One of the things about golf is, well, it costs money.

For some, the budget is unlimited or very, shall we say, loose. You can spend just about whatever you want on a membership or as many rounds as you want.

For others, there is a finite amount of dollars, or even rounds, in a summer. So you pick and choose your spots and your dollars as wisely as you can. The Newsletter is more the latter; heck we are just finally getting some 2022 scores off of our handicap.

This brings us to the humble pie edition of the summer letter. Nebraska Nines went to Cairo on Thursday to play Centura Hills, embarrassingly enough, for the first time with my “own ball” since the new nine opened in 2007.

Truly, truly embarrassing. It’s equidistant — time wise — from my home as where we normally go for a quick practice session or nine holes at Jackrabbit Run. We learned in about three minutes on the putting green before we left for the first tee that we’ll now drive west to practice.

How good is Centura Hills? Easily the best putting surfaces I have seen this summer presented by superintendent Troy Pistulka. Like insanely good. When we finished our 6.5-mile walk — some don’t recommend it, we had a blast — I tried to rack my brain on if there were 10 better courses in Nebraska that were accessible to the public (read, also under $100).

Using the Nebraska Golf Passport as a guide (you can tackle Centura Hills for $40 with the Passport), it seemed pretty obvious that this golf course is one of the 10 best “public” courses in the state. And, I had never gone to play it. 

The Old and the New

A group of locals formed an organization to get Centura Hills off the ground in 1996 and hired Marty Johnson to layout nine holes just north of Cairo. Promptly, in the fall of 1997, Centura High girls golfer Jenny Deines won the last Class B state girls golf championship before the NSAA added a third class.

Side note on Marty Johnson. If you learned to love the game on a “town course” built after 1980 in Nebraska there is a 90% chance that Marty and his crew had a hand in it. While you won’t find any of his courses on the “nation’s best” list, who cares. He made affordable, public golf and our state is better because of it.

In Cairo, Johnson immediately routed the four best holes on the original nine around Dry Creek. They were holes 5-8 on the first golf course, now they are 7-10 on Centura Hills 18-hole layout, which Johnson came back to finish in 2007.

The 7th is a demanding driving hole that would generally play into the normal summer wind which brings out of bounds left and the creek right even more in play. Last Thursday, with an odd summer northwest wind, it was a hybrid off the tee for safety.

With an “easier” — whatever that means — 7th and 9th on Thursday that meant the long par-3 8th and the uphill, sidehill 10th were very challenging. I remember the “old” fifth (current 7th) being my favorite hole on the original routing, but the 10th may outpace it now. It is just an absolute gem.

When Johnson returned, he was tasked with connecting a generally flat piece of farm ground to his original work. Knowing the golf course would need to sell more lots for housing (it’s also how they helped get the course off the ground), he routed four holes on an inner loop with two on each side of the proposed street and lots.

Those inner holes became 3-6 connecting with the original holes 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 to create the new front nine. Johnson was at his best on holes 3 and 4 where the holes dogleg once each way, but he entices the golfer with a “line of charm” straight shot to each green as you can see the flag in the distance. On both holes, it’s not likely the prudent play (follow the fairway - wink).

The back nine has five holes on an outer loop that connects with original holes 8 (10), 4 (11) and then returns to the old 3 (17) and 9 (18). This outer loop may be Johnson’s finest work.

He dredged a small pond to protect the sixth green and then a bigger one where he routed the longest par-4 on the golf course around it at the 12th (464 yards). That follows up with the 452-yard 13th. At 15, he used maybe the only natural tree on the that east side to steer the golfer and then made one of the longest par-5’s in Nebraska at the 628-yard 16th. (Driver, 3-wood, 3-wood to the front edge into that wind. So much fun.)

In short, there is a small-town charm to Centura Hills. General manager Garrett Rathke and his wife, Anna, have club where it’s all about the golf and that’s refreshing. A membership that may be the No. 1 value in the state. No worrying about booking weddings or updating the pool and assessing members for a food and beverage minimum.

Just golf, maybe a hot dog if you like. Your favorite drink. And, oh, the frozen candy bars. Quite simply, a perfect way to spend a day.

Head-to-Head

Four girls and eight boys remain in their respective brackets of the Nebraska Junior Match Play at Norfolk Country Club. The event started Monday with an 18-hole qualifying round that set the field for the 32-player boys bracket and 16-player girls bracket.

Omaha Westside senior-to-be Trevor Gutschewski kept his hot summer alive by earning the top-seed and on the girls side defending champion Naryn Kim of Lincoln earned the stop spot. She’s ummmm, GOING TO BE an 8th grader.

Both players are still alive as the girls championship will conclude today with Kim playing Class C champion Camryn Johnson of Berwyn (Broken Bow High School) and on the other side Omaha Marian sophomore Lauryn Murnan will face Class B champion and Creighton commit Julia Karmazin of Elkhorn North. Match scoring

The boys bracket features eight remaining that might be the most talented quarterfinal group in recent memory.

Gutschewski, the Florida commit, leads the way and will face Grand Island’s Prestin Vilai in the first match of the day. Vilai won a crucial round-of-16 match with Omaha’s Christopher Whittle that may have helped him earn a spot on the Nebraska Junior Cup team. The winner of that match will face either Gavin Gerch (Lincoln Southeast, Creighton) or Jackson Benge (Omaha Westside, Nebraska).

On the bottom half of the slate, national junior Coltrane Mittag of Ashland will take on Lincoln Southeast state champion Thomas Bryson and Gretna East’s Will Barth will face Creighton Prep’s Tommy Kelley, who notched a first round upset of defending champion and recent state match play champion Beau Petersen. Match scoring

Kearney’s Sedlak to Final Round

Kearney golfer Mandi Sedlak had the honor of hitting the opening tee shot at this year’s US Adaptive Open. Sedlak has qualified each year for the event now in its third year and played this year at Sand Creek Station in Newton, KS (well worth your drive to play).

The better news? Sedlak sits in sixth overall and made the final day cut (a new thing this year). She’ll tee off at 8:14 AM this morning. You can follow scoring here. Two Nebraska men also qualified for the championship: Ryan Brenden of Pierce and Sam Roberts of Lincoln. Both missed final day qualifying.

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