Bayside Golf Club

Overview: Bayside Golf Club is a public Dan Proctor and Dave Axland design on the bluffs above Lake McConaughy in western Nebraska. The 18-hole, par-72 course measures 6,546 yards and uses arroyos, ruts, ridges, native grass and lake views to create a rugged links-style round. The property is not manicured into a uniform parkland shape: fairways move through the existing land, and the wind off the lake can change how the exposed holes are played. Its appeal comes from the combination of raw scenery, strategic ground and a sense of being well beyond the ordinary golf corridor.

History: Bayside was developed as a family-built, family-owned public course. The front nine opened in 1999, followed by the grand opening of the full facility in 2001. Owners Bonnie Nemecek, Cliff Brown and Jason and Suzy Hiltibrand worked with architects Dan Axland and Dave Proctor to turn rugged land south of the Oregon Trail into a playable course that showcased western Nebraska. The project retained the property's natural relief and its views of Lake McConaughy rather than importing a conventional resort template.

Did You Know? Bayside's setting carries stories older than the golf course. The land lies just south of the Oregon Trail, and the club notes that arrowheads and other evidence of the region's Indigenous history can still be found outside the playing boundary. The course is therefore tied to both the modern lake landscape and the much older history of the Great Plains.