Red Oak Country Club

Red Oak is about an hour southeast of Omaha. I have played nearly every quality course in the area, but not here. I booked our round at a substantial discount, but had no idea what to expect. I was neither disappointed nor thrilled with Red Oak. It was pretty standardfare for a small town track with a limited budget. I have a hunch that it was originally a nine-hole facility because the back nine is certainly more imaginative than the ho-hum front nine. Plus, it appears there are some very nice, recently built residences lining the holes on that side. The greens, especially the ones on the back nine, were very nice. They rolled true, and had surprising character, which made them challenging. Getting to the green was the hard part, though. Yardage markers are limited, which makes club selection tough. There is a too much crabgrass in the fairways, which prevents clean lies sometimes. There had been a little rain in the area recently, but the course should not have been so wet. This made it play much longer since there was essentially no roll out. The biggest surprise was the thickness of the rough. It was deep, wet, and inconsistent. We found it often, unfortunately, and spent an inordinate amount of time searching for balls in it since any venture in sank out sight immediately. Getting out required a great deal of effort. Any day on the golf course is a good one, but a return trip to Red Oak is unlikely, however, unless there are substantial upgrades in maintenance and condition. If you want seclusion, and are not particular about high quality, Red Oak is okay. You can find very reasonable prices seven days a week without much difficulty.