With a roaring river to my right and a rough rock face to my left, I drove up the two-lane highway from Bozeman and climbed higher up the mountain road. Waves crashed over the front of the whitewater rafts below the highway as the mountain town of Big Sky came into view.
With Lone Peak at the top of the magnificent mountain backdrop, I arrived at Big Sky Resort Golf Course. An Arnold Palmer design measuring 6,800 yards from the tips, this public course sits in the heart of the Big Sky community. Holes weave their way through homes and small neighborhoods throughout this whole mountain course.
Arriving at the course, I was paired up with a pair of recently retired brothers named Trav and Kevin who hailed from New Hampshire and their younger roommate Louie who recently moved to Big Sky from California. From the first tee, the three of us absolutely hit it off. Outgoing and hilarious, the threesome I joined was as much fun as I’ve ever had.
With thick New England accents, the brothers spouted off one-liners I wish I would’ve written down that had the whole group laughing on every hole.
At Big Sky Resort Golf Course, keeping the ball in the fairway is very important. On every hole, thick bushes and trees line the periphery while a small creek works its way through the first few holes and returns to line the 17th and 18th.
The 1st hole at Big Sky features an elevated tee box right below the clubhouse lining up a slight downhill dogleg left with out of bounds to the left of the fairway and a trio of bunkers surrounding this undulating and large green.
One of my favorite holes at the course was the 423-yard par 4 7th hole that doglegs slightly right. Tall fescue rough sits on the left of the fairway while a row of trees lines the right. A large fairway bunker sits in the landing area on the left and a pair of bunkers sit in front of a back-to-front sloping green.
As we rounded the turn and continued to laugh our way around this course, Trav, Kevin, Louie, and I found ourselves on the closing stretch at Big Sky. The group agreed the last three holes on the course were the best of the bunch.
The 16th is a short uphill par 4 with a fairway that sharply turns right near the 100-yard mark on this 334-yard hole. A number of bunkers line both sides of this fairway while another bunker sits behind the elevated green.
The 423-yard 18th hole is a fantastic finishing hole that forces you to lay up short of the pond that cuts across the fairway 100-yards short of the green. An elevated green with a deep pot bunker in the front right slopes from back-right-to-front-left and offers a variety of scary and dangerous puts if your second shot isn’t where intended.
As a dark storm cloud littered heavy drops of rain on my car and the whitewater rafters paddled their hearts out below the highway trying to outrace the storm, I realized that whatever recreation you choose to do, Big Sky is one heck of a place to do it.
And hopefully you run into a hilarious crew of guys like I got to play the Big Sky Resort Golf Course with.
Montana's Longest Drive 