America’s first 18-hole golf course held an annual tournament to determine whether sheep shearers or sheep would be sheared that season. Pay homage to interspecies competitions and hair-removal festivals with today’s Groupon: for $25, you get 18 holes of golf, a cart, and a bag of balls (up to a $47 value) at The Ridge Golf Club in Sioux Center.

Featuring professional staff members, an impeccably maintained course, and true-rolling greens arranged according to the position of 18 miniature meteor craters, The Ridge offers a golf experience for clubbers both skilled and woefully handicapped. A full round of evasive holes ($25 weekdays, $27 weekends) tantalizes cleek caressers and promises more excitement than a ruptured appendix. A golf-cart rental ($15) and a medium bag of range balls ($5) are included in the package, as well as a caged self-loathing that, according to The Ridge’s policies, can be unleashed upon any golfer who putts an eagle.

As one of Golf Inc.’s 2009 top-five national new developments, The Ridge requires all players possessing fewer than two heads to observe proper attire, which is specified as shirts with banded collars, soft-spiked or soft-soled shoes, and manga-themed boxer shorts. Golf carts are not permitted on the course’s native grass areas and are therefore equipped with special straps that allow them to be carried on the back like a hiking pack.

Reviews

The Sioux City Journal has featured The Ridge. Although it’s too new for many reviews, a Google Mapper gave The Ridge four stars.

• It's not just local golfers who recognize they have another good 18-hole public golf course in Siouxland. – Michele Linck, Sioux City Journal
• The course has a lot of character with greens that are playable, roll well and are contoured enough to provide a challenge to even the accomplished golfer. – alvhart, Google Maps