CapRock Ranch

Gil Hanse's Sandhills course on the rim of the Snake River Canyon in Nebraska, mixing open dunes with holes that play along and across the canyon edge.

CapRock Ranch opened in 2021 near Valentine in north-central Nebraska, a Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner design that won best-new-course honors that year. It is a private club in a remote corner of the Sandhills. The site combines two kinds of ground: gentle, grass-covered dunes, and the pine-lined rim of the Snake River Canyon, which drops a couple hundred feet to the river below.

Eight holes play along or over the canyon edge, and much of the rest roams the dunes. Hanse often let natural features stand in for built hazards; at the short par-3 6th, exposed caprock takes the place of bunkers. The par-5 2nd, Hanse's favorite, has a blind tee shot over a bunker and a shallow green tucked between dunes. The par-5 4th has a finger of canyon cutting into the fairway and a green that seems to float above the drop.

The finish is unusual. The 16th is a short par 3 with a front bunker built right to the canyon's edge, and the round ends on a 213-yard par 3 to a small green with a large slope that funnels shots. Some critics find the repeated canyon carries a little alike, but the routing over two contrasting landscapes is why it ranks.

Holes to know

2

Par 5 · 582 yd

Hanse's favorite: a blind drive over a bunker and a shallow green set between two dunes, with several ways to play it.

6

Par 3 · 157 yd

Exposed caprock replaces bunkers around the green.

16

Par 3 · 147 yd

A short par 3 with a front bunker built right up to the canyon edge.

18

Par 3 · 213 yd

A par-3 finisher to an undersized green, with a big slope that gathers shots.