The Reserve at Moonlight Basin

The verdict

The Reserve at Moonlight Basin is what happens when a great designer is handed a once in a lifetime mountain site and a private brief. Jack Nicklaus routed it high above Big Sky in southwest Montana, on ground that climbs through forest and alpine meadow with the Spanish Peaks framing the horizon, and the views from nearly every tee are the kind that stop a group mid swing. Nicklaus himself has described it as among the most beautiful places he has built a course, and the photographs do not exaggerate.

It is also a serious, big scale design. On the card it reads as one of the longest courses in the world, stretching beyond 8,000 yards and including a par 5 of around 777 yards, but the thin air at 7,500 feet adds so much carry that it plays far shorter than the number, turning the length into spectacle rather than punishment. The course put itself in front of a national audience when it hosted The Match in 2021, and for the traveling golfer lucky enough to gain access it is a bucket list mountain round and the jewel of Montana's golf.

The holes worth the trip

The defining feature of The Reserve is the elevation, in every sense. The course sits high enough that the air is genuinely thin, so the ball flies an extra club or more and the enormous yardages on the card melt away in play. Nicklaus used the mountain terrain to create constant elevation change within the round, with tees perched above the fairways and approaches that play across or down dramatic falls of land, and the result is golf that feels heroic without becoming unfair.

The headline is the par 5 17th, which measures around 777 yards from the tips and is among the longest holes in championship golf, a hole that only makes sense at altitude where the long hitter can still reach it in three comfortable blows. But the round is full of memorable moments before that, with holes that frame the Spanish Peaks, alpine meadows in bloom in high summer, and the occasional glimpse of the wildlife that shares the mountain. The greens are bold and the setting demands attention, so the challenge is as much about staying present as about strategy.

What stays with you is the sheer grandeur. This is golf at the top of a mountain, conditioned to a high private standard and set in scenery that few courses anywhere can match. When The Match brought a celebrity field here in 2021 the course needed no introduction on camera, and for a golfer who can arrange a tee time it remains one of the most jaw dropping rounds in the country.

Where to stay nearby

The natural base is Big Sky, the mountain resort town below the course, where lodges, rental homes and the Mountain Village offer a full range of accommodation and a summer of hiking, rafting and access to Yellowstone on the doorstep. Bozeman, an hour north, is the gateway airport and a lively base in its own right, well suited to a group flying in for a few days.

Because The Reserve is private and the season is short, most golfers build a wider Montana trip around it. Pair the alpine grandeur of Moonlight Basin with the one of a kind industrial golf at Old Works Golf Course in Anaconda to the west for a trip that captures the full range of Montana golf, and reach further into the Northwest with the floating green at the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts around Big Sky.