Old Works Golf Club

Jack Nicklaus designed Old Works Golf Course in 1997 on a piece of Anaconda, Montana land that had been the Anaconda Copper Mining Company's smelter site through most of the twentieth century — at its peak the largest copper smelter in the world. The site was a Superfund cleanup project, and Nicklaus took the unusual approach of incorporating the smelter's industrial waste — black slag from the copper refining process — as bunker fill rather than carting it away. The result is one of the most distinctive American golf courses built on a reclamation site, with characteristic black bunkers visible from every tee box and the original smelter stack still standing as a visual landmark from several holes.

The scorecard reads 7,705 yards from the back markers, par 72, with a slope of 153 and a course rating of 76.5. The 7,705-yard length is among the longest American public-access golf courses, and it reflects the Montana altitude — Anaconda sits at 5,331 feet, which extends iron carry by roughly six percent compared to sea level. The four par-3s sit between 195 and 238 yards. The 238-yard fifth is the longest one-shotter and plays into prevailing westerly off the Continental Divide.

The number-one handicap is the 463-yard fourth — a long par-4 with an approach into a green Nicklaus set on top of a smelter-tailings ridge. The 644-yard second-hardest is the par-5 ninth — one of the longest holes on any American daily-fee course. The 587-yard third-hardest is the par-5 twelfth. Two of the top-three are par-5s, which is unusual and reflects the way altitude both extends and complicates the second-shot decision on the long holes.

The Montana mountain-valley climate compresses the playing window into May through October, with the firmest fairway conditions arriving in late August and through September. Snow closes the course typically by mid-October. Walking is allowed but rare given the elevation; carts are standard for daily-fee play. The course is public-access daily-fee.