Central Nebraska links golf course changes name under new ownership

Tall, natural grass cascading across the landscape of the rolling hills with wide open spaces.

It's a golfer's paradise, and Nebraska is one of the few places where it exists so naturally.

Less than 10 minutes south of Kearney lies a links style golf course. It was known as Awarii Dunes. It was considered one of the best public-private courses in Nebraska by Top100GolfCourses.com.

The Awarii “A” is now fading away.

“The opinion of this course has kind of been up in the air for a little while," said Megan Wilke, an investor and owner who will also be tasked with marketing.

“There’s demand here," Wes Bernt said, another investor/owner. "We need more golf courses and Kearney is a very strong golf community.”

“Bringing in a new team, bringing in a new ownership group, it just kind of made sense for us to have a new name," added Wilke.

Introducing: Nebraska Dunes.

It’s a new moniker for the old course.

"I was the coach (of the men’s golf team) here for 10 years at UNK,” said Bernt, who is now the head coach for the University of Creighton men’s golf program. Bernt has no plans of leaving his role with the Bluejays. “I even actually played (this course) when it was Crane Meadows when I was in college and I just always liked the layout.”

Bernt, Wilke and a coalition of Nebraskans purchased the property late in 2025 with one collective goal.

“I would just like to see what it’s supposed to play like,” Bernt said. “Like what the potential was maybe in 2021, ’22, kind of where it was. It’s a unique layout. I’d like to see it play like it was designed.”

They’re hoping to wash away some of the past conceptions, driving in with a new energy. Sod bunkers have already been redone on Hole 10. Over-seeding will be happening on all the greens while changing the topography of others. And they're not done there.

The head of agronomy, Christian Richter, says the course averages a width of 78 yards per fairway and they are the widest in Nebraska. Richter and Nate Mills, the head of maintenance, say they're doing away with the fairway stopping at the native grass, and adding a traditional rough of 10 to 12 yards before the tall stuff gobbles up golf balls. Plans are in place to spray the entire property to kill all the stickers poking and clinging to wayward golfers searching in the thick stuff for their next shot, too.

“It’s not something that you can do overnight. There’s a lot of factors that are out of our control," says Wilke.

The new ownership group has invested in the equipment and the people, taking a swing at elevating Nebraska Dunes to be recognized as one of the premier 18-hole venues state-wide.

“That’s definitely where a lot of our initial investment is going in to, is getting those equipment pieces, getting the fertilizer, so that we can in the next few years get it where it needs to be.”

Bernt says the ownership group is not looking to make a profit, and plans to put early proceeds right back into the course, elevating the Dunes to where they know it can be.

“It’s just a place that I always thought could really take off," said Bernt.

“Creating that habit and the routines for our maintenance crew for upkeep and improvements that way is going to be a big change," Wilke said.

They say the past is in the past, and the vision moving forward is about growing the game through the commitment and love of Nebraska. From the name of the course to the residence of all the owners, they are Cornhuskers through and through.

“We’ve got 15 guys on our team,” said Bernt. “They’re all from Nebraska and I think eight of them either graduated from UNK or live in Kearney.”

“Nebraskan, just as the word, has a huge weight behind it," Wilke adds. "People have a sense of pride of being here.”