Opened in 1965 and designed by Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Dick Phelps, the Elks lays on a wonderful piece of property on the north side of Columbus.
Phelps’ partnership with Kevin Atkinson is also credited with two other excellent Nebraska properties — Oak Hills in Omaha (1967) and Heritage Hills in McCook (1981).
In the beginning, approximately 100 individuals who – over some debate and many rounds of golf at Columbus’ Wayside Country Club (now Van Berg Golf Course) – pledged their commitment to building an 18-hole course on 120 acres of land northwest of Columbus.
Members of Wayside and members of the Elks Lodge met and decided to invest as well as borrow money to build – at first – a nine-hole course with the intention to make it an 18-hole course.
The course remained a 9-hole property for 5 years, before another loan and a $3,500 assessment from each member provided enough collateral to develop the back nine. The original routing was a bit different than the one we know today but the course has stood the test of time since its completion in 1970.