Montana's Wilderness Club

Out here in the deep frontier of Montana, there’s a clear sense of where you are. Wide open spaces. Rugged, mountainous terrain. Deep lakes. Crystalline skies. This is a world that seems custom-made for skiing, hunting, fishing, and golf.

The Wilderness Club, tucked into Montana’s far northwest corner in the town of Eureka, lies just seven miles south of the Canadian border and halfway between Glacier National Park and the Kootenai National Forest. Its stirring golf course design by Brian Curley and Nick Faldo offers a compelling reason to make the trek.

The facility started as a private club in 2009 and has been developed into a 550-acre property that includes a resort and public-access play. The grounds feature comfortable lodge-style accommodations, private home sites, and a waterpark, as well as the use of four lakes.

The 2,600-foot base elevation provides about a half-a-club distance bonus on this par-72 layout, with tees ranging from 5,431 to 7,207 yards. The course traverses 100 feet of up and down, with a few launch-pad tee shots and the occasional need to thread an approach around or alongside towering pine trees. The combination of extensive bunkering, spacious fairways, and dramatic long views of the surrounding mountains makes playing the course a rewarding adventure. And the “banana belt” climate ensures an unexpectedly long golf season for a place this far north—from late March until well into October.

COURSE: For more information about the Wilderness Club, call (406) 889-6501.

AIRPORTS: Eureka Airport is five miles northeast of the club and has a 4,200-foot runway. Glacier Park International Airport (FCA) is 69 miles southeast and has a 9,006-foot runway.

Bradley S. Klein is the architecture editor of Golfweek. His latest book is Wide Open Fairways.