Taking root in Eureka

EUREKA - Atop one of the oldest ranches in Northwestern Montana, Dave Rogers designed an 18-hole golf course the old fashioned way, with a bag of clubs, an astroturf mat and a front-end loader.

The land was empty then, but Rogers saw something. For almost 40 years he had played golf, but never designed a course.

So he started, three years ago, with step one - getting to know the land.

With clubs in tow, the Canadian native canvassed the fields of fescue grass that spreads across the 69 Ranch outside of Eureka. He would drop the astroturf here and there and start hitting one shot after another.

Turns out he didn't really need the front-end loader.

Years of irrigating had leveled a good amount of the 450-acre ranchland. The flatland almost looked like natural fairways already. Naked drumlin hills created by retreating glaciers rippled around and across the prairie. All this underneath a backdrop of Tobacco Valley mountains.

Rogers wanted a course that merged with that.

"We tried not to disturb the land much to build (the golf course)," he said. "Fitting it into the natural lay of the land was pretty important to us. We took advantage of going up into the hills and back down out of the hills and tried to put the golf holes in, in a way that they didn't disrupt the natural flow of the landscape "

Today, his intentions are evident at the Indian Springs Ranch Golf Club.

In its first full summer season of operation, the 18-hole links style course is the newest golf offering in Northwest Montana. Indian Springs is the only public course in Eureka and holds a par 71.

As his vision continues to evolve, Rogers would like to see Indian Springs grow into an active living community. There's space for 13 neighborhoods interspersed with hiking and horse riding trails and the golf course among other

developments. Currently, there are four miles of walking trails that wind in and around the hills.

"We decided to take advantage of this opportunity and see if we could turn it into something we like to do," Rogers said. "That's pretty much the All-American recreation dream."

There's no two ways about it - Indian Springs is a tough course. The narrow fairways flow into small greens, deep sand traps and ponds are littered along the way and the rough is, well, unkind. The only common hazard that isn't in play, for the most part, is trees. There's almost as many trees as there are pieces of old farming equipment parked throughout the holes.

"We wanted to try and present something that was a little different ... and that would present golf as a bit of a challenge again," Rogers said. "All the golf courses seem to be becoming driver/wedge, driver/9-iron type courses, and they're all very similar. We decided we would try to put something in that kind of made you use every club in the bag and use a little thinking and have to use a lot of strategy out there to play it well."

To play Indian Springs well requires a bit of humility also. On a recent summer afternoon, golf shop manager Brian Berg went out to play a few holes with a newcomer.

"Lesson No. 1, stay on the fairway. Whacking through that high grass can cost you," he said.

Within one hole, lessons No. 2, 3 and 4 became evident as well. Stay on the fairway!

Berg's point had been sufficiently made and suddenly the par-4 tee boxes, usually a go-for-it driver, was swapped for a safe high iron. The satisfaction that comes from booming a drive 250 yards was traded with the refreshing accomplishment of landing squarely on the fairway, safe and sound.

That's how local resident and new club member Virgil Holt plays it. Holt, 63, bought a season pass to Indian Springs this summer and plays three times a week, sometimes alone, sometimes with a fellow player who wants a partner.

"It's challenging for a golfer like me," Holt said. "I'm just a hacker, but it's a lot of fun. And now that more people are playing it, when I hit into the rough I find a lot more balls.

"I'm amazed at the job these guys have done in the first year of a golf course," he added.

"A golf course takes three, four years to mature, and I think it's in great shape for the first year."

Rogers' goal of keeping the course connected to the land is evident. Despite the contrast of bright green grass and grey-brown prairie, the course looks as natural and native as the Indian Creek that flows through the grounds.

In fact, it's almost natural to a fault.

Head greenskeeper Steve Richard and his crew have a common concern that most courses don't.

"Elk are a huge issue here," Berg said. "We see them all the time. There's about 25 of them that stuck around. We fenced the greens off and could of opened a lot sooner than we did (this summer). We've just had to wait for them to be gone."

Beyond troublesome elk, wildlife is abundant at Indian Springs. There are over 55 species of birds, Rogers said, along with neighborly bear, moose, coyote, deer and foxes.

That's all part of the deal when you join the natural landscape. Rogers knows that. He knew that from the very start, when it was just him out there walking through the high grass looking for his first ball.

It didn't matter if he ever found it. He knew there was going to be plenty more out there someday.

Indian Springs Ranch Golf Club is on 3082 U.S. 93 North outside of Eureka. For information, call 406-889-5056 or visit www.indianspringsmontana.com

Reporter Dillon Tabish can be reached at 758-4463 or by e-mail at dtabish@dailyinterlake.com