Golf Courses Near North Platte, NE

North Platte, in west-central Nebraska, is famous for its ties to Buffalo Bill Cody and the Union Pacific Railroad. The most coveted tee time in North Platte’s orbit is Wild Horse Golf Club, located 35 miles away in Gothenburg. Called “the poor man’s Sand Hills” and known for its good value, Wild Horse has appeared on top-100 public course lists. The layout resembles a Scottish links as it spreads out on a sea of wavy grass-covered dunes. In North Platte proper, River’s Edge Golf Club boasts views of the North Platte River and features a number of landscaped water hazards, including a waterfall. Lake Maloney Golf Course, a 1958-vintage layout on rolling hills, is set up so that all levels of players can handle it. For a 9-hole game, try Indian Meadows Golf Course where you’ll be challenged by trees, bunkers, elevated greens and a couple of shots over ponds. Iron Eagle Golf Course, formerly a muni but now privately owned, has been closed but may reopen late in 2022.

Buffalo Bill’s stamp is all over North Platte. The Buffalo Bill Ranch Historical State Park was the western entertainer’s home ranch and the spot where he created the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Cody Park, which includes a wildlife sanctuary, a railroad museum and a children’s amusement park, has a Buffalo Bill statue at the entrance. Fort Cody Trading Post, a roadside attraction that looks like a fort, is part tourist shop, part museum. For something different, you can watch railcars move around from the Golden Spike Tower that overlooks Bailey Yard, reputedly the world’s largest railroad yard. North Platte is on the Central Flywheel that annually sees 500,000 sandhill cranes come through Nebraska during their springtime migration. A favorite way to enjoy the North Platte River is to “go tanking”–an alternative to tubing in which you float on a plastic tank.