Well, after 1300+ miles I made it to my destination, Sioux Falls! I was there for four days and helped out with some wedding items, but managed to golf two days. Thursday was one of those days and I had pretty much the whole day. I was up early and motored around The Falls in less than 3 hours.

From my research, The Falls appeared to be one of the premier golf courses in Sioux Falls. It is a casino course and part of Grand Falls Casino and Resort, which is about 15 minutes from town and just over the state border, into Iowa. The state line runs right along the edge of the property but won’t come into play unless you hit a really bad one on the range.

I walked through the casino to get to the proshop out back and everything had a shiny, new look to it. There is a spa, hotel rooms, and even RV hookups next to the driving range. I’m sure they have a stay and play package if that is your thing. I booked through Teeoff for $40, and gladly took advantage of the early-season rates. If the course was in a major metro area, it would easily cost $100+ so it will likely be a deal, whatever you pay.

The property is located out on some rolling farmland in the far northwest corner of Iowa. There isn’t a tree to be found and most of the holes are separated by wispy fescue. One of the biggest pluses about The Falls, is that it has an eye pleasing, linksy look to it!

I used “linksy” because all too often a course refers to itself as a links design, but doesn’t really play that way. Well, The Falls has the ability to play more like a links course than most in that category. The wind was howling at 8am when I teed off and it blew that way for much of my Midwest trip. The Falls seems to be designed with that in mind, which made playing in the wind more of a fun challenge, instead of an impossible one. As long as the course isn’t wet then you can still be rewarded for flighting shots lower.

I played the gold tees which are 73.6/136/6760 and from there I thought the course was very playable. The fairways are inviting, although you could end up in another fairway after an awful drive. The biggest difficulty when driving the ball here might be controlling the sideways movement after the ball lands. There is quite a bit of slope in the fairways and I had multiple tee shots take a couple bounces and end up in the rough.

Around the greens, The Falls is more modern. As I mentioned, you can chase shots through some gaps but it is still best to try to play the air game with the irons. I found there was a good side and an impossible side to miss each green. Deep bunkers and chipping areas await if you err to the wrong side. There are some slopes which can feed the ball towards pins, although I would have liked to have seen more of that.

The layout (a Rees Jones design) has somewhat of a repetitive feel, but I’m sure only so much can be done with farmland. Rees’ mounding off the fairways added some nice separation. The majority of the holes at The Falls run north and south and with water in play only on the 9th and 18th, everything blended together to me. The 9th and 18th are the best holes on the course if you ask me! The 18th is a mid-length par-3 that plays to a volcano-like green complex.

I won’t spend much time describing the conditions, just take a look at my pictures. The course benefits from the casino operation, and it shows. Everything was immaculate and as good as it gets for public golf! I think the conditions make this a “must play” if you are in the area and I think The Falls is worthy of its ranking among the top public courses in Iowa. The Falls opened in 2014 and for a modern course, I think The Falls is very good.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):