Sand Hills - Mullen Nebraska

alittleoverpar · January 25

I am going to be in Nebraska later this year and would love to play Sand Hills. I am curious if anyone has had any luck getting on the course. I am planning to contact my pro at my club to see if he can get me on, but I was just curious if anyone had gone that route and was successful?

Seamus_MacDuff · January 25

Sand Hills is an incredible experience, but you're not going to access it through your head pro. They have been known in the past to occasionally honor hand-written letters requesting unaccompanied play, but my understanding is those opportunities may not exist anymore due to the amount of member play they get. We do have a SH member who frequents this forum, so he may chime in with the latest information.

alittleoverpar · January 25

2 minutes ago, Seamus_MacDuff said:

Sand Hills is an incredible experience, but you're not going to access it through your head pro. They have been known in the past to occasionally honor hand-written letters requesting unaccompanied play, but my understanding is those opportunities may not exist anymore due to the amount of member play they get. We do have a SH member who frequents this forum, so he may chime in with the latest information.

Thanks for the information. I was afraid it would be difficult, but you never know if you don't ask!

puttnforthe8 · January 25

4 minutes ago, alittleoverpar said:

Thanks for the information. I was afraid it would be difficult, but you never know if you don't ask!

Yes we know - but you can still ask and try.

They have even limited member accompanied guest times over the past few.

Mullenboy · January 26

6 hours ago, Seamus_MacDuff said:

Sand Hills is an incredible experience, but you're not going to access it through your head pro. They have been known in the past to occasionally honor hand-written letters requesting unaccompanied play, but my understanding is those opportunities may not exist anymore due to the amount of member play they get. We do have a SH member who frequents this forum, so he may chime in with the latest information.

This is correct for the most part. Hand-written letters aren't 100 percent rejected... but the club receives so many requests.... acceptance of such is very rare these days. So it's not IMPOSSIBLE... just very unlikely.

And yes the reason for that - and that all unaccompanied play including that sponsored by a member which indeed is also very limited - is that the club only allows a max of 60 or so golfers on site any day (those who are staying there (max 56) - and some limited day play by local members) - and the season is very short - opens end of May, closes end of September. And yes nearly all the 155 or so members want to be there often, bringing as much as the 7 guests allowed each time.

Thus the bottom line - very little room for unaccompanied play, however it happens.

Edited January 26 by Mullenboy

Chanceman · January 26

Oh boy, we were very lucky to get on via the personal letter. I remember receiving the return email with the invitation while having a coffee with my wife and being speechless for a few minutes. I think she said something like What's up honey, why have you gone all quiet?

bcjim · January 27

Open one third of the year? Wow. The economics of this and, similar places, are fascinating. What is the average cost per round per member?

Dancin · January 27

4 hours ago, bcjim said:

Open one third of the year? Wow. The economics of this and, similar places, are fascinating. What is the average cost per round per member?

Mostly national clubs like Sand Hills & Ballyneal are usually second or third clubs for the members and they usually go 4-5 or so times a year for an extended weekend. It's not about the money for the members. For the mostly national member clubs, the majority make their money off the guests the members bring. It's more like a hotel resort than a golf business and having high occupancy in the rooms is how they make money. The dues generally cover the course maintenance costs for the year and without the members bringing lots of guests they would lose money.

The national membership market is very competitive if you look into it so these places are limited in how much they can charge. Annual dues will be in the $4-10k range for most of them that aren't located near big cities or in year round playing areas.

Mullenboy · January 29

On 1/27/2024 at 9:45 AM, Dancin said:

Mostly national clubs like Sand Hills & Ballyneal are usually second or third clubs for the members and they usually go 4-5 or so times a year for an extended weekend. It's not about the money for the members. For the mostly national member clubs, the majority make their money off the guests the members bring. It's more like a hotel resort than a golf business and having high occupancy in the rooms is how they make money. The dues generally cover the course maintenance costs for the year and without the members bringing lots of guests they would lose money.

The national membership market is very competitive if you look into it so these places are limited in how much they can charge. Annual dues will be in the $4-10k range for most of them that aren't located near big cities or in year round playing areas.

That's all 100% right on.

canonlbp430 · January 29

On 1/27/2024 at 7:19 AM, bcjim said:

Open one third of the year? Wow. The economics of this and, similar places, are fascinating. What is the average cost per round per member?

When there isn't $15m of debt to service and the course is built for low cost, it makes life much easier. Low cost doesn't really exist anymore with the current economics of golf.