Des Moines Golf and Country Club
This club, featuring two great courses is an absolute gem and one of the best in the Midwest. Located in West Des Moines, approximately a 2 hour drive from central Omaha. In 1999 they hosted the U.S. Senior Open and in 2017, the Solheim Cup. For these international events they combined the courses for a hybrid course with the best holes of both the North and South courses. The courses originally designed by Pete Dye in the early 70s have been renovated and slightly modified over the years.
Although this is a private club, I have the opportunity to play there as a guest at least once a year. On a nice fall day, we just played all 36 in one day. Both courses offer plenty of variety, with doglegs, water, trees, elevation changes, and variable greens. The bent grass fairways are in great shape and the members take great care of the courses. Those trees planted 50 years ago are constantly being pruned and thinned out to maximize the course conditions without changing the character.
Scott Howe, the Director of Golf has been there forever and runs a great ship. He probably sees me once a year, and remembers me along with his 800 golfing members. The entire staff is a reflection of his leadership and show attention to every detail.
The courses have plenty of land which makes it ideal for hosting major events. It also gives them a nice buffer around the perimeter. You won’t see any housing around the course, so consequently it is nicely spaced between holes and ideal for walking. How many times have you been to a great golf course where the driving range is an after thought and squeezed into a small area? Des Moines CC has three different ranges and practice areas, with at least one open at a time. All the ranges provide a nice visual with a variety of targets.
Walkers don’t need to bring their own carts with a quantity of nice speed carts available to use.
Although they have several ponds around the course, I did not see a problem with geese, which is very common in the area. When we saw the superintendent riding in a cart with a dog in the back, I was told the dog was trained to chase away geese. That seems to work very well.
The GPS system on the carts is the best of the industry. You get distance to the pin, and press on the green and you actually get a topographical map of the green. It will also show you where the geo fencing starts, so you don’t have those embarrassing moments of putting the cart in reverse.
The variety of tees and combo tees makes the course playable for everyone. When they hosted the Solheim and U.S. senior open they used a combination of holes from both 18s to carve out a great track.
The course is owned by the members. Like most country clubs since covid, they have a full membership and a long waiting list to get in. The members say it is harder to get the ideal tee times they want. The heavy play shows on the greens with the amount of ball marks and the fairway divots.
The only negative is the noise from the interstate on the south course. If you have a south wind it is worse. Although they have a nice buffer of trees the noise is still constant. I did find several bunkers that weren’t consistent and the lining in the bunkers was showing in a few areas. If you get a chance to play this course, don’t pass it up.
