Last week Jimmy Graves and I decided to play the American Legion Country Club in Shenandoah, Iowa (frankly because a lot of people have asked me what ALCC was like and I hated saying I dunno).

First let's start off with our drive there. From Omaha (120th & West Center) it took 1 hour and 15 minutes, driving the speed limit more/less. Our route was south on I-29 to Glenwood, Highway 34 east to Highway 59 and then south to Shenandoah. I calculated this drive based on our drive home; because we had some difficulty finding Pine Street on our trip to the golf course (they don't have a Pine Street in Shenandoah).

When we got to town, I stopped for gas, called the golf course and got directions. From southbound HW 59, turn left (east) onto West Nishna Road. Take West Nishna Road east (about 4 or 5 blocks) to Elm Street and turn right (there should be a tall sign on the southwest corner). Head south on Elm Street and you'll run right into the golf course parking lot.

The golf course reminds me a lot of three other courses: Red Oak Country Club, Willow Lakes GC and Benson GC.

There's a creek that runs through the golf course and there must be about a dozen different bridges you'll cross during play. There are a lot of trees and the fairways seem pretty wide.

The front nine has two par 3's that are around 175-180 yds but the back nine has shorter par 3's around 125-150 yds. The greens are large but aren't flat. The golf course is not marked well, only 150 and 100 yard markers. It's not a flat golf course and the rough was fairly long, but you know me ... I'm never in the rough.

There are two funny things about this golf course.

1. They only have two tee boxes, red and white (and senior tees on the par 5's).

2. The first hole makes this golf course looks like a crummie golf course, but once you play past number one, things get better.

It was a tough golf course to walk, but then again, we had 110 heat index ... so we rode the back nine. We'll have to play a different format at this month, we won't be moving back and forth, but I promise, nothing goofy.