The Reserve at Moonlight Basin

The Reserve at Moonlight Basin is currently operating with only the back nine open………but it's the greatest nine hole course I've ever had the pleasure of playing.  The conditions were absolutely perfect when I played on a typical Montana Big Sky bluebird day in early August. 

When completed Moonlight Basin will be high on the list of the finest courses in the Pacific Northwest.  This Jack NIcklaus designed beauty ran into problems with their nationally known lender and a sagging economy and construction halted in 2008.  Therefore the incredible clubhouse sits as a metal skeleton surrounded by breathtaking mountains and sitting above a beautiful valley that will include the new front nine.  The plan is for the front nine, interim clubhouse and practice facility to be open for play in 2012.  In the meantime Moonlight Basin seems to be treating their current 115 members very fairly with reasonable fees and policies.  They will cut memberships off at 395 and they have an initiation policy that seems very fair to local and remote members alike.  It's definitely worth looking in to this now.

Eleven of their members own properties by the course and offer a Stay and Play policy for visiting golfers….including Texans wanting to exchange heat and humidity for cool, dry mountain air with incredible scenery and migrating wildlife.

Noteworthy in these photos is that Moonlight Basin doesn't set their tees with the typical colored markers but rather uses real antlers and the cut logs with the names of the course's streams;  Mill Creek, Jack Creek, Lone Creek and Hammond Creek.

The first photo is the gorgeous downhill, rollercoaster #17 that plays to a whopping 777 yds from the Mill Creek tee.  Yet a perfect drive can catch a huge downhill chute leaving a long iron to reach this monster in two.  Remember the benefit of booming your shots at 7,200 ft. elevation.

Moonlight Basin is extremely environmentally friendly.  Their irrigation system uses no pumps.  It's simply gravity fed from the mountain melt off and springs above the course.  Under Jack Nicklaus' design wisdom the course plays up to the 14th hole (the first hole built due to the gravity irrigation system) then plays down in to a lush valley beneath the future clubhouse.  The 18th hole is a relatively short par four with a split fairway option.  (see photo).

Alan Poole, Membership Director, explained to me that the back nine will not have homes near the fairways and the front nine has a small number of home sites slated for development.  His line is "You'll see mountaintops, not rooftops".  I like that.

Big Sky and Moonlight Basin combine into a world class ski area in the Winter and Spring and a wonderful slice of heaven in the Summer and Fall.  Big Sky is just one hour south of Bozeman, MT and there is talk of American Airlines adding DFW-Bozeman direct flights in the future.  It's also a great way to access Yellowstone National Park just a short jaunt south of Big Sky.

Do what you can to get up to Big Sky Country and play Moonlight Basin now as nine holes and in 2012 as a full 18.  You'll love it!

Sam Sherstad     Writer, Recreation Travel Reviews