(June 9th) Day 4 – Huntley, MT, drove 374 miles

The trip to Billings from Idaho Falls is a long, but scenic drive. My heading was West Yellowstone on the edge of the Idaho, Montana, Wyoming state lines. The road (US 20) is east of the interstate and with summer just starting and people itching to get out after Covid, it was a busy highway. I had been on I-15 (Idaho Falls to Butte) many years ago, but this was a new road for me. I loved the drive and views, particularly the signs that warned of Bison migration

At West Yellowstone you can choose to go through the park, or drive up US 191 to Bozeman which is the route I took because of the time factor. US 191 follows the Gallatin river north. I can't say enough good things about the scenery on this route, but watch out for game (all kinds!) crossing the highway.

Huntley, MT is about 12 miles east of Billings and the Pryor Creek Golf Club has two courses. One is for members and their guests, and the one I played is open to the public. I had planned to play this golf course and I will admit to being a little disappointed. The course is very hilly and has some blind trouble areas that a first timer couldn’t know to avoid. I played this one by myself and a couple of groups of young golfers let me play through them. The course was in good condition and the greens were fine, but I’m sure I could’ve found a better course in Bozeman. I WOULD have driven up to Anaconda (near Butte) and played The Old Works Golf Course there as it has been a LONG time since I have played it and it’s a great golf course. Anaconda was nowhere near my route though, and I have a long journey ahead, so I had to manage my driving time.

The Johnny Walker Course at Pryor Creek was a bargain at $38 with cart and the people there were nice. Weather was good, hot with a light wind, but I probably won’t play this one again. The golf course has four sets of tees ranging from 6263 to 5266. The white tees that I played sport a yardage of 5960. The course rating is 68.3 and it has a slope of 120. It was an odd set up when I was there as eight of the nine holes on the front nine had back pin locations as did 3 holes on the back nine. The rest of the back nine had all mid green hole locations. Not a single pin toward the front of the greens. Weird! It's not a bad golf course by any means, I just think you could do better if you are in this area.

I was staying in Billings and had dinner downtown at Ciao Mambo. Ciao Mambo is a small chain (I don’t know if they exist outside of Montana) that serves Italian food with a few twists here and there. I really liked the one I had been to in Missoula several years ago, and this one was no different. I got great food, great service and a couple of glasses of very good wine (which I will attempt to find retail!). I am an early diner, but by the time I left the restaurant was packed (on a Wednesday night)!

           Randy’s golf course             ratings           play again               could recommend                Price

Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA)         5                    YES                               YES                            $$$

Rivers Edge (Burley, ID)                   3.5                   ??                                  YES                            $

Birch Creek (Smithfield,UT)             3.5                   no                       good golfers only!                $

Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT)              3                    no                                   ??                              $   Johnny Walker Course. There’s also a private country club course at Pryor Creek, The Elmer Link Course, but I think you need to play with a member!

Pictures are from Pryor Creek's website.