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Jim Engh’s Nebraska National now to be called Awarii Dunes

Jim Engh’s new golf design in the Nebraska sand hills is also getting a name change.  The working title of “Nebraska National” has been scrapped in favor of a new name – Awarrii Dunes.”Awarii” is a word in the language of the local Pawnee Indian tribe from the region,” said Engh.  “It means windblown.”

I love it Windblown Dunes!

“I like the change because it pays homage to the native Amerricans form the area, who are such an integral part of the region’s rich culture and history,” Engh explained.  “Our logo will be a tattered flag blown to shreds by the wind.”

Links lovers will flock to the course for it’s windy conditions, treeless landscape, and remote charm.  The vast seascape of dunes is a geological treasure.  Moreover, the wind will make a mockery of par and make the course play differently every single day.  How bad is the wind?  “It’s Nebraska!” said Engh excitedly.  “It’s as bad as it can get!  The wind had a great deal to do with creating the sandscape over thousands of years, and we’re in the biggest sandy area in the country.  It’s a huge partv o fthe region’s culture and history and it awill be a huge part of the golf.  If the Pawnees  people have a word for “windblown,” there must be a reason!”

Engh, Tim Hartnett, Mitch Scarborough and the rest of the Engh design crew will be breaking gorund within a month.  Formerly an old nine-holer called Crane View, where it was simple push up greens and narrow fairways, Engh is creating something completely new.  “On the Crane View side, we’ll keep roughly half of the playing corridpors, but others weren’t wide enough for the windy conditions,” Engh stated.  The rest will be all Jim Engh.  As Jim wrote to Golf Club Atlas, “The land directly to the north, is native and untouched (no center pivot). The rolling character reminds me in many ways of some of the softer Irish links courses. Maybe in the mold of a County Louth or Caste Rock. Certainly the larger hills/dunes on the land will provide drama and excitement, but it is the gentle and quirky rolls and falls of the native landforms that most inspire me with this project.”

After winning four “best new course awards” with not just great course son gorgeous geological sites like the North Dakota plains and Colorado desert, like any great artist, Engh style is evolving.  For exmaple, bunkers that once sat below the fairway (below-grade in the technical jargon), now are at fairway level, but with towering sidewalls.  New designs at Harmony Club, Four Mile Ranch, and Creek Club are examples.  With a great slate such as the sand hills – a former ocean floor – a location five miles south of I-80, and an affordable, muni rate, the course should be a shash hit.