There may not be a more aptly named golf resort in the country than the Wilderness Club.
Located less than 10 miles from the Canadian border, tucked into the remote northwest corner of Montana in a town without a stoplight, golfers who make the trek here can expect an unhurried round, dramatic elevation changes, stunning mountain scenery and plenty of nature.
“We have a saying here that you can hear the quiet — it’s that serene,” says Kim Tribble, the club’s membership director. “The temperatures are always favorable, so it’s a real treat being outside and enjoying nature and the wilderness. It’s really the best golfing weather you can dream of with 360-degree views of the Rocky Mountains. And when you’re off the golf course, you can enjoy hiking, fishing and boating — it’s truly an outdoor paradise.”
Eureka has a population of fewer than 2,000 and is best characterized as a true mountain town.
“There is no corporate America in our town; everything is like a mom-and-pop,” Tribble says. “There is no Starbucks, no McDonald’s. So you really do feel like you’ve escaped the stress of life, the hustle. Once golfers get here, they just feel this sense of calm.”
The Wilderness Club, which opened in the fall of 2008, has a goal of transitioning to a private membership in the near future, with Escalante Golf now managing the property. For now, resort guests and non-members can tee off after noon at a cost of $300.
“One of the really cool things about where we are on the map is that in the summer season, the sun doesn’t even set until about 11 p.m.,” Tribble says. “I like to tell people they can go for a full day at Glacier National Park and still fit in a round of golf. And it is just stunning.
“Late in the day, the mountains get what we call an alpenglow and turn this shade of pink. Even in our busiest months of July and August, you can feel like you’re the only one on the golf course—that you’re on your own private course because there’s not somebody on the tee box waiting while you’re in the fairway.”
A UNIQUE SAND-BASED DESIGN
Glaciers millions of years ago helped shape Montana’s landscape, which also played a role in the design of the Wilderness Club, according to lead architect Brian Curley, who teamed with his good friend Nick Faldo to create a unique layout and the state’s No. 1-ranked course.
Curley recalled his first drive to the remote location that would become the Wilderness Club.
“Anytime you go to a mountain-type site, you expect it to be rocky — not good,” Curley says. “And when you’re driving to a site as an architect, you look at the roads cut into the forest like a doctor looks at an X-ray, and it was rock, rock, rock and more rock. But when I got there, the soil was sandy. I could dig to China and there would still be sand. Not only sand, but USGA-quality sand — sand that you could build greens out of or sand you could sell.”
So the Wilderness Club had a positive design vibe from the start, despite the original owners knowing little about golf.
“They didn’t know how to spell golf; they just knew they needed a golf course to sell houses,” Curley says. “I told them, ‘You guys don’t know the potential you have here. You not only have a valley in the mountains, you now have views up to snow-capped mountains.’
“I told them we could do something really rugged like Pine Valley or pretty like Augusta, and they looked at me like I had horns. So I talked them into a hybrid design.”
Curley, who has a career reputation for tackling challenging sites and turning them into great tests of golf, is thrilled with the final product and its ranking as one of the top 100 resort courses in the United States.
“It’s a little on the rugged side because most mountain golf courses don’t have a sandy base,” Curley says. “That’s what makes it unique; that’s what makes it different because of the sandy mountain environment.”
THE FALDO INFLUENCE
Faldo first visited well into Curley’s construction and quickly fell in love with the state of Montana, returning to the Wilderness Club’s final stages more often than he would on any of his other signature projects.
“By the time Nick got involved, he had a little extra kick in his step just because he was really blown away by Montana and what it had to offer,” Curley says.
Faldo even owns a home in Montana now.
“He’s really into the whole Montana lifestyle — fly fishing, all that stuff,” Curley says. “That’s his game now.”
The Wilderness Club offers numerous lodging options, from hotel-style suites to cabins and homes that can house up to 18 people, ranging in price from $500 a night to $1,900. The resort is also in the process of building a new 28,000-square-foot clubhouse.
Golfers can fly into Glacier Park International Airport and drive the 70 miles to Eureka.
Tribble says she’s conducting more and more real estate tours and seeing destination golfers from states such as Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.
“It’is a lot of people just truly trying to escape the heat but who want to continue to be outdoors,” she says. “And then there are the avid golfers who are on a circuit to play Faldo courses because the Wilderness Club is truly one of his better works of art.”
Once on-site, if you need a break from the course, the 90-mile-long Lake Koocanusa is just minutes away, with rainbow trout, whitefish and cod among the popular catches.
“The Wilderness Club combines world-class golf with the tranquility and beauty of northwest Montana, delivering a unique experience that feels both exclusive and authentic,” says David McDonald, president of Texas-based Escalante Golf.
