King-Collins ready to break ground on new Nebraska course

Construction of Landmand Golf Club in Homer, Nebraska, the first eighteen-hole new-build by King-Collins Golf Course Design, will begin in September.

Tad King and Rob Collins were contacted by Will Andersen following their work at Sweetens Cove Golf Club in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Andersen had three potential sites for a golf course.

“We looked at the first two properties and then Will said he had a really cool one up on the hills with some big contours,” said Collins. “Once we saw that third property, we were like, ‘this is it, this is the one to do it on’. It was obvious right away. It is an extraordinary piece of land, really, a dream come true.”

The architects plan for rough shaping to be completed this year so that the course can be grassed by autumn 2020.

“It’s a wide-open site with not a single tree,” said Collins. “It looks like a site you’d see in the sand dunes, maybe the sandhills. There are these towering land formations.

“The third goes through a valley with 100-150-foot land formations on either side, which kind of winds through, and when you get to the top you’ve got these panoramic views. One of the things that’s so neat about the site is the amazing views that you’re going to have across the property of other golf holes. It is one hell of a site!”

The course will open with a 590-yard par five. “It plays just over these tumbling ridges that go right up to the little plateau green,” said Collins. “It just lays there right now, it’s perfect.

“One of the coolest stretches on the property includes the driveable 310-yard par-four seventh, which plays through a little valley. When you walk off the seventh green, you go up a little walkway and then you’re on the eighth tee, which is a 110-yard postage stamp par-three. Next, there’s a really interesting ninth hole that plays out and the tenth hole playing back, with a big punchbowl green into a natural punchbowl site.

“The eleventh tees cross the ninth, so there’s a little bit of a crossing, kind of like the Old course and Lahinch, and places where you play across the line of play,” continues Collins. “The whole area — seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven — is a neat hub of activity. There’s a couple of places like that on the golf course where you will be interacting with people on other holes, seeing a hole you haven’t played yet, or seeing a hole you’ve just played — it creates a great feeling, and the course winds its way back.

“Another interesting hole is the seventeenth, a 310-yard downhill and driveable par four that will have a 40,000 square foot ‘Sitwell’ green with strategy and angles similar to the ninth at Cypress Point — basically a combination of the two holes.”

According to Collins, the course will be a 7,000-yard par 73 with plenty of variety, occupying around 200 acres of the 580-acre site. It will be available to the public and will have a limited membership.

“I, Tad and our entire team are excited to transform this amazing site into golf holes,” said Collins. “I think one of the most exciting things is going to be standing on the twelfth tees and looking out across the property and seeing between eight to ten other golf holes. As the golf holes start to come to life — it’s already jaw dropping as it is — you’ll suddenly start to see big bunkers carved into these hills and fairways winding around it. It’s awesome!”

Richard HumphreysRichard Humphreys

Other posts by Richard Humphreys

Contact author