RGM2525 recommended sneaking in a round at Old Works if we had time on our trip to MT. After some thought and a early departure from Glacier National we walked on to this course at noon with thunderst... Continue »

RGM2525 recommended sneaking in a round at Old Works if we had time on our trip to MT. After some thought and a early departure from Glacier National we walked on to this course at noon with thunderstorms all around the valley the place was empty. The staff was super friendly and gave us all kinds of tips to get around and warm up. The practice area was large and even had 3 practice holes to play before heading to the tee. Rack rate for a Thursday at noon was a bit steep at $91. Course is a Jack Nicklaus design that is built into a closed copper mine. The major hype comes from the black slag sand traps which have a glittering shine to them. Once we got to the first tee we realized the course was not in the best shape overall. Most of the grass was a greenish brown and not visually pleasing like the mountain courses we played all week. Tee boxes were good with full coverage and 5 sets to choose from. We played the gold tees and it was quite a task to handle at 7200 yards even with the elevation. Fairways were verticut and rather thin for my liking. We had to move most balls to grass as the verdicut was like hitting from divots. Rough was a mixed bag and gets worse the farther offline you get. Greens were very tough as is typical for a Jack Nicklaus course large with plenty of undulation. They rolled well and were firm so all shots needed to be played to the front of the green. Sand traps being the black slag played very nice and the sand is almost a powder like consistency which rival most top golf course sand traps. The layout is very entertaining and if the conditions were better I would highly recommend playing here at any rate. Sadly $91 for a noon time is not worth it IMO give the current conditions. The course use to be a troon managed course but I dont think that is the case anymore as the clubhouse and carts are a little rough around the edges. I am still glad I played here just for the black sand traps but I wont be back unless conditions changes drastically. Edit- Rating came out at 7.0 but i would put it closer to 5.5 with the fairways and rough bringing down the score.