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A Kansas Golf Treasure Returns to the National Stage: Prairie Dunes Set to Host Two Future USGA Championships

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There are golf courses that challenge you, courses that inspire you, and then there are courses that leave a lasting impression long after the final putt drops. Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas, is undoubtedly one of the latter.

Recognized as one of the finest golf courses in the country, Prairie Dunes has built a reputation on its remarkable architecture, natural landscape and rich championship history. Now, the historic Kansas venue is preparing to add two more chapters to its storied legacy.

The United States Golf Association (USGA) has selected Prairie Dunes to host the 2029 U.S. Senior Open and 2032 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, bringing two of the game’s premier senior championships back to Kansas. The championships will mark the ninth and 10th USGA events hosted at Prairie Dunes and the club’s first since the 2006 U.S. Senior Open.

A Course Unlike Any Other

Nestled among the rolling sand dunes and native prairie grasses of central Kansas, Prairie Dunes offers a golf experience that is as distinctive as its surroundings.

Founded in the mid-1930s by Emerson Carey and his sons, the course began with nine holes designed by legendary architect Perry Maxwell, opening for play in 1937. Twenty years later, Maxwell’s son, Press, completed the second nine, creating the 18-hole championship layout that golfers continue to admire today.

The result is a remarkable links-style golf course that embraces the natural characteristics of the Kansas landscape. Sand dunes, native grasses, yucca plants, mature cottonwoods and ever-present Kansas winds combine to create a playing experience that rewards creativity, patience and precision.

Prairie Dunes doesn’t rely on manufactured obstacles or overwhelming length to challenge its players. Instead, its natural terrain, strategic design and unpredictable conditions demand thoughtful shot-making throughout the round. It is a course that has stood the test of time and continues to challenge even the world’s best players.

A Championship History Worth Celebrating

Prairie Dunes is no stranger to hosting golf’s biggest amateur and professional competitions.

The club’s championship resume includes eight previous USGA championships, highlighted by the 1980, 1991 and 2002 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 1986 Curtis Cup Match, the 1988 U.S. Mid-Amateur, the 1995 U.S. Senior Amateur and the 2006 U.S. Senior Open.

Some of the game’s most memorable performances have taken place on its fairways and greens.

In 1980, Juli Inkster captured the first of her three consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur titles at Prairie Dunes, defeating Patti Rizzo in the championship match. More than two decades later, Inkster returned to Hutchinson and won the 2002 U.S. Women’s Open, adding another remarkable accomplishment to the course’s history.

The 2006 U.S. Senior Open also delivered a memorable finish. Allen Doyle successfully defended his championship title, shooting a final-round 68 to finish at eight-under-par and defeat eight-time major champion and Kansas native Tom Watson by two strokes.

Those performances represent just a glimpse of the championship moments that have helped establish Prairie Dunes as one of the most respected venues in American golf.

Looking Ahead: Two More National Championships Coming to Kansas

The next generation of championship memories is already on the horizon.

The 2029 U.S. Senior Open will bring an international field of accomplished professionals and amateurs, ages 50 and older, to Hutchinson. First contested in 1980, the championship has become one of the most prestigious events on the senior golf calendar, featuring many of the sport’s most recognizable names.

Three years later, Prairie Dunes will welcome the 2032 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, providing another opportunity to showcase the best senior women golfers from around the world. Established in 2018, the championship celebrates the continued excellence of women competing at the highest levels of the game.

Together, these events will provide an incredible platform for Prairie Dunes, the Hutchinson community and the entire state of Kansas. They will also give golf fans throughout the region an opportunity to witness championship golf at one of the country’s most distinctive venues.

A Legacy That Continues to Grow

For Prairie Dunes, hosting these two future championships is about more than adding prestigious events to an already impressive resume. It is a continuation of a relationship with the USGA that spans nearly six decades.

For Kansas golf, it is another opportunity to demonstrate the quality of its courses, the enthusiasm of its golf community and its ability to host events on the national stage.

From the natural beauty of its rolling dunes to the championship moments that have unfolded across its fairways, Prairie Dunes represents something special about the game of golf in the Midwest.

The countdown to 2029 has begun, and with another historic championship scheduled for 2032, the future looks bright for this Kansas golf landmark.

One thing is certain: Prairie Dunes is ready to make more history.

The Topeka Country Club – History in the Capital City

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The Topeka Country Club, located in Topeka, KS, hosts a vast amount of history since opening in 1905. Most recently hosting the 2026 Kansas Senior Amateur, 2024 Kansas Amateur Match Play Championship, and 2022 Kansas Women’s Amateur, TCC has hosted countless other state Am’s, exhibitions, and city championships.

Home to Washburn University golf, and a young Topekan and major champion, Gary Woodland, TCC history runs deep with high level amateur & professional golf.

On May 1, 1967, Jack Nicklaus made an appearance in the capital city, and hosted an exhibition in front of about 2,500 spectators with a young up & comer from Kansas City, Tom Watson. Along with Watson and Nicklaus, Topeka native and 1964 US Pub Links champion, Bill McDonald, and 1965 US Women’s Amateur champion, Jean Ashley, rounded out the foursome in entertaining fashion.

