t seen anything from the NGA on 2021 or 2022 but we definitely didn’t go too far back down.
One key question to ask at Hillcrest is how many days out do you have to book a time to actually get one on your typical playing days.
I know at for-profit clubs like Champions and Players people are having to log on 7 days to the minute of the weekend time they want and it’s not infrequent to have a hard time getting on in their preferred weekday windows. Pace of play is good, though.
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Ya that’s definitely one of the things I’m curious to as well. I had a walking membership at Crooked Creek which is the mega value but every single day in the main part of the season they have leagues. I would try to get out before them even if it was to play 9 but it kinda started to wear on me that I could never actually play 18 with the membership. If I end up paying for a private place I’m hoping that it would allow me to have an easier time getting out and playing so I can actually utilize that pace of play they offer.
Fun idea!
I’m going to break the rules and expand it to the Lincoln/Omaha area, and I’m counting Nebraska City for obvious reasons…
My top five privates in the area (just based on preference, fun, visuals…I don’t know anything about design…happy to be called an idiot).
- Arborlinks (just edging out OCC…just like that style of golf better than heavy rough and trees)
- OCC
- Hillcrest
- Country Club of Lincoln
- HHC
Oak Hills is tough…I really like that course, but it does have a little too much “though the houses” for me (huge snob on this, I’ll wear that hat). However, the work they did on the back nine makes me like the back better than the front, and the back is less routed through houses than the front. 17 and 18 is one of the strongest finishing two holes in the area.
I am not fancy 
I work part-time in the golf industry and have had some customers and club reps very graciously host me.
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Lost Rail not getting a mention yet in the top private courses is probably indicative of how few people have been out there.
Brief review: guest play is $230. I don’t know if that includes the just-opened 7 hole short course. Replay is $130 I think?
Definite resort vibes - nice modern clubhouse. There’s an attendant making ball pyramids in the short game area and clearing the green for you. An area by the first tee where you can grab towels of multiple sizes, tees, ball marks, even sunscreen, and a bag of balls for the adjacent range.
The holes have tremendous variety in direction and design but it still feels coherent. Nothing else I could add that the pictures you’ve seen don’t tell you.
It’s probably “worth it” once a summer if you really make a day of it with a foursome you like: leisurely warm up, play, eat, drinks on the patio, short course. A bit hard to justify past the first time if you’re arriving 15 min before your tee time and leaving right after, though.
On the whole, guest fees in town seem to range in the $80-120 range elsewhere, and in the spirit of the “never do the math” title of the private club thread, over half the actual members are technically paying well over that based on how many rounds they play. So I definitely feel privileged as a paying guest. Lost Rail at $230 is a bit of a different league, though.
I do love Arborlinks…
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I do not believe that Hillcrest nor LCC should make any short lists. Hillcrest is very boring and riddled with trees and LCC you dont hit driver until probably the fifth hole. Oak Hills renovation is very well done and makes the back 9 vastly different from what it was and is always in top tier condition. OCC is top dog in my opinion no matter what.
Was in Omaha last month and got to play Oak Hills for the first time post renovation. Back 9 still feels a bit cramped (I think it’s just 13 that bugs me) but it’s definitely improved. Thought 18 especially was great.
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Totally agree here. 12 and 13 are bad holes
Or do you just hate the smell of bacon curing?
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I believe most of the low cap members blast driver to just short or around the 1st green. Last year they voted on a capital improvement project that included a pond in front of 1 to stop them from doing that. There may have been a double green with 1 and 3? There was much more to it. Narrowly got voted down because all of the aging members understandably didn’t want to pay for a capital project that would shut their course down for a year.
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Hello all, going to be in Omaha for 4 days next week, was hoping to get some food recs from ya’ll. They could be hole-in-the-wall joints, whatever, as long as the food is good, I don’t care.
I usually search for breweries, BBQ and tacos when I go to new cities, so would be more inclined to look for those places but I’ll take all recs.
Oh also, good specialty coffee recommendations are always much appreciated.
Thank you!
For breweries, I’m incredibly biased towards Bearded Brewer, lots of other food rec’s have been suggested in the past, Block 16 is solid, and I’m partial to Goldbergs in Dundee for a good burger.
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+1 for Block 16 and Bearded. I’d throw in “Heavy Brewing” in Gretna as a good place to check out.
Omaha isn’t a great BBQ city. Smokin Barrel is likely the spot, but no dine-in option and hours fluctuate. Dirty Birds is awesome hot chicken. Oscars char buffed wings are the GOAT. Corner Kick has solid taco options. If you want to splurge, Au Courant or Yoshitomo in Benson are our favorite date night spots.
Archetype, Roast, Stories are all good local coffee joints. I’d likely go in that order.
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Ashamed I forgot to mention this, behind Mangia, Oscar’s is probably my favorite pizza in Omaha, and the char buffed wings are awesome, as James mentioned
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You had me at char-buffed, even if I live in Buffalo, I can’t pass up good wings. I hear Taqueria Tijuana is good and looks decent. Was hoping to find better Mexican food than where I currently am, cause it’s bleak here…
I’m staying at the Omaha Marriott Downtown, looks like I can just walk to Block 16, so I’ll def be going there. Thank you and @shonseymp for the recs.
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My favorite Omaha Brewery is Kros Strain and they have a location at Millwork Commons that is only a mile from the downtown Marriott.
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I’d like to clarify my take as the GOAT ***in Omaha, Nebraska.
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@jsauce Not sure where you’re staying and it’s pretty far out west, but Porky Butts is pretty good too. Those are probably the only two I’d think about for BBQ.
Along with @shonseymp 's rec, Dinkers is another really solid burger, it’s cash only though. The common debate is usually Dinkers vs. Stellas, both are good but I prefer Dinkers myself
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A good wing is a good wing and I’m not originally from Buffalo so not defensive about wings as the locals are here
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