Tatanka Golf Club recently opened at the Santee Sioux Nation-owned Ohiya Casino Resort in Niobrara, Nebraska. Translated from Lakota, “tatanka” means buffalo, explained General Manager Brian Burshiem, who said the course will create up to 25 new jobs. “It is a great add-on for the Santee Sioux Nation. They have a great casino, a great hotel and this is a great golf course. It is something unique for miles, not just some little golf development, but a dramatic 18-hole championship golf course. It will put the resort on the map and make its own name,” he said. Burshiem added the resort will offer special stay-and-play golf packages.
Golf course designer Paul Albanese said, “Nature has been respected in the design process, which is something very important to the Sioux and appreciated. We took the history and the culture of the area and the Santee Sioux Nation and used it as a design inspiration in a subtle and respectful way. We looked at the land forms and designed something that might reflect local stories. For instance, how a certain mountain looked and got its name was used. We used a story about a medicine woman as inspiration, too.”
Albanese also considered the proximity of the region’s buffalo. “Depending on where the buffalo graze on a given day the golfer on a tee can be 10 yards from buffalo. We routed the golf course close to them, especially numbers 11, 12 and 13 and they will be part of the experience of playing Tatanka,” he said.
Albanese said he frequently changes his mind about which hole is his favorite. “Today, maybe it’s the par 3 fifth hole. Standing on the green, it offers the most gorgeous views of the rolling hills, up to 40 miles. It’s unobstructed, no housing, just the land as it was 100 years ago, untouched,” he said. Hole 15 with a short par 4 also will captivate golfers, he added. “There is a series of bunkers on the side of the hill that are rugged and rough protecting the green. Golfers will choose the risk reward, play down through the valley or go for the green and challenge the bunkers. It will be exciting from a golf standpoint,” he said.
The first casino in Nebraska, developed 17 years ago, Ohiya Casino Resort attracts players from northeast Nebraska, southwest Minnesota, southeast South Dakota and northwest Iowa with its gaming floor, bingo, restaurants, hotel, events and entertainment and golf.