When asked about the experience more than 50 years later, Watson would go on to say “playing that exhibition with Jack was one of the beginnings of my dream of becoming a professional golfer, right here at Topeka Country Club.”

For over a century, TCC has provided the state of Kansas with a significant amount of golf history. Let’s hope the next 100 years will be just as abundant!

Click HERE to view the full post 

Feature Course – Sand Creek Station

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Sand Creek Station, host of the 2014 USGA Public Links Championship, and the 3rd U.S. Adaptive Open, is no stranger to hosting high level championships. Located about 30 minutes North of Wichita on I-135, this south central plains gem is accessible from all parts of the state of Kansas.

2026 celebrates Sand Creek Station’s 20th anniversary. Course architect, Jeff Brauer, added several classic hole templates into this track.

The long Par-5 fourth hole incorporates a classic Biarritz style green complex early in the round. Typically running the length of the green (and usually on a par 3, though not always), this unique green complex instead incorporates a Biarritz in the width of the green on a par 5.

Hole 10 is a beast, measuring 640 yards from the back tee pad, and typically plays into a prevailing south wind with penalty areas on the left and right side of the hole. It’s rumored that if you make birdie, you walk away with a tee shirt.

The 13th hole features another classic template – Redan. Redan’s traditionally range 180-230 yards that typically incorporate a 45-degree right to left oriented green, with a bunker down the left. The original Redan is featured on the 15th hole at North Berwick in Scotland.

Spectacle Glasses feature two bunkers in the middle of the fairway that resemble a pair of eye glasses, as seen on the Par-4 15th.

Maybe the most famous Road Hole in golf comes at the 17th hole at St. Andrews. The 16th hole at Sand Creek Station is just that. This hole features a pot bunker short, a shallow, but wide green, and Out-of-Bounds directly behind the green. Great scores can be made on the Par-5 16th, but so can big numbers.

Sand Creek Station is a fun course, and hosts The Railer – Kansas Stroke Play Championship annually. If you’re in the Wichita/Newton area, make a stop. This is a course you need to play.

Click HERE to view additional photos of Sand Creek Station. 

Introducing – Feature Course #1

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We’re really fortunate here in the Midwest. Some of the most aesthetically beautiful golf courses are right in our backyard — and even better, many of them are accessible to the public.

This May, Central Links Golf is starting a new segment. Each month, we’ll feature a course in our region that we think our members would enjoy. But it’s not just our opinion — we want to hear YOUR thoughts on where we should go next.

Firekeeper Golf Course in Mayetta, Kansas, is accessible from all parts of the state and open to the public. Located approximately 20 miles north of Topeka on Highway 75, this Potawatomi Prairie Band course can play as long as 7,500 yards from the championship tees or as short as 4,500 yards from the forward tees. The natural bentgrass, scenic fairways, and greens framed by fescue rough will test the ability of any golfer.

Which golf course should we feature next?

Taking The Nation By Storm

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Kansas and Central Links Golf tournament players may have wondered what happened to Greg Goode this year. The Salina resident hasn’t been seen around these parts for some time.

Well, the three-time Kansas Senior Player of the Year set his sights on national and world Super Senior ranking points in 2024 and has been in hot pursuit of those goals all season.

After winning three national events in the fall of 2023, Goode committed to playing a national schedule in 2024. He played in 22 events around the country, concluding with the Golfweek Tournament of Champions in Florida on December 15th.

By the end of that tournament, he had locked up Super Senior Player of the Year honors in the Society of Seniors — an independent national golf organization — and was second in the Golfweek Super Senior rankings. On the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points list, Goode finished the year in 12th place for players 65 and over. In the AmateurGolf.com rankings, Goode finished 4th.

The Golfweek POY goal eluded him only because in one event early in the year he inadvertently entered as a Senior, rather than as a Super Senior, and those points don’t transfer. If he could have added his Senior points from that one tournament, he would have been a runaway for the Player of the Year honor.

Highlights of the year included two victories, one in New York at the Jack Hesler Tournament, and the other in Las Vegas at the Golfweek Desert Showdown. He also had a second-place finish in the Society of Seniors National Super Senior Championship in Portland, Oregon. Goode had eleven top five finishes in the 22 events he entered.

Time zone changes, weather, making travel arrangements, adjusting to different kinds of grasses and course conditions is challenging, he said. But asked what inspired him to devote the full year to pursuing top honors in competitive tournament play, Goode said,

“I started on this journey six yeas ago. Don Kuehn encouraged me to play in the Golfweek National Senior Match Play Championship at Tobacco Road in North Carolina. I watched him win his flight and from then on, I was hooked. I’ve played in a few ‘national’ events every year since. There’s nothing quite like it. These are the best players in the country.

“I also appreciate Central Links Golf and their rigorous schedule, competitive environment and professionally run tournaments. It makes a big difference to come out of that kind of competition. It prepares you for playing a tough schedule against the best players. CLG does a heck of a job developing players of all ages. We’re lucky to have them,” he said

Goode plans to return to a Central Links Golf schedule in 2025. Could a fourth Kansas POY be in his sights? (You’ve been warned!)

Article written by Don Keuhn