Less than a mile from Yellowstone National Park, in Montana’s Paradise Valley, is a property where you can work as a ranch hand or take a trail ride in the morning and then play 18 holes of golf (or as many as you’d like, really) in the afternoon.
Mountain Sky Guest Ranch is a 17,000-acre sanctuary with the rare combination of destination golf and an authentic Western ranch experience. The escape’s scenic 18-hole course, Rising Sun, designed by Johnny Miller, is among a select few in the U.S. that’s affiliated with a working dude ranch and is accessible only to guests who book one of the property’s immersive week-long stays. The ranch is one of four in Montana owned by Arthur Blank, the owner of PGA Tour Superstore and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, and the co-founder of Home Depot.
It feels wrong to call Mountain Sky a “luxury experience,” as it’s rustic, yet upscale. There are no TVs in the refurbished cabins and you’re likely to lose cell phone service shortly after driving off the main road, upward into grass-covered foothills and into the thick pine forests. Guests eat together during communal dining times, have their names posted on activity boards in the main lodge, and comfortably mingle with staff over music, dancing and in the saloon at night. The experience itself is as much as guests choose to make of it, from horseback rides, golf, fly fishing, hiking, and wellness activities to team penning competitions or assisting with the ranch’s hay and cattle operation.
“In the last four or five years, more and more families are coming together and in many cases more and more members of the family have a real interest in playing golf,” says Blank, an avid golfer himself. “It’s getting outside and getting in the elements. I love the social aspect of it. I’ve got a million things going on in my life, and I have since I can remember, but I get focused just on golf—on my swing, my game, who I’m with, and just enjoying the sport.”
A getaway like this doesn’t come cheap. A three-bedroom family cabin can run over $34,000 for a week during the peak summer months while a two-person cabin starts at nearly $14,000, but the price includes lodging, meals, and all on-ranch activities—the golf, guided horseback rides, hiking, yoga, and fly-fishing instruction. But it’s a rare opportunity for an unplugged outdoor experience that blends diverse and authentic interests within a unique natural setting.
Here are some other notable golf and ranch resort combinations in the U.S. that experientially extend well beyond being “ranch” in name only.
Silvies Valley Ranch—Seneca, Ore.
This unique 140,000-acre retreat is perhaps even more remote than Bandon Dunes within the state of Oregon, about three hours east of Bend and 5.5 hours from Portland. The ranch experiences are broad, from shooting, fishing, hiking, biking, and spa treatments to horseback riding, wagon rides, a cattle roundup, and goat herding. The championship 18-hole golf course is reversible, with two separate routings (Craddock and Hankins), while there’s also a 9-hole par-3 course (Chief Egan), a seven-hole short course (McVeigh’s Gauntlet), and a reversible putting course that circles a lake. Golfers can even rely on goat caddies—with custom Seamus backpacks to carry clubs, balls, tees, refreshments, and peanuts (as a treat for the goats)—for help traversing the steep McVeigh’s Gauntlet course that’s carved atop a ridgeline.
Rancho de los Caballeros—Wickenburg, Ariz.
This luxury ranch resort in Wickenburg, just over an hour outside Phoenix, has been providing visitors with a taste of the Old West cowboy lifestyle for more than 75 years. With a herd of 85 quarter horses and draft horses and a team of professional wranglers, guests can take part in morning and afternoon trail rides through the ranch’s 20,000 acres of Sonoran Desert landscape; team penning activities, private rides, and roping lessons; and even participate in a “Caballero for a Day’’ experience for a true hands-on immersion in the cowboy lifestyle. And then there’s the golf. Rather than a target golf experience, Los Caballeros Golf Club lushly winds through the Arizona desert with picturesque holes and scenic views of the Bradshaw Mountains. The 10th hole plays alongside the ranch’s stables and recently rebuilt corral, giving golfers an up-close look at the equestrian activity, and the red, octagonal stop signs on property simply say, “Whoa.”
Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort—Solvang, Calif.
In the heart of Santa Barbara wine country, Alisal provides a modern taste of the Old West. Nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley and bordered by a river and coastal mountain range, the property opened as a luxury working ranch in 1946, appealing to those in search of adventure and renewal. There are rodeo events every Wednesday evening during the summer, with wranglers demonstrating rodeo, barrel racing, and team sorting; adult guests can take part in the latter on rodeo day. There are 50 miles of trails for horseback rides, not to mention fishing, hiking, and spa activities, as well as two 18-hole golf courses. The Ranch course, designed by Billy Bell Jr., is routed around an imposing barranca and winds tightly through old oak, eucalyptus, sycamore, and pine trees. The River course, open to the public beyond ranch guests, is wide open along the Santa Ynez River with elevated tee boxes and sweeping views.
A Bar A Ranch—Encampment, Wyo.
Along the banks of the North Platte River and in the heart of the Medicine Bow Mountains, the A Bar A has been continually operating as a guest and cattle ranch for nearly a century, sharing an authentic ranching experience with guests from around the country. In total, there are about 5,000 cattle (along with nearly 200 horses) between the 100,000-acre A Bar A and its two sister ranches. In addition to guest houses and cozy cabins, there’s horseback riding, fly fishing, hiking, and shooting sports along with custom “expeditions” in which family and friend groups can explore the vast landscape more intimately. Wyoming is one of the worst-supplied states for golf in the U.S. (only Delaware and Rhode Island have fewer courses in the continental U.S.), but A Bar A does have a 9-hole, high-country golf course that’s fairly nondescript, but situated at an elevation of over 7,000 feet.
What other resorts or destinations do you know of that combine golf with an authentic ranch experience?
