Medicine Lodge Golf Course

https://www.medicinelodgegc.com

“My heart is filled with joy when I see you here, as the brooks fill with water when the snow melts in the spring…”

It has been a place of healing. It has been a place of peace. It has been a boom town. Multiple times actually. And from multiple spots on the golf course, you can see it all.

From the fourth hole tee box at Medicine Lodge Golf Course, look to the west, down to the valley in the distance. For unknown centuries, that valley was home to the medicine lodge of the Kiowa at the confluence of the Medicine River and Elm Creek. The mud and thatch sweat lodge was known regionally as a place of healing, not just for the physical body but for the spiritual and emotional as well.

“And I feel glad, as do the ponies when the fresh grass starts in the beginning of the year…”

Over one hundred and fifty years ago, at the same lodge, the United States government issued a declaration to five plains tribes to meet and sign a peace treaty. The Apache, Arapahoe, Comanche, Cheyenne, and Kiowa, met with government troops in that valley, at that ancient lodge, to sign a declaration of peace that was going to bring peace to the plains.

It’s hard to escape that history. Especially when the name of the town is named for that ancient healing place. Medicine Lodge, Kansas.

“I heard you were coming when I was many sleeps away…”

The italic words above are those of Comanche Chief Ten Bears, given during October of 1867 at the signing of the Medicine Lodge Treaty. Make no mistake, Ten Bears was speaking on behalf of his way of life. That shouldn’t be forgotten. However, the quotes above perfectly embody atmosphere you’ll encounter from the people of Medicine Lodge today, especially those you encounter over the nine holes at Medicine Lodge Golf Course.

They’ve heard you were coming, and are glad you are here.