Cross Creek is the big-course answer for golfers who think you have to play Wild Horse to find championship golf in western Nebraska. This Martin Johnson Jr. design opened in 1987 at 7,205 yards — the longest course in the state at the time — with wide-open fairways, unforgiving rough, and fast greens with plenty of movement. Reviewers call it a hidden gem and a monster in the same breath.
The local lore is half the fun. The front nine has a quirky routing that sends you past the 6th tee and over the TIPPER Bridge to reach holes 2 through 5. The clubhouse guy will tell you the greens are the best they’ve been in a decade. And because it’s a municipal course in Cambridge, you might have the whole place to yourself — one reviewer did.
It’s public, affordable, and gloriously uncrowded. Bring plenty of balls if you’re not straight off the tee, and make it part of a Republican River valley swing through southwest Nebraska.