Lon Hinkle came to Eagle Bend as a PGA pro and never left

Lon Hinkle stepped up to the tee box on Eagle Bend’s No. 1 hole and ripped a drive to the green.

Hinkle smiled, picked up his tee and hopped in his golf cart. This was the Friday game at Eagle Bend, a group of guys who get together for some golf and a little friendly betting. Hinkle had to tee off from the white tees instead of the blues, just to give the other guys a chance.

It’s a casual affair organized by Steve Hullett, coach of Bigfork High School’s golf teams. Hinkle has always been a long hitter. As a professional golfer in the 1979 U.S. Open at Inverness, tournament officials had to plant a large pine tree next to a tee box so he couldn’t drive the green. Now, Hinkle is happy to be golfing with his buddies at Eagle Bend, a course that has held a special place for him in the last 30 years.

Eagle Bend on Labor Day celebrated its 30th birthday. The course was started in 1984 by Mike Felt, and Hinkle has been there almost from the get-go.

Hinkle and Felt struck up a friendship and a business relationship in 1985 when Hinkle was brought in to do a golf exhibition with Bruce Crampton and Larry Mize at Eagle Bend, when it was still a nine-hole course. (They went around the course twice.)

A regular on the PGA professional tour, Hinkle had been scouring the nation for a summer getaway from Texas. He had checked out Aspen, Park City and Lake Tahoe, but they didn’t capture his fancy. When he flew into Kalispell he thought he’d found Shangri-La. While Crampton and Mize left to go back home after the exhibition, Hinkle remained here. He was mesmerized by this place: Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake and Eagle Bend — a fantastic little golf course with big plans.

“I thought, ‘This is really interesting here,’” Hinkle said. “I played the course and was absolutely impressed. Eagle Bend was manicured comparable to all the courses I’ve played. It was just drop-dead gorgeous.”

Hinkle suggested to Felt that when he return to the professional tour after his Bigfork vacation, he represent Eagle Bend. 

Felt agreed.

Hinkle went back on tour. He told people on the tour about “Eagle Bend, Montana.”

“Where’s that?” one Montanan asked.

“Bigfork,” Hinkle said.

“Ah, Bigfork. That place is beautiful.”

During one professional tour event, Hinkle overheard Jack Nicklaus and Hal Sutton talking about putting together a bear hunt in Alaska. Hinkle approached Nicklaus (still the world’s greatest golfer with the most career wins) and told him about Montana.

If you’ve ever met Jack Nicklaus, you can imagine his response. He doesn’t mince words, and he speaks in a high, nasal tone. “They don’t hunt bears in Montana,” Nicklaus replied. “Elk, maybe, but not bears.”

Still, he agreed to the idea of a hunt in Montana.

Hinkle got on the phone with Felt.

“Mike, if I can bring Jack Nicklaus to Montana will you make it happen?” he asked Felt. “And I need an answer before we hang up.”

The deal was arranged, and thus began Nicklaus’ relationship with Eagle Bend. He spent several days riding horses into the backcountry with Felt.

Nicklaus, Hinkle, Jack Nicklaus Jr. and Jack Saunders who dedicated Eagle Bend’s second nine holes — and Eagle Bend’s first 18 holes — in August 1988. William Hull designed the first 18 holes.

Nicklaus and Jack Nicklaus Jr. designed and built Eagle Bend’s third nine holes, which were finished in 1995.

Felt started the course as a public course, to be supported by sales of real estate and daily green fees. That’s all changed now. Eagle Bend is a semi-private course owned by Golf Northwest, which also owns Northern Pines in Kalispell. Non-members may play Eagle Bend during certain times of the summer and with other restrictions. Green fees for non-members are $128.

It’s a model that is sustainable and profitable for the course, membership director Jim Fagan said.

When Fagan began as membership director in 2002 there was public resistance to Eagle Bend becoming private, Fagan said, but there is not enough public play to support the course. The course still supports the Bigfork High School golf teams by allowing them to practice and play there. The course also offers a junior golf academy for youth. The Eagle Bend clubhouse restaurant is open to the public. It’s open only for lunch, since there are many other dining options in Bigfork, Fagan said. “We’re a golf facility, not a food purveyor,” he said. “We don’t want to compete with local restaurants, if we can complement them.”

Eagle Bend continues to be a significant draw for Bigfork, Fagan said. “We’re bringing people to Bigfork to come play golf,” he said. “The semi-private attraction is what draws people to Bigfork.”

The marina complex at Eagle Bend is one of the finest on Flathead Lake, Felt said. Since its creation the marina is now privately owned, separate from the golf course. “We only do golf,” Fagan said.

THAT’S WHAT keeps Lon Hinkle excited about playing Eagle Bend.

The course he’s played for the last 20-some years is still the same great course. He’s already played about 70 rounds this summer. “I play golf,” he said. “It’s what I do.”

Hinkle can often be found at the Eagle Bend driving range. He works on small details, from the stance and grip and out from there. The golf swing is a lifelong process and Hinkle, 65, is still at it. He’s not as long as he used to be, and the young golfers can give him a good game. He’s a three handicap now.

“I can’t overpower the courses like I used to,” Hinkle said. Some younger golfers often now hit farther than him. “I was always on the other side of that,” he said. “That’s been the hardest pill to swallow.”

He still has game, even at his age. Hinkle won the Montana Open in 2011 at age 62, defeating the professional young guns from around the northwest. He’ll be playing at the Montana Open this week at Larchmont in Missoula. Larchmont is a long course, and it should play to his game.

Hinkle made a run at the Senior PGA Tour, but never made the cut. 

With a great golf course five minutes from his Bigfork home, Hinkle doesn’t have to venture far. Sure, he makes the weekly trips to Kalispell for shopping. “That’s a big trip for me now and I like it,” he said. “Every day I come in to town, look at the lake and think what a beautiful place.

“I’m glad I’m here doing this. There just isn’t anywhere I’d rather be, to have perfect weather and good friends to play with.”