Hole-by-hole at Eureka Montana’s The Wilderness Club

Ranked the #1 golf course in Montana, The Wilderness Club Golf Course is a challenge to even the most seasoned golfer.

True to its name the Wilderness Club Golf Course is literally hundreds of miles from any major population center, with Calgary, Alberta being the closest major city at some 375 kilometers and Kalispell, Montana about an hour and a half away. Isolated but beautiful.

Situated outside tiny Eureka, Montana—population 1500—The Wilderness Club is a Nick Faldo designed course and was ranked by GolfWeek magazine as the #1 golf course in Montana.

I had the opportunity to mix some pleasure with business recently when attending the 2nd Annual Cross Border Golf Tournament hosted by the Eureka Rural Development Partners. The tournament was a best ball scramble, shotgun start, and a two-to-a-team format.

My partner for the day was Kimberley golfer and house builder Clay Olah and he definitely was the ace of the team. We were teamed up with Wilderness Club employee, Benson and Tammi Moore of the Flathead Beacon newspaper. We started out on hole #14 and finished the track in just over five hours.

Here is a hole-by-hole summary of all 18 holes at The Wilderness Club....

#14 – Slight dogleg to the right. Relatively narrow fairway leading up a small green protected by sand bunkers just off the fairway to the left and sand on the right side of the green. Playing off the sliver tees it was a 424 yard par 4 hole.

#15 – Another slight dogleg, this time to the left. Another sand bunker half way up the fairway leading up to a longer but narrow green with sand on both sides of the approach. Par 4 – 393 yards.

#16 – Another par 4 (403 yards). A sharp dogleg to the left. A big sand trap on the fairway to the left and several small fairway traps to right. Sand bunkers once again protected the right and left approaches to the green with another trap at the back of the green.

#17 – A picturesque par 3 at only 143 yards. Water on the left skirted most of the fairway and four small sand traps ringed the small green set back to the left.

#18 – Definitely one of the prettiest holes on the course and maybe the signature hole. A long 593 yards, off the black tees or 497 yards off the silver. This par 5 was more than a bit intimidating with water on the left side from the tee box to the tiny green at the other end. Fairway bunkers skirt both the right and left side of fairway and more sand traps fronted the approach to the green. Par 5.

#1 – We played off the silver tees at 337 yards. The par 4 hooked a bit left with bunkers on the left side of fairway. Two deep sand traps paralleled the green and one smaller one at the back of the green. This open hole gave you a true sense of big sky Montana.

#2 –Par 4 369 yards played pretty much straight away. Danger lurked on the left with a massive sand bunker running a quarter of the fairway and a smaller bunker at the midway point. A small green again protected by traps to the left and lots of tree to the right.

#3 – Par 5 beauty leaning to right. Again protected by a huge field of fairway bunkers to the right and the front approach to the green. Three small traps ringed the green and several smaller bunkers sat to left along the fairway. A big drive here was essential but accuracy a must on this links-style hole.

#4 – Heavily treed on both sides of the fairway this golf hole only sported two small sand traps. At 327 yards the fairway bottle-necked down toward a tiny green. Again accuracy of play was in demand on this par 4 layout.

#5 – Water, water everywhere on the stunning little par 3 which we played at only 125 yards. A big body of water to the left, a lake to be exact, swallowed the approach to the green and two huge sand trap awaited for any golfer who overshot the green. Big water, big sand traps and big sky – yes everything is big in Montana.

#6 – Back to the par 4s, this interesting hole hooked to the left, with sand bunkers running all the way up the left side and two small bunkers strategically placed in the middle of fairway, right in the center of the natural landing zone. Two small sand bunkers sat at the right and left of the triangular green. We play it at 349 yards.

#7 – Not much room for error on this challenging par 3, 168 yarder. An imposing tree to the left, a fairway bunker facing the tee box and a small green protected by sand traps and an abundance of trees made this hole more than a routine par.

#8 – A long par 5 at 541 off the blacks, 484 off the sliver tees. Water immediately on the left, a narrow serpentine fairway veered slightly to left before straightening out at the foot of the relatively narrow green which was sided by a series of small but dangerous sand traps on both sides of the putting pitch. 

A panoramic view of The Wilderness Club from hole number 8—long fairways and big sky.

#9 – Back-to-back par 5s had us reaching for our biggest drivers in the bag. We played it at 367 yards but off the black it plays a lengthy 503. Tailing to right this narrow fairway leads up to beautifully sculptured green heavily protected by seven deep and imposing traps to the right. One of the course's bigger greens, it rolls up and down as if influenced by a gentle wave, front to back.

#10 – Par 4 but anything but easy. The target was a tiny green tucked up against a small lake with sand to left and in behind too. Trees to right and left guarded the approach like frontier gunmen. 267 yards of finesse is what this hole demanded.

#11 – Though typical wouldn't be a word you would use to describe these fairways, #11 was a pretty typical par 4 at 345 yards. Dogleg to the right, sand bunkers at the elbows and five sand traps hindering easy access to the oblong green. Trees skirt both sides of the fairway.

#12 – Another signature hole of The Wilderness Club? A monster par 5, we played it at 517, the black tee off at 557. Pretty much straight away but narrow and contracting at mid-point. A proliferation of sand traps on both sides of another triangular green – made even more challenging with a back-of-the-green pin placement.

#13 – Lucky 13? This slightly elevated green is protected in more ways that Fort Knox. Long wispy grass in the front, deep sand bunkers on the left, huge trees on both sides and sand traps on the left and back of the green. We played at 132 yards and managed a par 3 on this hole. If you're accurate it would be a good hole to pick up a birdie on.

Clayton and myself came into the clubhouse with an 81, we basically played bogey golf, and our other team mates shot a 73, and I believe the winning team chalked up an impressive 67. It is easy to see why The Wilderness Club is so highly rated, and despite its isolated location, with the right mix of promotion and good word of mouth is it destined to continue to grow in popularity throughout Northwest golfers. The Wilderness Club is owned and operated by the Windmill Group of companies based in Calgary.

Thank you to the Eureka Rural Development Program and their executive director Tracy McIntyre for inviting us to play this magnificent course. We were humbled by the invitation and the challenging course.