Unique Golf Course Re-Opens After 20-Year Closure

After a closure of more than 20 years, a community golf course in rural North Dakota has re-opened for public play. And this 9-holer is unquestionably one of the most unique facilities in the country.

Situated in a small town with fewer than 100 residents, the Maxbass Golf Course has been resurrected by a local construction company, Farden Construction, which mowed the property, re-did the greens, and supplied rakes and flags — both of which are used on the “greens.”

The Par 3 course is among a limited number of the nation’s nearly 16,000 courses that have sand greens rather than grass.

An estimated 30 U.S. courses across 11 states feature sand greens, mostly in the Midwest where recreational layouts built generations ago lacked irrigation and opted for a lower maintenance approach where each group of players smooths the sand after playing through.

But the Maxbass course is doubly unique in that it is free to play. Those who visit the course at the community park are asked to make a donation to the local park board.

The layout, which has a longest hole of 184 yards, had closed down after flooding in the early 2000s but is back as an amenity for residents thanks to the support of locals.

Founded in 1905, Maxbass is one of only a few towns in the country with a name derived from both a person’s first and last name. The Austrian-born Max Bass was the land commissioner of Dakota Territory from 1885 to 1901 and figured prominently in the Great Northern Railway’s immigration and land settlement activities for years up until his death in 1909.