Eagle Bend turns 25

Editor's note: This article is part one of a two-part series commemorating the 25-year anniversary of the Eagle Bend Golf Club. This week, read about the history of Eagle Bend’s development. Watch for part two on the golf course’s impact on the Bigfork community in next week’s Eagle.

Twenty-five years ago Bigfork residents who wanted to golf had to go to Kalispell or Polson to play the links. The land that houses the Eagle Bend Golf Club was blanketed by a grain field and the site of a dairy farm. But that all changed Sept. 5, 1984 when Mike Felt opened the first nine holes at Eagle Bend.

"I had a passion for golf," Felt said. "We moved here from Great Falls and I thought that the Bigfork community could benefit from having a golf course."

About four years later, the Lake Nine was added to the original nine holes that were on the ridge and the Nicklaus Nine was debuted in 1995.

"It got a lot bigger and more expansive than I ever thought it would," Felt said.

What started as a dream for his neighbors turned into quite a project for Felt, who owned Crop Hale Management, a crop insurance agency, at the time.

"Mike went through a lot to get it started," said Steve Hullett, who is an original member and employee at Eagle Bend, as well as the Bigfork High School Head Golf Coach. "There was a county commissioner that fought Mike every step of the way. To Mike's credit he kept his cool and kept his dream."

Felt and his wife Patty moved to Bigfork in 1968 and they purchased the first piece of property for the golf course, where the marina is, in 1979.

"It was a big process to get it though all the steps," Felt said. "We had to be really persistent. A lot of the old timers were saying 'What are you trying to do here?' We weren't trying to do anything bad. We were trying to do something good for Bigfork."

The opposition put up a tough fight against Felt, and he had to jump through a lot of hoops to get Flathead County's permission to build.

"I'm the type of person that if I decide I'm going to do something, I see it through, and if I'm going to do something, it is going to be first class," Felt said.

In order to build the golf course, Felt and his engineers had to develop a plan for dealing with waste water.

They created a tertiary system for the property similar to one they visited in California, which was later copied by Bigfork Water and Sewer.

The two systems were eventually combined and many developments that surround the golf course were able to be built because of Eagle Bend's waste water system.

Soon after coming up with the plan for the waste water, Felt was finally able to sell the county commissioners on the project.

"I knew it would be quality because anything Mike had to do with was a good project," Hullett said.

The name for the golf course was taken from the name of an old saloon that used to be on the river on Holt Drive. Sailors used to dock their boats at the bar on their way up the river. Felt saw a picture of the building that included a sign with its name and knew he wanted to name the golf course "Eagle Bend."

On Labor Day in 1984, Felt took the honors of being the first person to tee off at Eagle Bend. He still has the bag tag, first ball, and the scorecard from that game that he played with Mike Britton, the project manager, Jon Heselwood, the golf course superintendent and Wes Noel, a long time friend of Felt's from Great Falls.

To locals, that day meant the beginning of a new era for their golf games. More convenient access meant more days golfing.

"We used to get done working and drive into Kalispell and play a quick nine," Hullett said. "Then when Eagle Bend opened we were able to get off work and go play a quick 18. We never hoped for anything as nice as this. We just wanted a golf course."

In 1986 Lon Hinkle became the PGA Tour Representative for Eagle Bend, and two years later he got Jack Nicklaus to play in an exhibition at the course in an event titled "The Bear vs. the Bend."

While in the area Nicklaus went on a hunting trip with some of the men from Eagle Bend, which became a tradition when he was in town. Nicklaus and his son Jack Jr. later designed nine holes for Eagle Bend.

Eagle Bend hosted the first Governors Cup Tournament in 1989 and has continued to do so ever since.

When the course first opened the club house was just a couple of mobile homes that sat by the south entrance.

The new club house was built when the Lake Nine was constructed so that it was more centrally located on the course.

The driving range and practice facility was moved and upgraded several years ago to accommodate real estate development.

The driving range used to be where the first and ninth holes on the Lake Nine are now and those holes were where the range is now.

In 1995 the Felts put the golf course up for sale.

"We got caught in the ups and downs of the real estate business," Felt said. "I personally didn't plan that as well as I should've, but in the grand scheme of things that's not what's important."

For Felt, what was truly important was creating the golf course and surrounding entities that improved the lives of his friends, family and neighbors.

"The rewards, other than the financial ones, have been wonderful for us," Felt said. "We've been very grateful and very appreciative of that."

It was Felt's hope that the membership would buy the course, but some of the people thought that they could buy it for less than the price they were being offered.

While waiting it out, their course was purchased by Golf Northwest.

"It's one of my regrets that the membership doesn't own the golf course," Felt said. "It is well run now, don't get me wrong, but that was always my goal. The members had the first chance to purchase it and they chose not to."

Golf Northwest continues to own Eagle Bend as well as Big Mountain Golf Club, the course they built in Kalispell.

Felt and his wife are still living in Bigfork.

"I've been fooling around in the real estate business," Felt said. "I've always liked dirt. My friends used to say that 'I didn't want all the land, just the land that borders mine.' I'm a farm kid and I love the soil and I love nature."

Read about the impact of Eagle Bend on the Bigfork community in next week's Bigfork Eagle.