tatanka golf club

[golfdaddy01]

8 of us going in june to play 36 holes and gamble alittle , any advice or tips?

[robengel]

Take lots of balls. I haven't gotten up there yet myself but I've heard it's a ball eater if you're not straight. It's a beautiful part of the country, enjoy the trip!

[shortstop20]

8 of us going in june to play 36 holes and gamble alittle , any advice or tips?

 

I will likely be playing it in late May or early June. It's only about an hour from my house. I'll post a review.

[Stetson]

I've heard good things, would like a WRX review though

[Stetson]

I think I need to get out there this summer, can't envision it being open past this summer based upon their online tee sheet showing nearly every slot open for a weekend

[Stetson]

Anyone played here yet?

[cardoustie]

great name

can't help but laugh thinking about Costner in Dances with Wolves

[shortstop20]

Anyone played here yet?

 

I am playing it on Saturday so I have an idea where to hit it during the Scramble the next weekend!

[crazygolfnut]

Eight of us went last year and had a great time. Played in the PM, stayed overnight and played in the AM before we left. On a sad note, the golf pro died in a car accident a few weeks later. Not sure about the status of the course this year but hoping to return with our group.

[Stetson]

They are hosting a two day tournament as a memorial in August for him

[shortstop20]

Anyone played here yet?

 

Played the course on Saturday.

 

In a word, it's great.

 

Beautiful views of the area, with lots of unique holes. In this part of the country, many golf courses have several holes that seem the same on any given course so it was nice to see that not being the case. The course is in good shape. Tees, fairways and greens are all well maintained, as are the bunkers. Plenty of fescue to lose a ball in but the fairways are plenty wide on most holes. I only lost one or two balls and I wasn't hitting the ball well at all. I did however play pretty smart with club choices, so that helped. If you are prone to hit alot of hooks/slices then yes, you will lose alot of balls. I generally hit it pretty straight with misses that are low fades that I can usually keep in play pretty well.

 

Be very mindful of your club choices, taking into account the elevation changes, bunkers and slopes. There are several holes where you're better off being short of the green or left/right of the green instead of on the green but on the other side where there might be a huge slope or valley in the green.

 

The greens rolled true but were not fast, just medium pace.

 

We played the white tees at 6700 yards, 72.3 / 128. I shot 86.

 

Overall, it was a good warmup round for the 4 man scramble on Saturday, looking forward to playing in it.

 

This is a course that I will play once a year at least given it's only 60 miles from my house.

[Stetson]

The one on Saturday will be 7.5+ hours, I'll be there but am not looking forward to the pace at all.

[Stetson]

Played here today... the scramble was playing 7100 yards and for the other 3 in my group that was an issue at times. Thecourse looks like Links golf but I do not think it plays that way at all once your tee shot comes to a rest. The green complexes require a shot that is played through the air, and the grass is "sticky" which combined will elevated greens equates to shots landing short and staying short of the putting surface.

 

The views are pretty cool and it is absolutely worth more than the rack rate. For most it will be one of the more intimidating and captivating courses they have played. I would happily trade this course with Awarii Dunes if only the location were different on my western nebraska golf trips.

[shortstop20]

Played here today... the scramble was playing 7100 yards and for the other 3 in my group that was an issue at times. Thecourse looks like Links golf but I do not think it plays that way at all once your tee shot comes to a rest. The green complexes require a shot that is played through the air, and the grass is "sticky" which combined will elevated greens equates to shots landing short and staying short of the putting surface.

 

The views are pretty cool and it is absolutely worth more than the rack rate. For most it will be one of the more intimidating and captivating courses they have played. I would happily trade this course with Awarii Dunes if only the location were different on my western nebraska golf trips.

 

Yes, hitting the ball high helps alot on the approaches at Tatanka. Our team didn't play very well. The team we were paired with had 2 good players, both high ball hitters and they shot 64.

[Stetson]

We didn't play particularly well either, but to be fair it was a family trip as I went with my dad, uncle and uncle-like family friend and all are over 50. The winning score of 57 while playing 7100 yards and taking 7.5 hours was pretty impressive.

 

Anybody thinking about going I would say it is worth the trip. The casino paid out very well for my family members (all 3 came out ahead), the hotel was cheap, stay and play packages are like $135 and it includes food and casino vouchers... I am looking forward to playing next year, and keeping my ear to the ground for any tournaments that may take place between now and next July.

[crazygolfnut]

When we played last year the round was about 3 1/5 hours. Good pace for that type of course. Looking forward to going back in the fall.

[st8kdinr]

Playing here next Saturday (12th) to start a 4 day golf weekend. Glad to hear it's in good shape and thanks for the tips!

[crazygolfnut]

Group of us spent two days at Tatanka and had a very bad experience.

 

Hotel service was way below par - It took us over an hour for the 10 of us to check in. We had to get the golf pass from the hotel to take over to the course to play. The next morning we had to go back to the hotel desk to get a another golf pass to play that day. Why not give us both days’ passes the first day? Why passes? Can’t the Pro Shot and the hotel front desk communicate with each other?

