University of Nebraska / Lincoln Golf Weekend

http://pgm.unl.edu/facilities/pgmcourses.html

Where To Play:
Wilderness Ridge Golf Club  Located in south Lincoln adjacent to Wilderness Park, this "Facility of the Year in 2002" is one of the newest in Lincoln. The high-end, daily-fee championship golf course was built by Landscapes Unlimited, a world leader in golf course construction that has its home office in Lincoln.

Yankee Hill Country Club in south Lincoln, was established in 1998. The 37,000 square foot colonial style clubhouse overlooks the beautiful 165-acre golf course and rolling hills of southern Lancaster County. The golf course features nine lakes and a large waterfall that cascades through part of the 18-hole course.

Woodland Hills Golf Course is a five star 18-hole public facility that has been in existence since 1991. The former tree farm has a well-planned layout with pine trees everywhere, ponds, bentgrass and greens.

Crooked Creek Golf Club is a semi-private 18-hole championship course. Traditional layout with a combination of water, trees, mounds and sand.

Lincoln City Golf Courses:  The five city-owned courses; Jim Ager, Highlands, Holmes, Mahoney and Pioneers, make up one of the top municipal facilities in the country.

Firethorn Golf Club is a private 27-hole course. The orginial 18 holes were designed by Pete Dye established in 1986; additional Ben Chrenshaw west 9 built in 2001. Might be worth a letter from your club pro back home to see if you can get on.

Up For A College-Style Road Trip?: Then head 2 1/2 hours west on I-80 to Wild Horse GC (41150 Road 786, Gothenburg, 308-537-7700, http://playwildhorse.com). This may be the closest you'll ever come to playing the famed (but very private) Sand Hills CC. The layouts draw legit comparisons because Wild Horse was designed by the same shapers who helped Crenshaw and Coore craft the legendary Sand Hills. They found the terrain of this 310-acre former farm had natural golf hole after natural golf hole waiting for them. Thank God, because this small-community-sponsored course only had one full time construction employee and was largely built Amish-barn-raising-style by local golfer volunteers and farmers passing by on tractors offering to help. Holes are framed by long prarie grasses swaying in the ever-present wind, with generous fairways and open-front greens, and big, deep, fiendish, well-placed blow-out bunkers. It ranks as high as 22nd on lists of Top Modern Courses, and Golf Magazine called it 'The Carnoustie Of The Cornbelt' in naming it #1 on their 2007 Thrifty 50 with a greens fee of just ~$37. So it's worth the trip from U of N.

Where To Stay:  If you're staying overnight here, bunk down at The Pony Express Inn.

Best Bar Nearby, Lincoln: Local internet hottie Melissa Midwest (www.melissamidwest.com) has made a habit of getting arrested during wet t-shirt contests at Cheerleaders Sports Bar, and another club called Marz. If there's even a 2% chance she might show up there, it's worth the trip.

If not, head for The Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery (www.tiltedkilt.com, #5 Gateway). Think 'Hooter's meets a great Irish pub.' They do a St. Paddy's Day celebration called St. Practice Day on the 17th of every month.

Where To Grub: ESPN.com says dine at Misty's Steakhouse, which is kind of like the college football hall of fame, only with steaks and alcohol.

Further Distractions: Check out Midwestern football tradition defined at University Of Nebraska-Lincoln. If you're more about entertainment than football tradition, catch a game of the UFL's Omaha Nighthawks.  They've got more cheerleaders than players.