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The toughest course in the Omaha-Fremont, NE-IA combined area is Shadow Ridge Country Club, at slope 139 — ahead of Champions Run at slope 138 and Omaha Country Club at slope 136.

All 24 courses in the area with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees are ranked below, along with 5 more lists: hardest from the tips, longest, widest tee spread, oldest, highest above sea level.

42
courses
2
states
6
rankings

Omaha-Fremont, NE-IA is a combined statistical area as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates it, crossing Iowa and Nebraska — the boundary is theirs, not ours. Each list counts only the courses in the area that publish that figure, so the totals differ between them. Slope and course rating measure difficulty, not quality — nothing here ranks how good a course is.

Toughest test

— all 24 courses with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees
# Course State Toughest test
1 Shadow Ridge Country Club NE slope 139
2 Champions Run NE slope 138
3 Omaha Country Club NE slope 136
4 Happy Hollow Club NE slope 133
5 Willow Lakes Golf Course NE slope 132
5 Woodland Hills Golf Course NE slope 132
7 Bent Tree Golf Club IA slope 130
7 Eagle Hills Academy Golf Course NE slope 130
7 Eagle Hills Golf Course NE slope 130
10 Iron Horse Golf Club NE slope 128
11 Johnny Goodman Golf Course NE slope 124
12 Benson Park Golf Course NE slope 123
12 Dodge Riverside Golf Club IA slope 123
12 Sunset Valley Country Club NE slope 123
15 Tregaron Golf Course NE slope 122
16 Ashland Golf Club NE slope 121
16 Avoca Golf Club IA slope 121
18 Miracle Hill Golf Course NE slope 119
19 Fox Run Golf Club IA slope 117
20 Quail Run Golf Course IA slope 113
21 Glenwood Golf Course IA slope 106
22 Elmwood Park Golf Course NE slope 102
22 Whitetail Run Golf Course NE slope 102
24 Milts Golf Center NE slope 80

The highest USGA slope rating published for any of the men’s tee sets. Slope rates difficulty for a bogey golfer relative to a scratch golfer — a rated figure issued by the golf association, not an opinion about the course. Men’s ratings only, because a tee is rated separately for men and for women and the two scales do not compare; a course rated only for women is not in the running rather than converted.

Hardest from the tips

— all 19 courses with a USGA course rating for its men’s tees
# Course State Hardest from the tips
1 Champions Run NE rating 75.9
2 Omaha Country Club NE rating 74.6
3 Bent Tree Golf Club IA rating 74.4
4 Happy Hollow Club NE rating 74.1
5 Willow Lakes Golf Course NE rating 73.5
6 Johnny Goodman Golf Course NE rating 73.3
6 Shadow Ridge Country Club NE rating 73.3
8 Benson Park Golf Course NE rating 73.0
8 Woodland Hills Golf Course NE rating 73.0
10 Eagle Hills Academy Golf Course NE rating 71.4
10 Eagle Hills Golf Course NE rating 71.4
10 Iron Horse Golf Club NE rating 71.4
13 Dodge Riverside Golf Club IA rating 71.1
14 Tregaron Golf Course NE rating 70.9
15 Miracle Hill Golf Course NE rating 70.7
16 Ashland Golf Club NE rating 70.3
16 Fox Run Golf Club IA rating 70.3
18 Elmwood Park Golf Course NE rating 63.9
19 Sunset Valley Country Club NE rating 34.0

The highest USGA course rating published for any of the men’s tee sets — the score a scratch golfer is expected to shoot. Men’s ratings only, for the same reason as slope: the men’s and women’s ratings of one tee are different measurements. It measures difficulty and nothing else; it is not a quality score and never orders these pages by how good a course is.

Longest

— the top 25 of 39 courses with a published scorecard

The longest tee set the course publishes, in yards from the tips. Compared against every course that publishes a scorecard — length is a measurement, not a verdict on the golf.

