Two new Nebraska golf courses are on the horizon — and generating plenty of buzz

A “bustling frontier” of American golf is one national view of Nebraska as the state prepares to unveil two more highly anticipated courses this year.

Lost Rail northwest of Gretna and Landmand in northeast Nebraska are planning summer openings.

Landmand will be tournament-tested first.

The course on the bluff north of Homer agreed to host two Nebraska Golf Association events, the Nebraska Mid-Amateur in late August and the sectional qualifier for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in October.

Both are generating excitement. It and Lost Rail made Golf.com’s list of “11 new golf courses we’re excited to see open in 2022.”

Wrote Josh Sens about Landmand:

“Ever since the debut of Sweetens Cove, their beloved nine-hole course in Tennessee, it’s been all work in the name of play for the design duo of Rob Collins and Tad King. Though the name is a riff on Lanman, the Danish word for farmer (lan-man), the land itself merits marquee billing, too. Set in rollicking terrain in southwest Nebraska, the site has been likened in its scale and wildness, to an inland Cruden Bay. Adding to the good news: though Landmand has a group of founding members, the bulk of its times will be given over to public play.”

(Oops. Sens was a little directionally challenged when it came to Landmand’s location.)

His take on Lost Rail: “Nebraska is a bustling frontier of American golf, but many of its marquee courses, including Sand Hills, the Prairie Club and Dismal River, are remote. Lost Rail is 30 minutes from downtown Omaha. Designed by former Fazio Design associate Scott Hoffman, routing runs through a landscape that ranges from rolling pasture to craggy terrain etched with a ravine. One note: getting to the course is not the same as getting on it. Lost Rail will be private.”

Tim Gavrich of Golfpass.com said Landmand gives the Collins/King fan base a first opportunity to see what the duo can do with an 18-hole course.

“Few golf courses have been as heavily hyped pre-opening as Landmand, with its daring design being compared to the likes of Sand Hills, the Nebraska course now regarded as the greatest built since World War II,’’ Gavrich wrote. “Landmand will be public, and when it opens sometime in mid-’22, expect the takes to fly furiously.”

Last year, CapRock Ranch started what should be considered the state’s second wave of memorable golf courses. The first wave was Sand Hills Golf Club and those it originally spawned — Wild Horse, Dismal River, Prairie Club, Ballyneal in Colorado, Sutton Bay in South Dakota.

Golf Digest named CapRock Ranch, which is southwest of Valentine and next to Prairie Club, as its Best New Private Course of 2021.

On the horizon is a proposed course north of Maxwell, which is east of North Platte.

Dormie Network, based in Lincoln and with ArborLinks at Nebraska City as one of its properties, gained zoning approval over the winter. No other details have been released.