On a quiet morning in Ronan, Dillon Delaney and I stood on the first tee at Mission Mountain Golf Course praying.
It wasn’t a religious experience happening on the first tee, but it was out of necessity. Starting off our round on the 543-yard par 5, Dillon had made his first swing of the day and hit his golf ball on a bullet like trajectory straight toward a house.
The ball hung in the air for what seemed like an unusual amount of time making us think that it perhaps had missed the house. Then we heard the distinct WHACK that comes from driving a little white golf ball right into vinyl siding.
“Well, I wonder if anyone is still sleeping in that house?” I joked.
That’s one way to start a morning.
As Dillon and I made our way around the track at Mission Mountain Golf Course we met a 6,700-yard layout that requires every type of shot. After the opening par 5 that has a row of trees protecting the right rough from 100-yards of the green and three bunkers around the putting surface, we settled in really nicely to our round.
One of the best holes at Mission Mountain is the par 4 10th hole that plays 399-yards. Slightly doglegging right after the landing area, a downhill second shot awaits players that forces them to fly a cattail lined pond and onto a back-to-front sloping green.
Back-to-back-to-back par 4s make up the 12th, 13th, and 14th holes. The 12th is a rolling dogleg left that plays 395-yards into a green that has bunker on the left. The 13th is a long and challenging par 4 that is treelined along the right and has trouble along the left before an undulating green sits protected by a bunker in the front left. The 14th at Mission Mountain is a very gettable 288-yard uphill par 4 that has a trio of bunkers short of the green that slopes back-to-front forcing players to either try and drive the green or lay up short of the trouble.
The most challenging hole at Mission however, is the par 5 15th that is rated the hardest hole on the course. At 616-yards this beast of a hole plays between a creek on the left and trees on the right. The creek meanders in front and to the right of the green making it a truly three-shot hole.
Surprisingly, Dillon and I finished our round without hitting any more siding and went and grabbed a bite of lunch before heading our separate ways.
At lunch Dillon said, “I didn’t play too bad today, if you don’t count the first swing”.
“You need to go tell that to those nice people whose house you hit.”
Thanks to the staff at Mission Mountain Golf Course for a great day of golf in Ronan.
Montana's Longest Drive 