 

First day of play - Turns out they were aerating the greens. Well that’s ok but half of the course was not playable. This was not just after the aeration where the greens are a little bumpy, rather they were actually aerating while we were playing. There was no direction from the pro shop as to stay on the front side or back side. We just went out and played until we had to jump around the green in question. What a mess. We played automatic two putts on greens where there was no flag.

 

Dinner that night was unbelievably bad - They were out of the Salisbury steak special of the night and out of hamburger. Eight out of ten of us ordered Buffalo burgers. These were way over cooked, some burnt and almost inedible. However, when you are hungry you will eat just about anything. The waitress took our order, gave us our soft drinks and water. She brought our food and then we never saw here again. No refills, no questions to see how everything was. We had to get our own silverware and remove the dirty salad plates.

 

Monday night the bar is closed so the bartender can have a night off.

 

Our group leader complained to someone at the hotel about all the bad things going on and suggested that maybe we should get some kind of a discount. Someone said that we would.

 

Next day. We had a tee 9 am tee time and of course, the hotel did not have any food so ate at the snack bar just off the pro shop. Breakfast sandwiches for all! It was good and served by a very nice a polite lady. One of the better parts of the trip.

 

I ran into the young man from the pro shop. (Research indicates that there is no PGA Pro). In a very defensive manner, he wanted to know why we deserve any kind of a discount. I started to tell him that it took me an hour in line to check in and he immediately cut me off. “He has nothing to do with the hotel and there is nothing he can do about what happens over there”. He immediately started questioning me about who said we would get a discount etc. Since he was so defensive, I told him that he needed to talk with our leader and that was not me. He said the he called our team leader two weeks ago and told him that they were going to aerate the greens. I don’t think that we knew it was going to happen during the days we were scheduled to play. We were not told that half of the course was going to be out of commission and unplayable. They should have just closed the place down. He was very defensive and I never heard an apology. He did agree to discount which as of the writing we have not seen. At this point we paid full price....

 

My very unsophisticated rating is here.

Hotel facility – 5/10

Hotel service - 2/10

Hotel food - 2/10

Hotel food service - 1/10

Pro Shop - 2/10

Snack Bar Food - 5/10

Snack Bar Service - 7/10

Golf Course layout - 6/10

Golf Course condition (what was playable) - 6/10

 

The group decided that we will not be returning to this facility.

[shortstop20]

The course is good but I agree that there are management issues.

 

Hopefully they get that sorted out.

[st8kdinr]

Yes, we had 8 play on a Saturday in August. I booked it through the hotel as 36 holes and Saturday night at the hotel. We showed up to the course and they only had one tee time for us the entire day, instead of three (2 in the AM and 2 for the second 18). The guy at the clubhouse said they don't have good communication with the hotel, which, as someone in the hospitality industry, this makes no sense to me. You are the only 2 things up there that can drive some great business, why not work together and you are separated by a chip shot. He was able to get us squeezed in but it was an ordeal to get checked in and the offerings were great. The staff at the course seemed nice and they tried to do what they could. I wouldn't recommend anyone to stay there, go up for the day, play 18 and head home or play in SD. Course condition was fine and the overall it's playable. Not the best layout, they are way behind some of the other 'natural' feel courses in the state. It will not be on any future buddies trip rotation however.

[shortstop20]

Yes, we had 8 play on a Saturday in August. I booked it through the hotel as 36 holes and Saturday night at the hotel. We showed up to the course and they only had one tee time for us the entire day, instead of three (2 in the AM and 2 for the second 18). The guy at the clubhouse said they don't have good communication with the hotel, which, as someone in the hospitality industry, this makes no sense to me. You are the only 2 things up there that can drive some great business, why not work together and you are separated by a chip shot. He was able to get us squeezed in but it was an ordeal to get checked in and the offerings were great. The staff at the course seemed nice and they tried to do what they could. I wouldn't recommend anyone to stay there, go up for the day, play 18 and head home or play in SD. Course condition was fine and the overall it's playable. Not the best layout, they are way behind some of the other 'natural' feel courses in the state. It will not be on any future buddies trip rotation however.

 

Yeah, it definitely seems like there is a major disconnect or a bad relationship between the management at the hotel and the course which is too bad because they have an opportunity to make something good out of it.

[Stetson]

Even though I was glad I made the trip over the summer I will certainly second (or third) the notion that their hotel and specifically its service is terrible.

 

- Check-in was very slow

- Food options severely lacking (seafood buffet = 4 snow crab legs on the whole buffet line)

- non-buffet items poorly prepared, undercooked chicken fingers even came out

- waitress was terrible, I will echo the sentiment that the only refills are after you get up and chase somebody down

- charged for four breakfast buffets, nobody ate the buffet

 

During our stay (Friday night into Saturday) I would say there was an extreme and obvious culture of laziness among the staff. They were overstaffed at all times and yet nothing was being done. It came across as a charity for the local tribe to provide jobs, but not actually require much work.

 

As for the golf course I only played in the tournament and the head pro for that event was professional, courteous and came across as somebody that did care. But the other 364 days could be a different story.