Wild Horse is the course that put Nebraska on the traveling golfer’s map. Designed by Dave Axland and Dan Proctor and opened in 1999, it’s an open prairie links with no trees and no water hazards — just rolling dunes, giant erosion “blowouts” that play as natural hazards, more than 50 bunkers, and native prairie grass rough that stands a foot tall and swallows anything off line. It earned Golf Digest’s Best New Affordable Course honors in 1999 and has been ranked among the best public courses in America ever since.
Locals will tell you the genius is in the ground game. Wide fairways give you confidence off the tee, then the wind and the enormous, fast greens take it right back. The long uphill par-4 18th is the hardest hole on the course, and the prairie sunsets from the back nine are the kind people drive across the state to see. A five-hole short course called The Pony opened in 2026 if you want a quick evening loop.
Book tee times a few weeks out — Wild Horse takes them in advance, and weekend mornings go fast. Season runs roughly April through October. Stay in Gothenburg or make it the first stop on a Sandhills golf trip; North Platte is about 40 minutes west.