Bell Nob Golf Club is a public course owned and operated by Campbell County, Wyoming, in Gillette, designed by Carl Thuesen and opened in 1981. Playing to over 7,200 yards from the Gold tees — one of the longest public layouts in Wyoming — the course presents a wide-open, high-plains design where distance and wind management are the primary challenges. Five tee options accommodate the full range of ability, from the 7,221-yard championship length down to the Green tees at just over 4,400 yards.
History
Bell Nob Golf Course is an 18-hole public municipal golf facility in Gillette, Wyoming, operated by Campbell County and serving the golf community of northeast Wyoming's energy-producing heartland. The course was designed by Carl Thuesen and opened in 1981 as part of a residential development, then operated independently until Campbell County purchased the course in 1989 and opened it to the public. Gillette's identity is inseparable from the coal industry. Campbell County sits above the Powder River Basin's thick seams of low-sulfur sub-bituminous coal, and surface mining operations in the area produce a substantial share of the nation's total coal supply.
The city's population grew dramatically from the 1970s onward as mining activity expanded, and Bell Nob Golf Course was developed as a recreational amenity appropriate to a prosperous energy community. The course name reflects the local landscape — "Bell Nob" refers to the distinctive butte visible from the course, a topographic landmark in the rolling shortgrass prairie that characterizes the region. Carl Thuesen, an architect active across the northern Rockies and High Plains region during the latter decades of the twentieth century, designed Bell Nob for the wide-open character of the Gillette terrain. The design emphasizes wide fairways and large greens typical of Thuesen's approach, providing forgiveness for high-handicap players while demanding precise iron play from those seeking to score.
Water features, including ponds and drainage areas, provide strategic interest across the layout. Campbell County has invested consistently in Bell Nob since acquiring the facility in 1989. A nine-hole executive course — also designed by Thuesen — was later added to the facility, offering a compact venue appropriate to beginners and juniors. The facility also includes a grass-tee practice range, a putting green, and a practice sand bunker, supporting the development of golfers at all ability levels.
As a county-operated municipal facility, Bell Nob serves both the permanent residents of Gillette and the transient workforce population that cycles through the region with the rhythms of the energy industry — a diverse user base that the public format of the course accommodates effectively.