Buffalo Hill Golf Club is a public 27-hole parkland

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

located in

Kalispell Kalispell (, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in, and the county seat of, Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. In Montana's northwest region, ...

, Flathead County,

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. The course was founded in 1918. Prior to becoming a golf course the land was owned by the affluent Conrad family^† and used as a buffalo pasture. The golf course is located southwest of Glacier National Park and north of

Flathead Lake Flathead Lake ( fla, člq̓etkʷ, label=Salish, kut, yawuʔnik̓ ʔa·kuq̓nuk) is a large natural lake in northwest Montana. The lake is a remnant of the ancient, massive glacial dammed lake, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacial. ...

. Dave Broeder—who was appointed as

PGA PGA is an acronym or initialism that may stand for: Aviation * IATA code for Page Municipal Airport, Coconino County, Arizona * ICAO designator for Portugália, regional airline based in Lisbon, Portugal * Abbreviation for Prince George Airport ...

head professional in 1990—had worked at the club since 1974. He announced his retirement in early 2018 and was succeeded by Casey Keyser. The Championship 18 Course at Buffalo Hill was designed by noted golf course architect

Robert Muir Graves Robert Muir "Bob" Graves (September 24, 1930 – June 28, 2003) was an American landscape and golf course architect who was president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects from 1974–75. Graves designed many golf courses, includi ...

History

In 1918, land was purchased where part of the Cameron 9-hole course now stands. The Cameron course is named for Dave Cameron, a former Kalispell mayor and early golf administrator in the area. Another nine holes were built with sand greens and no irrigation on the fairways. This 18-hole course continued to operate until the late 1930s when the Works Progress Administration (

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

) built the rustic log clubhouse. The WPA also improved the golf course by building a 9-hole irrigated grass course. Some holes are still in service today while others have been modified during subsequent expansions. In 1964, the club made a major improvement with the construction of nine more holes, four of which are incorporated into the Championship 18 course. In 1974, members of the Kalispell Golf Association decided to expand the course to 27 holes with construction of new golf holes around and over the Stillwater River. The nearly $1,000,000 expansion project, led by expansion committee chairman Otis Robbins, was financed by donations from the Buffalo Hill members, sales of debenture bonds, and matching funds from the

Bureau of Outdoor Recreation The Bureau of Outdoor Recreation (BOR) was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior with the mission of planning outdoor recreation opportunities for the Interior Department and assisting private, local, and state organizations w ...

. An 82-acre tract of land was donated by Kalispell furniture merchant Duane Bitney and businessman Sid Torgerson for the project. The cooperative efforts and commitment to the completion of this expansion reflected the heart, dedication, and vision of the leaders of the Kalispell Golf Association of that era. PGA head professional George Haddow served at Buffalo Hill for 25 years. After Haddow's resignation in late 1976,

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...

, native Charles "Skip" Koprivica was hired as the new head professional in December 1976. Kalispell native and

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

golf professional

Alice Ritzman Alice Ritzman (born March 1, 1952) is an American professional golfer, who played on the LPGA Tour from 1978 to 1998. Early career Ritzman was born in Kalispell, Montana, on March 1, 1952. She won the Montana Junior Championship three times. Sh ...

played the course in her youth before her successful career on the LPGA Tour.

Championship 18 Course

On August 11, 1978 the legendary

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

—accompanied by fellow

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

professional

Bob Dickson Robert B. Dickson (born January 25, 1944) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. Amateur career Dickson was born in McAlester, Oklahoma. He was introduced to golf at the age of five by his father, ...

—was on hand to celebrate the Grand Opening of the "Championship 18 Golf Course". In 1967, Dickson became the first amateur golfer since 1935 to win both the

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

and

British Amateur The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

. He turned professional and joined the PGA Tour in 1968.

Mac McLendon Benson Rayfield McLendon Jr. (August 10, 1945 – July 4, 2022) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 1970s. McLendon was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Louisiana State University in Bato ...

had originally been scheduled to appear with Palmer for the dedication but could not attend due to a bout with tendonitis. Designed by

—with the expert assistance of construction superintendent John Steidel—the course was referred to as a "monument" and rivals as one of the best golf courses in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. Since the 1990s the golf course has continued to make improvements by rebuilding tee boxes, upgrading irrigation systems, reshaping bunkers, improving sand quality and, most recently in 1999, rebuilding of four new greens on holes 12, 13, 16 and 17. In 2011, the Cameron 9-hole golf course was remodeled to accommodate a new driving range and practice facility.

Tournaments hosted

Buffalo Hill Golf Club has hosted many important tournaments over the years. The club is best known for the annual "Labor Day International Classic" tournament which is a 54-hole event first played in 1939. Dozens of players from the Canadian province of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

attend each year along with a large contingent of local and regional players. The first round consists of two trips around the Cameron 9-hole course, which plays to a par 33, and the second and third rounds are contested on the Championship Course.

Scorecard

Course location

1176 N. Main Street
Kalispell, MT 59901

Notes

^‡ The tournament course record is 64 by Scott Desmarais of

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The non-tournament course record of 63 was posted by Logan Lindholm of Kalispell.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.golfbuffalohill.com *^{†Conrad MansionAerial view of Buffalo Hill Golf Course
– from Google Maps

Sports venues in Montana
Kalispell, Montana
Tourist attractions in Flathead County, Montana
Buildings and structures in Flathead County, Montana
Golf clubs and courses in Montana
1918 establishments in Montana}