Landmand: King/Collins’ Triumph in the Loess Hills

From the beautiful setting to its enthralling golf experience, Landmand Golf Club was everything I hoped it would be.

Arriving well before sunrise there was a thick, low-lying fog akin to the conditions I’d experienced recently in French Lick, Indiana.

Driving past endless farm fields on loose eastern Nebraska backroads to a property that’s barely been open a year, my GPS told me I was close. I couldn’t see more than 25 feet in front of me, though, and knew the course’s signage was minimal, at best.

I was on high alert. I was nervous to miss whatever sunrise the day had in store for me.

Thankfully, I spotted a small sign and pulled into the drive of an old barn. I still wasn’t sure I was there. It could have been a maintenance location, which wouldn’t be the first time, or it literally could have been somebody’s farm.

Thankfully, the long, winding drive uphill deposited me in a sizable parking lot. It felt like the Field of Dreams: “Is this Heaven?” “No, it’s Nebraska” (just across the border from Iowa).

I knew the moment I got out of the car that we were in for a golf experience like none other.

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A Quick Overview of Landmand Golf Club

Also like my time at French Lick, the fog managed to stay (for the most part) low that morning, and dissipated to leave clear skies for our round of golf. While I would never prefer foggy conditions for photography, it led to some interesting early-morning shots that feel timely now that we’re entering October.

The first things visitors to Landmand will notice are the property’s elevation, its unreal topography and minimalist facilities.

A small pro shop sits “Up top” and looms over the 18th hole and practice putting green. The mostly glass pro shop has a few hundred square feet of intrinsically cool and unique merchandise, a checkout counter with a bar, restrooms and an office.

It doesn’t need more than that.

Out front are “The Farmer’s Table” food truck (the land used for the course was a multi-generation soybean and corn farm and “Landmand” translates to “farmer” in Danish), a handful of picnic tables and driving range.

The rest, for as far as the eye can see, is long views of the Nebraska countryside and its bountiful Loess Hills.

Outside of the facilities, everything at Landmand is accentuated. The greens are gargantuan – including over 33,000 square feet of putting surface on the drivable 17th – the changes in elevation are significant and the fairways wide and rolling.

There is no rough, which as Superintendent Pat Fisher told me means they have over three times more mowable turf than most golf properties and a significantly larger grounds crew.

One of the hottest golf course design teams in the game right now, King/Collins laid out Landmand with creativity and fun as its focal point. There are some tough shots, sure, but even the pain of missing them is alleviated by the joy of taking in its awe-striking natural setting and ingenius architectural flexes.

The 17th (above) is a great example of that, as is the first. On the first, a clear path to the fairway for shorter hitters is provided to avoid taking on the ridge and a potential lost ball, but longer hitters are invited to fly it and leave a shorter approach shot as a reward for their risk.

It’s all these risk/reward setups and beautiful design that have already found Landmand on lists as one of the top 20 public courses in the country, even in just its second year of play.

Our Day at Landmand

The experience at Landmand is unique from the start. Players are asked for their walk-up music prior to heading out, and the course’s architectural layout is as imaginative as any I’ve seen.

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Star holes at Landmand for me included the par four third, par four 10th, the long par five 18th, drivable 17th and all of its par threes.

The third, teeing off downhill from near the greens site on two, has a craggy, grass- and fescue-covered barranca running the length of the left side of the hole.

Discussed at length during the 2023 US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, a barranca is a steep-walled ravine that occurs naturally and creates a wonderful defense in golf. The visuals of this feature alone on the course were spectacular.

It was on the 10th hole I had to text golf course architect Rob Collins: “On 10, this green… WOAH!!!”

Finishing with a massive punch bowl putting surface, this par four has a mostly blind tee shot over the course’s perimeter.

Every edge of the green’s surface can be used to carom approach shots toward the center of the green. This hole is superb.

All the par threes at Landmand are special for their own reasons, but included with each of those reasons is their glorious aesthetics.

The 12th and 14th might be the most scenic of them all, both played over dead zones to magnificently perched greens flanked by deep bunkers.

One of the biggest creative flexes at Landmand comes on the par three eighth.

Have you ever played a hole on a big-time golf course that’s under 100 yards? Well, here you go! Tipping at 105 and pinching as short as 75, imagine the tightest, between-clubs wedge shot with trouble everywhere… That’s this par three.

Dan led things off, chipping an 8-iron onto the right side of the green and watching it roll slightly toward the left and the day’s hole location. He made par.

I opted for a 3/4-swing with my 52-degree wedge, watched it hit the green and bounce into one of the back bunkers. My first sand shot then rolled off into another bunker, eventually leading to double. Sometimes it pays to play smart.

The other of the par threes at Landmand, the fifth is another tremendous hole albeit long – stretched to 245 from the red tees. The green on five is one of the largest on the course and can lead to some incredibly long putts. Will had at least 100 feet left uphill – with wiggle – for an unlikely birdie opportunity.

There is wonder everywhere at Landmand, so while I’m not going into every hole in this post (Gregg did a great job of covering the property in his below article already) I do want to show a few others, including:

Landmand’s 18th: An Instant Classic

565 yards from the tips, the tee shot on 18 shares a wide fairway with one. No problems there.

Where things get interesting is on the approach shot, where a massive bunker complex guards its perpetually elevated green en route to the hilltop.

Set against the backdrop of the property’s pro shop and American flag, the 18th is an instantly iconic finishing hole and a memorable finish to a world-class round of golf at Landmand.

A Few Pro Tips About Visiting Landmand

The first thing you should know about Landmand, other than that it’s well worth the 7-1/2 hour drive from Milwaukee on its own, is that it is the perfect starting or ending point to any golf trip in the Sand Hills of Nebraska.

Located half-way to or from Dismal River Golf Club and/or The Prairie Club, for example, it’s the ideal stop to break up a long car ride and be introduced to the haven of Nebraska golf.

South Sioux City, Iowa is the nearest city with hotel options to Homer, Nebraska, so be sure to grab a room the night before or after. It will be a 20- to 25-minute drive from most hotels in South Sioux City, which is a beautiful town in its own right.

While still grossly underrated, it’s my belief that Nebraska’s time in the limelight of golf superstardom is just around the corner. New, nationally ranked courses (like Landmand, CapRock Ranch, GrayBull, Lost Rail and others) have been debuting annually here and with so much undeveloped, golf-rich land I think that trend will continue for a long time to come.

If you think Landmand is tough to get on now – they sold out their 2024 season in under three hours – imagine when travelers from around the world start getting wind of all the incredible golf in the Cornhusker state!

All that to say: Keep tabs on Landmand’s 2025 tee sheet, and when they start accepting reservations make yours fast.

Landmand is a bucket list golf course, and Nebraska is a bucket list destination that those who visit will never forget.

More on Landmand Golf Club

For more on Landmand, including WiscoGolfAddict Contributing Writer Gregg Thompson’s interview with course architect Rob Collins, see Gregg’s 2022 article, linked here:

Need more Landmand? I get that! Check out my photo gallery from our morning in the Loess Hills using the link below:

Landmand Golf Club website