After a day of driving and sightseeing through South Dakota (on Friday) my family dropped me off at Pryor Creek Golf Club on Saturday afternoon. This way I could get my golf fix and they could check in early to our hotel in Billings, MT. There are two eighteen-hole courses at Pryor Creek and my hope was to check out both.

Pryor Creek is about 15 minutes from Billings, not far from the I-90/I-94 interchange. So, it should be a convenient option for those traveling through Eastern Montana. The two courses here are called Johnny Walker and Elmer Link. The courses are very different and the Elmer Link course is the one you’ll want to play at Pryor Creek if you just have time for one round.

I used the course’s website to book my tee time. However, I couldn’t figure out which course I reserved so I decided just to wait and see where the proshop sent me. I ended up playing the Johnny Walker course (named after the PGA Tour pro Jimmy Walker) and what I found out later is that Elmer Link is reserved for members. Thankfully I was able to play Elmer Link as well and my next article will cover that course.

Johnny Walker (the course this review covers) is the shorter of the two courses at Pryor Creek, playing only 6,263 yards from the blue tees. The course is a par-71 with a rating of 69.7 and slope of 129. So, it isn’t overly challenging. I’m a little surprised the slope is that high because there are a bunch of scoring holes without much trouble.

The most interesting thing about Johnny Walker is that current design is made up of an original nine-hole course along with a newer section of holes, which was added in 2007. I’m not sure when the original nine opened, but I’d guess sometime in the 60’s or 70’s. The course felt a little pieced together, but there is a good variety of holes and distances.

The original nine is split up between the opening and closing holes. The 1st through the 5th and then the 15th through the 18th are part of the original nine. The new nine holes are more links style – think wide open – with parallel holes and landscaping that still needs to mature.

The holes making up the original nine are far more interesting than the newer holes. The original holes are lined by mature trees, have a fun routing and offer multiple options. There is some quirk to these holes too, like the 353 yard par-4 3rd. The 3rd is uphill and doglegs almost 90 degrees left. I couldn’t tell where I was supposed to hit my tee shot and made a mess of the hole. Thinking, strategy and good execution will be rewarded on the original nine.

The closing stretch of holes on Johnny Walker was particularly strong. The 15th is a long par-5 and the 16th is a long, tight par-4 where hitting the fairway is important. Then the 17th is a 163 yard par-3 that plays over water. The green is narrow and angles from front left to back right. You really need to have the perfect club to go flag hunting on the 17th.

Johnny Walker was nicely maintained and I have no complaints about the conditioning considering the $38 green fee. For the most part the fairways and tees were lush, with just a handful of dry spots. Lies were good and the greens were fast, especially on downhill putts. 

I enjoyed my round on Johnny Walker as I normally do at a new course. That said, there isn’t anything too distinctive about it. It is a fine place for the locals, however it isn’t a course the golf enthusiast will want to seek out for a vacation round.

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