Widest tee spread

— the top 25 of 38 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
# Course State Widest tee spread
1 Champions Run NE 2,360 yds between tees
2 Tregaron Golf Course NE 2,091 yds between tees
3 Iron Horse Golf Club NE 2,089 yds between tees
4 Eagle Hills Academy Golf Course NE 1,900 yds between tees
4 Eagle Hills Golf Course NE 1,900 yds between tees
6 Shadow Ridge Country Club NE 1,887 yds between tees
7 Bent Tree Golf Club IA 1,870 yds between tees
8 Woodland Hills Golf Course NE 1,804 yds between tees
9 Omaha Country Club NE 1,687 yds between tees
10 Pacific Springs Golf Course NE 1,682 yds between tees
11 Happy Hollow Club NE 1,663 yds between tees
12 Willow Lakes Golf Course NE 1,564 yds between tees
13 The Pines Country Club NE 1,519 yds between tees
14 Ashland Golf Club NE 1,426 yds between tees
15 Benson Park Golf Course NE 1,400 yds between tees
16 Miracle Hill Driving Range NE 1,362 yds between tees
16 Miracle Hill Golf Course NE 1,362 yds between tees
18 River Wilds Golf Club NE 1,324 yds between tees
19 Fox Run Golf Club IA 1,310 yds between tees
20 Dodge Riverside Golf Club IA 1,242 yds between tees
21 Council Bluffs Country Club IA 1,226 yds between tees
22 Fremont Golf Club NE 1,050 yds between tees
23 Johnny Goodman Golf Course NE 902 yds between tees
24 Elmwood Park Golf Course NE 819 yds between tees
24 Tiburon Golf Course NE 819 yds between tees

Yards between the longest and shortest published tee sets — how far the course moves to fit a different player. Courses publishing a single tee set are not in the running, because one set is an unmeasured spread rather than a narrow one.

Oldest

— the top 25 of 29 courses with an opening year
# Course State Oldest
1 Omaha Country Club NE opened 1899
2 Steve Hogan Golf Course NE opened 1900
3 Happy Hollow Club NE opened 1924
4 Dodge Riverside Golf Club IA opened 1927
5 Elmwood Park Golf Course NE opened 1930
6 Golf at Indian Creek - Red Feather Course NE opened 1953
7 Whitetail Run Golf Course NE opened 1963
7 Willow Lakes Golf Course NE opened 1963
9 Glenwood Golf Course IA opened 1964
9 Treynor Recreation Area IA opened 1964
11 Benson Park Golf Course NE opened 1965
12 Ashland Golf Club NE opened 1968
13 Johnny Goodman Golf Course NE opened 1970
14 Fontenelle Golf Course IA opened 1972
15 Avoca Golf Club IA opened 1975
16 Milts Golf Center NE opened 1979
17 Sunset Valley Country Club NE opened 1983
18 Fox Run Golf Club IA opened 1986
18 Miracle Hill Golf Course NE opened 1986
20 Tiburon Golf Course NE opened 1989
21 Champions Run NE opened 1990
21 Woodland Hills Golf Course NE opened 1990
23 Eagle Run Golf Course NE opened 1994
23 Shadow Ridge Country Club NE opened 1994
25 Quail Run Golf Course IA opened 1995

The year the course opened, as published. Ranked oldest first. An opening year is not a design credit and not a renovation date — a course that opened in 1921 and was rebuilt in 1998 still opened in 1921.

Highest above sea level

— the top 25 of 42 courses with a coordinate we could sample

Height above sea level at the course’s own published coordinate, sampled from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. THIS IS A FIGURE WE DERIVED, not one the course publishes — anybody can re-query the same public dataset at the same coordinate and get the same number, but no scorecard states it. Because every course carries a coordinate, this is the only board here whose field is nearly the whole database rather than the courses that publish a particular figure. Elevation changes how far a ball carries; it says nothing about whether a course is good.