Eagle Bend Golf Club

Eagle Bend Golf Club on the north shore of Flathead Lake in Bigfork is Montana's most-decorated public golf course, Eagle Bend has been rated #1 in Montana by Golf Digest for six consecutive years and listed in the Top 50 courses in the United States, an extraordinary accolade for a state where Rock Creek Cattle Company and Stock Farm Club (both private) dominate the usual national lists. The 27-hole facility comprises three distinctly-different 9-hole loops (Eagle, Bear, and Osprey) built across three construction phases spanning 1984-1995. The history: William Hull laid out the original Eagle Nine in 1984 with significant input from then-touring-professional Lon Hinkle (an Eagle Bend member). The second nine, today's Osprey Nine, sitting closer to the lake, opened in 1988, with Jack Nicklaus himself on-site for the dedication round as a favor to his longtime friend Hinkle. In 1995, Nicklaus Design returned to complete the final nine (today's Bear Nine), finishing the 27-hole facility. The course plays 6,711 yards from the Blues (71.9 rating, 130 slope) across all three nines combined. For the Whitefish / Flathead Valley visitor, Eagle Bend is the trip anchor, lake, mountains, and Nicklaus all in one.