Amana Colonies Golf Course

Overview: Amana Colonies Golf Club is an 18-hole woodland course set among the oak forests and streams of the historic Amana area in central Iowa. William J. Spear's design works with the property's natural features rather than imposing a stark geometric layout: white oaks, ponds, meandering streams and changes in woodland density shape the playing corridors. The directory lists the course at 6,824 yards and par 72. Five teeing grounds give the layout a broad range of playing lengths, while the combination of tree-lined holes and water creates a varied round in a quiet rural setting.

History: Amana Colonies Golf Club opened for play in 1989. The course was laid out across approximately 500 acres with an explicit aim of preserving the natural features of the land, linking the golf property to the larger landscape of the Amana Colonies. Architect William J. Spear, an Iowa-born landscape architect and ASGCA member, included Amana Colonies Golf Course among his selected portfolio. The course has since developed a reputation as one of Iowa's stronger public layouts and has been recognised by Golf Digest and Golf Magazine. Its history is therefore closely tied to both Spear's regional design work and the cultural landscape around the seven Amana villages.

Did You Know? The golf course sits in the setting of the Amana Colonies, a National Historic Landmark founded by German-speaking Inspirationists in Iowa during the 1850s. That historic settlement landscape gives the course a rare cultural backdrop for a modern 1989 design.