Three Crowns Golf Club, Wyoming
My tee shot on the par three sixth hole of Three Crowns Golf Club in Casper, Wyoming.
Wyoming is renowned for its natural beauty and not generally for its golf courses. The golf quality, however, is solid for a state with just over half a million residents. Shooting Star and Snake River, both private clubs in the Jackson area, are typically the two highest ranked courses in the Equality State. Three through 10 on various lists are historically scattered in ranking.
In 2021, my wife and I embarked on a one-year wedding anniversary trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. She has an aunt and uncle that live in Rapid City, and we had a great four-day visit with them. Shoutout to M and C for their gracious hospitality. Aside from doing everything touristy there was to do in the southwestern part of the state (including taking on Hart Ranch and Red Rock, the best golf courses in Rapid City), the two of us went on an overnight into Wyoming, visiting Devils Tower National Monument and the Bighorn Mountains. We stayed at a spectacular ranch outside of Buffalo overlooking the Bighorns that provided one of the most picturesque sunsets of my lifetime. In the morning, one of the employees cooked us a delectable brunch. What a great part of the country.
My wife, an above average golfer, and I pulled into the parking lot at Three Crowns Golf Club, smack dab in the middle of the state in Casper, that afternoon. It is clear from the moment you step on the property that you are visiting a high scale public facility. There is a large, fully stocked restaurant that faces the ninth and 18thgreen complexes. The pro shop is well run and decent in size, and the driving range is serviceable. Three Crowns is certainly walkable, but we were playing vacation golf, so we opted to take a cart. We were blown away with how nice the carts were: they sported spot-on GPS, possessed the ability to play music, and had some of the most comfortable seats.
Three Crowns is a 2005 Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design, his only in the state of Wyoming. It is laid out on the site of a former Amoco oil refinery. The golfer is afforded views of Casper Mountain to the south from nearly every spot on the course. Downtown can be viewed to the east as well. GolfWeek named TCGC the fifth best public golf course in Wyoming three years ago; Top100GolfCourses.com named it eighth overall in the state. I wouldn’t call Three Crowns a links course, but there are links-like characteristics. The lack of trees and omnipresent mounding provide for that type of experience. I believe water hazards replace the typical parkland features in many places.
The first hole is a tame, straight away, slightly downhill 385-yard par four lined by a quartet of bunkers. Those traps are effectively the biggest roadblock to a par or better; it is a welcome opportunity considering what is to come. Beginning with the tough par five second, you are then smacked by six holes in a row featuring penal water hazards. The closing holes on each side share a large pond. The ninth is a straight 515-yard par five with a ton of bunkers protecting both your first and second shots. Keep your ball right off the tee and birdie is certainly within reach. We both were up near the green after our second shots. 15 is a clever par four sliced by a meandering creek in the middle of the fairway. The conservative golfer can lay back to the left and have a short iron to the green; the bomber can pound one up the right side, but the carry over the creek must be 275 yards from the tips. If the golf ball hits the right spot, the ball may come to rest just shy of the green. The 18th plays like a shorter, par-four mirror image of the ninth, with reachable bunkers on both the first and second shots. The sixth hole is unquestionably the best par three and perhaps the most picturesque look on the course. It stands at 200 yards, but the most difficult part is the carry over the water whilst avoiding three bunkers that guard the back of the green. There is plenty of room to bail out on the right, but four can be brought into play easily with this strategic approach. I know some might not care for them, but I also liked the 360-degree views Three Crowns offered. I enjoyed the high-risk, high-reward holes; many of the RTJ, Jr. golf courses I have played seem to present a good number of these.
The rationale holding Three Crowns back from top tier in the state has to do with course variety. Holes three, five, and 12 exude the point perfectly because they are all forced carries over water. You might stand on the tee at some point during your round and wonder if you’ve already played the hole. There are certainly several great holes at Three Crowns—numbers two, six, nine, 15, and 18, as highlighted above—but they all bring the blue stuff into play. In fact, 15 of its holes do. TCGC’s water hazards might lead you to believe the Jones, Jr. offering is a one-trick pony.
After the three-hour round—a terrific pace of play for a weekend afternoon—my wife and I headed into town for pizza. We ate at Racca’s Pizzeria Napoletana and loved it. I would highly recommend for a post-round carbo load. Racca’s had great staff and a massive indoor dining area. Casper has a neat downtown, too.
My golfing experience in Wyoming is extremely limited, so I cannot say where Three Crowns ranks among the state’s greatest tracks. I do know that among the 250 or so golf courses I have played, TC ranks in my top 100. If you’re in Casper or central Wyoming, this is the obvious choice. In a vast state where most of the good golf is in Jackson or to the north, Three Crowns is the one to savor in the center.