Beautiful course. The layout through the slag and the remnants of the Old Works made for a great experience. At $43 during the week what a bargain, even for Montana.

Customer Service

Customer service was excellent. Even the ranger was nice. :)

Played here 7-11-07: made a special trip to get here. Previous reviewers have it about right with course comments. On the accommodation side, Anaconda is a very nice small town that seems to have weathered the loss of copper jobs pretty well. Still no motels to speak of, just a few B&B's, so it's necessary to go to Butte, about 25 minutes away. No one gets to Anaconda by accident, but this course is a darn good reason to go there. The folks I played with came up from Utah for a week at their getaway place, and planned to play the course every day while in the area. Wish I lived closer. The day I played, the course was in super shape: tee boxes were excellent: fairways are LUSH: rough is fair, but will cost you: greens are very large, and most are heavily contoured, and are FAST (10 on the stimpmeter). Saw a pair of foxes on hole #6, and a mule deer watched us putt on another hole (can deer laugh out loud?). Lots of artifacts surround the course, and there is plenty of signage to explain what you're seeing. One of the really nice things is the scorecard: shows the layout of each hole, with some details about how to approach each. Take the time to read it, it will save a stroke or two. A word on the bunkers: some folks in Butte told me that the granulated slag still had some poisonous by-products in it: the course literature says it's all inert...I guess it's not a problem if you stay out of the bunkers and don't take any home with you! It is, however, pretty abrasive stuff: it will score up your golf ball, and put some serious wear on your wedge. I highly recommend The Old Course: great fun!!

Customer Service

Excellent in every respect. Pro shop is well stocked, and staff is very professional. Course is managed by Troon, which is a top-notch outfit in my experiences with them.

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None in Montana: similar to other Nicklaus courses elsewhere: maybe a little less punitive than some he's done.

The golf course is in great condition, the fairways are plush and the greens are above average speed and they putt true. The sand was a cool local addition but overall the course was pretty boring for a Nickalous course. No holes really stand out in my memory and I played it twice just a month ago. I drove over four hours to get there and came away unimpressed.

Customer Service

The girl in the proshop seemed overwhelmed with the two groups at the counter. She changed our tee time while we were in line even though we had a time a month in advance. We got there an hour before our tee time and they did not have a cart for us until five minutes before we started.

generous landing areas off the tee and real nice sand traps

sometimes you have to be Nicklaus to play a Nicklaus design

Driving through Montana you must stop to play this economically feasible nicklaus design. The course design is typical Jack with holes that require a driver but offer generous landing areas and tough approaches to greens that are surrounded by bunkers which are filled with black silt sand. It was the first time I had never seen sand like this on a course but it added to the design and was easy to play out of when in trouble. The course was in great shape and number 16 was a pretty hole which was tough. You must stop at Old Works when travelling through Montana

Customer Service

great

greens, overall condition

lack of trees (if you can call that a weakness!)

Normally, I would never drive 500+ miles just to play one golf course. But this course came highly recommended and, finding myself in the area anyway, I decided to try it out. Wow, am I glad I did! This little gem was built only four years ago (1997) so it lacks the maturity of older courses, but it is in fantastic condition. The tee areas, of which there are five, are in better condition than any public-access courses I've played and as good as most resort courses. The fairways were consistent - most were flat, while a few resembled links-style conditions. They were all manicured to near perfection. But the most impressive feature of this course for me, the uniqueness of the layout and "sand" traps notwithstanding, were the greens. The speed was perfect - not too fast, but fast enough to make you think twice about charging a sidehill/downhill 6-footer. Most importantly, I never saw the ball bounce once on any putt by any member of our group! I've played PGA Tour courses that can't boast greens as true as these. The clubhouse and pro shop facilities are adequate and nicely appointed, as well. Pace of play was excellent - 4 1/2 hours (they enforce this emphatically). Now, I just need to find 3-4 more courses even close to this to justify an annual road trip.

Customer Service

Tee times can only be made 3 days in advance, unless you pay a $10 advance fee - then you can call as far ahead as you like.

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Nicklaus and the value. Impossible to beat.

None. The long drive just gives you a chance to reflect on last year's trip and how much better this year's round will be.

As noted in previous review...a long ways from anywhere but worth driving for. It's 200+ miles from Idaho Falls but if you leave at 8 am you're on the first tee by noon. EPA cleaned up the old Anaconda smelter site (copper ore from a huge open pit mine in nearby Butte). Nicklaus came in and built an incredible course on top of the leftovers...then the county took it over and it's basically a muni (green fees and cart are about $50). Has tees for any handicap. Wonderful holes that wander over and about the old slag piles and smelter foundations. Bunkers are filled with black slag...try the practice bunkers before you get on the course...it's crazy sand. Anaconda is humbleville...have yet to find a really good restaurant but the local motels are ok. You really need to play twice or better in two days to justify the drive but it's easily the best course within 300 miles.

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All of the holes are intersting and fair tests of golf. Maintenance is outstanding. Can not beat the price!

A long drive from anywhere.

Fabulous. One of the best deals in all of golf. You can play the twilight for $25 including cart. All the holes you care to play. The black slag sand looks nice and is very easy to play from. Very scenic in a quaint little town. Suberb layout. The greens where the fastes I can remember playing. Not a blade of grass out of place.

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