My weekend of golf in Omaha turned out to be excellent! On Saturday I got to experience the area’s top golf course and chop it around a short course. Then, on Sunday, I played all 27 holes at The Club at Indian Creek – one of the area’s best public course’s and host of the Pinnacle Bank Championship. I had never been to the Omaha area before and came away impressed with the diversity of courses.

When I was first looking for tee times on Sunday I had my eye on Iron Horse Golf Club and Quarry Oaks Golf Club. For a couple reasons I stayed in Lincoln on Friday and Saturday, so either Iron Horse or Quarry Oaks would have been the most convenient courses. Well, Quarry Oaks was all booked and Iron Horse wouldn’t take a tee time for a single (silly). My next choice was Indian Creek, which is about a half hour from downtown.

What I didn’t realize when booking my tee time at Indian Creek is that the Korn Ferry Tour would be starting the Pinnacle Bank Championship about a week after I was there. Had I known the tournament was going to be so soon, I would have given Indian Creek a closer look initially. As it turned out though, I sort of lucked into a round when the course was near tournament condition and most of the grandstands had already been assembled.

My tee time was at 8:30am and after I checked in the proshop directed me to the Black/Gray nine combo – the tournament routing. I waited on the first tee but the threesome I was paired with never showed. So, the starter insisted I play the Red/Black combo because he had a group over there ready to go. I was a bit disappointed to miss out on the Gray nine since that was the tournament’s back nine. However, I did a replay on Gray, so that worked out well. I think I’d rank the nines 1) Gray 2) Black 3) Red, although all have a similar look and feel.

Indian Creek is a residential course and tucked in among some homes. The course occupies a nice piece of property and the area reminded me a lot of South Central Pennsylvania. As you’ll see in the pictures, the land rises and falls to keep shots interesting. You get elevated tee shots, uphill holes and holes in the low areas – usually next to water. The course opened in 1996 and went through a renovation by the Lohmann Quitno design group.

I’m not sure who designed Indian Creek originally or the exact timing of the renovation (2012 maybe?), but today’s course is a modern design. From the tips the course can play up to 7,581 yards! I stuck with the blue tees which are between 6,522 and 6,702 depending on which nines you play. The rating and slope are between 72.3/73.0 and 131/132.

While there is plenty of width to the design, many fairway bunkers narrow the driving areas and the greens have plenty of contour. With the rough grown up for the tournament, Indian Creek will be an excellent driving course for the pros. Personally, I could have done with far fewer fairway bunkers which just seemed to gobble up all my tee shots.

The Red nine is the shortest, flattest and probably the most basic nine at Indian Creek. Red plays along the east side of the property and is highlighted by good par-3’s and good par-5’s. The par-3’s were my favorite. The 5th is 183 yards and is downhill about a club. From the tee you can see quite a few miles of Eastern Nebraska. The 8th, at 154 yards, is the other par-3 and is a good risk/reward hole. Water guards the green short and right and if bailing long and left then there is a ridge in the green to navigate.

The Black nine is the longest nine and has a fun stretch of holes from the 4th through 8th. Two more good par-3’s are included on this stretch as well as the par-4 6th and par-5 7th. The 6th is 421 yards and is another hole with an elevated tee shot. The fairway can run out into a hazard and then the green is tucked into a hillside. The 7th is a reachable par-5 but water runs down the entire right side of the hole. I sliced my tee shot into the hazard and was very happy to escape with only a bogey.

Finally, the Gray nine is probably the most “championship” nine at Indian Creek. Besides the 1st and 9th hole, which run to/from the clubhouse, I enjoyed every hole here. Gray is free of homes and allows for plenty of drama with water on four holes. The 3rd and 4th play across the edge of a hazard before yet another fun par-3, the 8th. The 8th is 187 yards and features a half-island green.

I paid $47 to walk my first eighteen holes and then $20 for the last nine. I thought that was a great value for what the course offered. The conditions were close to perfect, however I played here at a probably the best time of year. The greens were pure and wouldn’t stop rolling. The fairways were flawless and many tee shots took a firm bounce into the nasty rough. The rough was long and thick.

Considering the price I was happy with my pick to play Indian Creek. All the fairway bunkers are bound to annoy some golfers – me included – but for the price I don’t think a round here can be beat. I’d recommend the course if you are in Omaha and think Indian Creek is the great example of how good golf can be in America’s heartland.

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