Club 91 Golf Course

Not every stop on the Corn Fed Course Crawl gets planned out weeks in advance. Some of them just kind of happen. This was one of those.

We were back in my hometown of Columbus for my niece's graduation party, which happened to land on my dad's birthday, so the whole family was in town anyway. The round we actually planned was Quail Run, which we played the next day. Club 91 up the road in Leigh was the bonus nine we squeezed in while we had the clubs in the trunk and a few generations of golfers itching to swing.

Here is the fun part. Club 91 opened to the public in 1995. That is the same year I left Columbus for college. So the course went public the exact summer I moved away, then sat about forty minutes up the road my entire adult life, and I never once played it until now. Thirty years late to my own backyard. Better late than never.

Wait, Why Is It Called Club 91?

Simple answer. The course sits right off Nebraska Highway 91, just outside Leigh, and that is where the name comes from. Its full, formal name is actually the Rick Charipar Memorial Club 91 Golf Course, but everybody just calls it Club 91.

The other thing worth knowing is that this is a true community course. It did not start life as a slick public track. The surrounding townships pooled their resources to build and grow the place, and that everybody pitches in spirit still comes through when you play it. For a town the size of Leigh to support a nine this nice, a lot of people have to care about it. They clearly do.

Club 91 Golf Course Quick Facts

• Course: Rick Charipar Memorial Club 91 Golf Course (Leigh, Nebraska)
• Holes: 9
• Par: 36
• Yardage: 3,264 (Blue), 3,001 (White), 2,577 (Gold), 2,492 (Red)
• Opened to the public: 1995
• Vibe: Surprisingly scenic

Don't Judge a Small Town Nine

I will be straight with you. I did not expect much. When you hear nine hole course in a town the size of Leigh, your brain pictures a flat cow pasture with some flags stuck in it. A lot of the time, that picture is right.

Club 91 is not that. The course has real elevation change, ponds that actually come into play, and holes with genuine character. The layout rolls over hilly ground shaped by moguls and berms. It is scenic in a way a small town nine has no business being. I am not telling you it is Pebble Beach, or even one of the bigger scenic names in Nebraska. But it surprised me, and that is the entire point of this series. The one knock is the greens, which were a little rough and spotty the day we played. Everything else punched above its weight.

Three Generations

This one was special for reasons that had nothing to do with my scorecard. We had three generations out on the course at once. I played, my oldest, Emma, played, my Dad played, and my youngest, Natalie, ran the camera. And did I mention it was Gramps' birthday? Not a bad way to spend it, playing nine holes with your kid and your grandkids while one of them films the whole thing for the internet.

Signature Holes

A few holes stuck with me, for better and for worse.

Hole # 2: The Birdie I Did Not Deserve

A short, drivable par 4 if you are a long hitter. I am not a long hitter. But I striped a good drive, left myself a short little pitch, and promptly hit a bad one. Then, in classic golf fashion, I rolled in a long putt for birdie to cover for the mess in between. The card says 3. We do not need to discuss the details. We take it and we move on.

Hole # 4: The Bowl

This might be my favorite hole on the course, and apparently I am not alone, because locals will tell you the fourth is the most testing hole out here. It is another short par 4, drivable for the long hitters, but it is guarded by a pond and the whole thing sits in a bowl that funnels everything down toward the water. Standing on the tee you have to decide how much water you want to bite off. Get greedy and it makes you pay. Smart, fun little hole.

Hole # 6: Blind Ambition

A short par 5 that had me thinking about getting home in two, and I was nearly there. The catch is the second shot is blind, so you are swinging at a hill and hoping for the best. It is also probably the prettiest hole on the course, with a fairway that spills downhill toward a green tucked into the trees. Anytime a short par 5 makes you a little uncomfortable instead of just handing you a birdie, the design did its job.

My Round

I shot 44. On a par 36, that is eight over, and for me, that is a perfectly respectable nine. Through the early and middle holes I was actually putting together something I was proud of. The birdie on 2 had me feeling good, and I hung around near even par a lot longer than I have any right to.

Then came 8. The drive, the shank, the damage. One bad swing has a way of erasing a lot of good ones, and that blow up on 8 is the difference between a round I would brag about and a round I just shrug at. Story of my golf life. I keep waiting for the day the disaster hole takes the week off. It never does.

Gramps, the birthday boy, put up a very solid 48. Emma battled her way to a 54 and kept her head up the whole way, which at her stage of the game matters more than the number on the card. Natalie scored a flawless 1 on every hole from behind the camera. Undefeated as always. (scorecard is in the youtube video)

The Clubhouse and Conditions

The clubhouse is staffed and perfectly nice. We did not spend much time inside, but there was nothing to complain about. It was busy, which honestly is just the reality everywhere right now. Golf is booming. You would be hard pressed to find a desolate, empty course anywhere these days, and Club 91 was no exception.

It also looked like they had just taken delivery of new carts, and possibly built a new cart storage building to go with them. Always a good sign when a small community course is putting money back into the place. Somebody out here cares about it, and it shows.

The YouTube Video

The YouTube video features commentary from some old friends Jay and Geoff (with a G) who have hosted a few podcasts with me.

Final Thoughts

Club 91 caught me off guard in the best possible way. I drove over expecting a forgettable flat nine to kill an afternoon, and instead found a hilly, scenic little course with a handful of holes I would genuinely want to play again. Add in three generations of my family and a birthday round for Gramps, and it turned into one of the more memorable stops on the crawl so far.

If you are ever cutting across the state on Highway 91, or you are out hunting down nine hole courses the way we are, Club 91 in Leigh is worth the stop. Just bring a little patience for the greens, and maybe steer clear of whatever it was I did on number 8.

Want more stops on the tour? Check out the rest of the Corn Fed Course Crawl series.

More Photos From Club 91

A few extra shots from the round.