Golf in Newton

The executive layout at Sierra Hills Golf Club‎ presents a par 58 course that covers 3,100 yards and features 4 par 4s and 14 par 3s. The terrain careens across gently undulating bluegrass and past six water features, including a crescent-shaped pond that wraps itself nearly all the way around one of the greens, forming a moat to prevent local mini-golf courses from setting up windmill colonies. The 18th hole offers a dramatic end to the round, as golfers must send approach shots soaring over a water hazard stationed directly in front of the green. Sierra Hills Golf Club‎ complements its pared-down layout with a full-length, 35-stall, natural-grass driving range, where guests can drive or bicycle-kick practice balls up to 300 yards into the distance.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 58 course designed by Leo Johnson
• Course rating of 70
• Slope rating of 113
• Three sets of tees

The course architect incorporated the area's natural terrain when designing Highlands Golf Club's 18-hole course, sculpting narrow fairways through native tall grass, using sand hills as natural hazards, and enlisting the population of red foxes to serve as forecaddies. The end result is a 6,650-yard labyrinth of zoysia grass that winds through the rolling hills of Reno County. The challenging course makes accurate shot making a premium, as golfers must avoid multiple water hazards in addition to the tough lies that await off the fairways. Golfers can load their Scottish quivers with new golf balls after a preround visit to the pro shop and relax after rounds at the club's onsite restaurant.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-72 course

• Length of 6,650 yards from the farthest tees

• Course rating of 73.8 from the farthest tees

• Slope rating of 133 from the farthest tees

A nine-hole course ideal for a leisurely midday game or early morning jaunt, Clearwater Golf Course unfolds across level terrain unencumbered by an overabundance of sand bunkers and water hazards. Hurtling orbs sail into the sky at an onsite driving range, where players can hone swings in anticipation of holes four, five, and nine, numbers which not only signify Clearwater’s toughest obstacles, but also the toughest questions on the drivers-ed exam for a golf cart.

Vibrant hardwoods envelop the lush fairways of Fox Ridge Golf Club's nine-hole course as they stretch across 3,174 yards of scenic, secluded terrain. The horticultural haven encircles a central stream, which comes into play on four holes and houses a sophisticated underwater civilization that uses golf balls as currency. Rounds end in dramatic fashion at the ninth hole—a 498-yard par 5 that doglegs slightly left and contains the widest segment of the intervening river, forcing spiky-shoed adventurers to make cerebral course-management decisions. Head golf pro Mike Riffel guides greenhorns on their path to green jackets with a variety of golf lessons. The Club keeps tour-level hunger at bay with Fox Ridge Restaurant, which serves an eclectic menu including steaks, burgers, pastas, sandwiches, and salads that can be made to order and foraged entirely from recovered divots.

To step back in time to when the cedars, oaks, and pines around Wellington Golf Club were first groomed and pared away to make room for fairways and greens would be to see a landscape at once familiar and different. The year was 1919, and the sounds of cattlemen driving herds up the Chisholm Trail would ring through the air, accompanying the sights of a town not 50 years old. Yet that early course's modesty would be recognizable—and very much part of the draw.

The designers kept much of the surrounding growth intact, forcing players to thread their tee shots down somewhat narrow fairways to span the 6,201 yards. This emphasis on accuracy soaks through to the rest of the course as well. The relatively small greens' fast bent grass demands deft iron play and a soft putting touch. And getting there through variable gusts is half the challenge. But Wellington Golf Club doesn't leave its clubbers stranded in that regard—a driving range holds tees at both ends so that drivers can calibrate to different wind directions without relying on their protractors and trajectory calculations.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 70 course
• Total length of 6,201 yards from the back tees
• Three sets of tees per hole
• Scorecard

Bermuda grass fairways and bent grass greens form a challenging layout at Augusta Country Club’s nine-hole golf course, which has blanketed the Kansas countryside since 1922. Every hole features two separate tee boxes, which means golfers can enjoy two distinct experiences of each hole when they play an 18-hole round. The opportunity to play the same holes twice also grants golfers a chance to redeem themselves by avoiding a bunker or water hazard the second time around. The same waterway runs horizontally across the fairways on six different holes, forcing golfers to send shots over its glassy surface or tunnel underneath it with a makeshift shovel made from divot tools.