By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

LA CROSSE -- La Crosse Country Club is located at the corner of Columbia and First Street, near the high school at the edge of town. The gravel parking lot sits between a large brown sign marking the course prices and a unmanned clubhouse. Various pieces of old, rusted machinery and vehicles lay behind the parking lot, clubhouse and first tee.

The downtrodden look, though, yields a rarity: a nine-hole sand green golf course with cheap fare, plenty of tournaments in the spring, summer and fall and holes that test golfers of every talent and ability. The country club serves as the home course for La Crosse High School and has, throughout the years, hosted regional and state high school tournaments. This year, LaCrosse will host a sand green regional May 17, a tournament that will include teams from Chase, Dighton, La Crosse, Lucas-Luray and Sylvan Grove-Sylvan Unified.

"When I was coach, we would host one here and we would host one at McCracken both," former LaCrosse head golf coach Rich Schmidt said. "We hosted two tournaments, and then we usually had a regional or a state tournament here because there weren't many out here in western Kansas."

The course also has earned distinction on the national level; in the June 29, 1998, issue of Sports Illustrated, LaCrosse Country Club was featured in a nationwide look at sand green golf courses, an issue Schmidt has kept through the years.

"It was interesting, they came out, took pictures, wrote an article. I got copies of the magazine" Schmidt said with a laugh.

Next to the parking lot is a large sign that reads "Welcome to La Crosse Country Club," and has the prices, much lower than most courses throughout the state: non-member green fees $6 daily, memberships available: $150 for family, single $110. The senior rate is $42.50, juniors $25 for a year. At the bottom, the sign finishes with "Enjoy your round."

The round starts about a 70-yard walk from the sign. Unlike some courses with marshals looking over tee times, keeping golfers in order and long waits at the first tee, one can tee off quickly at La Crosse. Next to the tee box is a 3-foot tall black steel box with a steel cover.

A player pulls open the steel cover, revealing a base that holds yellow scorecards and white all-day registration packets for the par-35, 2,843-yard course that includes three par-3s, four par-4s and two par-5s.

One puts money into the packets and slips the packet into a small hole in the box. The first tee, like the rest of the course, is covered with daffodils, sunflowers and buffalo grass.

The first hole, a par-5, 467-yard for men (373 for the women), offers a hazard off the tee and problems if a shot goes awry. The hole, rated as the No. 1 handicap for men's players (No. 2 for women), has a creek that runs 70 yards in front of the tee box, out-of-bounds on the left and a rock bed that runs down part of the right side of the fairway. As on all sand green courses, the greens are small (measuring about 36 feet across) and flat with no contours. Players rake their own greens. No sand traps are on the course.

"Very few courses have sand traps," Schmidt said. "Once in a while, you will find one with a little sand trap on each side of the green or something, but nothing near like sand traps on grass."

The ninth hole, a par-4, 372-yard hole presents arguably the biggest challenge on the course. The tee box is on the left side, near out-of-bounds stakes that run the length of the hole. A creek bisects the hole, forcing a player to carry a tee shot nearly 195 yards to avoid a hazard. A tall tree sits in front of the creek, providing another challenge for any player. A tee shot laid up in front of the creek yields an approach shot of nearly 200 yards to the green.

"Our hardest hole is probably hole 9," Schmidt said. "You get nervous when you get close to the creek and a lot of balls end up in it. Then a lot of people try to go over and it's a pretty long tee shot, so sometimes they don't make it over."

In the Sports Illustratd feature, a gamble made by Dighton's Adam Stanley on the ninth hole helped him win the 1998 individual state championship. Stanley led by one shot over Downs' Jared Schmidt and wondered if he should try to hit over the hazard. Stanley said, "The longer I sit here, the longer I think I shouldn't do it." Stanley went for it, cleared the creek and made birdie for a 68. Schmidt layed up, hit into the hazard and made a 7.

Once the weather warms up, La Crosse Country Club hosts several tournaments including scrambles, couples, one-person mulligans and even a glow ball tournament. The full schedule is taped to a window inside the clubhouse. Contact Wanda Mai at (785) 743-2839 or the course at (785) 222-2517 for more information.

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A list of area courses (according to golflink.com):

Atwood Country Club, Lake Atwood Dr., (785) 626-9542

Bird City Golf Club, Highway 161, (785) 734-2708

Meadow Lake Golf Club, Colby Course, 1085 East Golf Club Road, (785) 460-6443

Downs/Osborne:

Downs Golf Course, (785) 454-3805

Lakeside Golf Course, Old Highway 24, (785) 781-4713

Osborne Country Club, North Highway 281, (785) 346-5933

Shady Bend Golf Course, West Main, (785) 346-2024

Ellis County:

Ellis Country Club, 1301 Spruce St, (785) 726-4711

Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course, 1450 Golf Course Rd, (785) 625-9949

Smoky Hill Country Club, 3303 Hall St., (785) 625-8297

Goodland:

Sugar Hills Golf Club, 6450 Road 16, (785) 899-2785

Grinnell/Oakley:

Grinnell Cowpaddy Golf Club, Kauffman Road, (785) 824-3909

Oakley Country Club, 504 W. Second St, (785) 672-3081

Hill City:

Prairie Trail Golf Course, 2649 260th Ave., (785) 421-2437

Hoxie:

Hoxie Golf Course, W. Sheridan Ave, (785) 675-3241

Logan/Phillipsburg:

Logan Golf Course, Off Highway 9, (785) 689-4816

Phillipsburg Golf Club, East Highway 6, (785) 543-5545

Lucas-Luray

Luray Golf Course,

Play Luray Golf Course, 5822 195th St.,(785) 525-6244

Ness City:

Ness City Country Club, N Highway 283, (785) 798-2609

Norton:

Prairie Dog Recreation Association, RR 3, (785) 877-3643

Plainville:

Cedar Links Golf and Country Club, 1935 Highway 183, (785) 434-4766

Quinter:

Quinter Golf Club, 2588 County Rd. 74, (785) 754-2108

Russell:

Russell Golf Course, PO Box 273, (785) 483-2852

Sharon Springs:

Sharon Springs Golf Course, S. Highway 27, (785) 852-4220

Smith Center:

Smith Center Municipal Golf Course, 119 W Court St., (785) 282-6806

WaKeeney:

Big Creek Golf Course, 1008 Easter Ave., (785) 743-2420