Iron Horse - #10

Iron Horse Golf Club

Overview and Photo Gallery

By Brian Weis

Located between Mahoney State Park and Ashland NE, Iron Horse Golf Club is just minutes from Omaha and Lincoln. The Gene Bates designed course is built around an old rock quarry and features steep elevation changes and incredible views. In 2002, Golf Digest recognized Iron Horse as one of the "Best New Affordable Public Courses in America". The course weaves through cottonwood and burr oak forests, native prairie grasses and along a quarry lake.

Notable Holes

Perched above Lake Iron horse, the par 4 ninth, drops several stories to the quarry floor. The elevated tee box provides panoramic views of the quarry lake and the stately club house. Co-owner Tim Young echoed, "It is my favorite hole because of the view and the steep elevation drop."

Mark Boyer, co-owner, teased, "It is also the closest hole to the club house, if you run out of beer."

A stiff drink might be needed for the upcoming hole. The 575 yard par 10th might be regarded as one of the toughest par 5's in the state. From the tee, wetlands protect the left side of the narrow fairway and a 40 acre lake guards the entire right side. The second shot might be more intense than the drive. The fairway narrows to six yards wide as it climbs the quarry bluffs. Target golf is needed to layup on the uphill sloping, second tier fairway. Bottom line, the hole is an exhilarating test of golf. For the record, I lost 2 balls, all off the tee.

History Factoid

In the late 1800's US Army Captain Beetison built his homestead on the property. The house doubled as a lookout tower providing security for strategic parts of the Oxbow supply trail with visibility to the state capitol building. Built in 1868, the structure is one of the oldest in Nebraska.

The Skinny
5 Tees: 6500, 6205, 5700, 5114 and 4411 yards
Slope/Rating: 128/71.4
Par: 71
Weekend Rate With Cart: $59.00

Iron Horse Golf Club
900 Clubhouse Drive
Ashland, NE 68003
402-944-9800
http://www.golfironhorse.com

Photo Slide Show

Article Tags: Iron Horse Golf Club

Revised: 08/18/2011 - Article Viewed 38,417 Times

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the Publisher of GolfTrips.com, a network of golf travel and directory sites including GolfWisconsin.com, GolfMichigan.com, ArizonaGolfer.com, GolfAlabama.com, etc. Professionally, Brian is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA) and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG). In 2016, Brian won The Shaheen Cup, an award given to a golf travel writer by his peers.

All of his life, Brian has been around the game of golf. As a youngster, Brian competed at all levels in junior and high school golf. Brian had a zero chance for a college golf scholarship, so he worked on the grounds crew at West Bend Country Club to pay for his University of Wisconsin education. In his adult years, his passion for the game collided with his entrepreneurial spirit and in 2004 launched GolfWisconsin.com. In 2007, the idea for a network of local golf directory sites formed and GolfTrips.com was born. Today, the network consists of a site in all 50 states supported by national sites like GolfTrips.com, GolfGuide.com and GolfPackages.com. It is an understatement to say, Brian is passionate about promoting golf and golf travel on a local, regional, national and international level.

On the golf course, Brian is known as a fierce weekend warrior that fluctuates between a 5-9 handicap. With a soft fade, known as "The Weis Slice", and booming 300+ drives, he can blast it out of bounds with the best of them.