Sand Hills Aerial (May 7, 1999)

[Tyler Kearns]

One of the great dissapointments of the "Aerial of the Day" feature, was that many of the great modern golf courses were not captured by the aerial photography services on the internet. While trying to capture the topographical information near Mullen, Nebraska, I noticed that the date on the aerial portion of Terraserver was post-1995....and the search began. So, here is the link to Sand Hills GC;

http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=12&x=407&y=5796&z=14&w=2

Enjoy.
Tyler Kearns

[Tyler Kearns]

Does any sort of practice facility exist at the club? Certainly nothing can be seen surrounding the very small clubhouse (between #9 green & #10 tee). I can't even locate a putting green!! I am struck by the 16th hole, which seems to feature a diagonal 'Sahara' hazard in between the two sections of fairway. Is this really the case - I do not recall any discussion regarding the presence of this concept at Sand Hills? Can the fortunate few please enlighten me.

Tyler Kearns

[Brad Klein]

Putting green is just south of the 9th green; the modest (!) practice ground is half way between the clubhouse/lodges on the Dismal River and the first tee, right where the path spurs left.

I can see from this photo why I can't ever hit the 2nd fairway.

[NAF]

I must concur with the Herr Doctor on the 2nd hole.  After 5 shots at it, I was finally able to hit the fairway from the double diamond tees much to my chagrin.  The way it pinches in near the landing area makes it a very daunting prospect from the tee.  I hit the fairway again from the regular tees subsequent to that but the thrill of hitting it from the way back tees is very high.  I cannot think of many other fairways that are harder to hit (Bethpage #10 from the tips in the Open set up perhaps).

[Chris_Clouser]

I've never been to Sand Hills.  Could someone provide an idea of how that routing runs?  

[Tyler Kearns]

Chris,

Neither have I, but I believe the routing is as follows, #1 & #18 are the two long holes running predominately north-south just to the right of center of the aerial (#1 being on the right). #2 heads NE, followed by the short #3, heading back to the south along with #4. The fifth heads NW, and the par-three #6 makes its way back towards #1 tee. The seventh is an extremely short par-four that is oriented to the SE, while #8 brings you back. #9 travels along the southern most part of the property. The back nine follows, and is fairly straight-forward.

Tyler Kearns

[ed_getka]

Tyler,
  I am not sure of the compass orientation of the holes. #1 and #18 are sort of parallel to one another. #1 is a par 5 that goes away from Ben's porch (the SH halfway house), it is a slightly dogleg left hole. #2 turns 90 degrees right, and is fairly straightaway. #3 turns 90 deg right and is a par 3. #4 is a par 4 going in the same direction as #3. #5 is a par 4 that is oriented 90 deg right to #4. #6 heads 90 deg left of #5 and is a par 3. #7 heads 90 deg left from #6 and is a GREAT short par 4. #8 is a short par 4 heading back parallel to #7. #9 is a par 4 that starts out heading 90 deg left from #8, and then doglegs 90 degrees right after you drive through a saddle, and ends just below Ben's porch.

[Brad Klein]

There's an easy way to orient the excellent photo.

Both nines run clockwise. The front nine starts in the center and loops out to the right (east) side of the image. The back nine starts a llittle to the left (west) and then comes back clockwise to end where the front nine stated - in the lower middle of the golf course.

I think I see Coore putting on the 4th green (way to the right). His putt breaks towards the ocean.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Tyler,

This is not the first time that this aerial link of SH has been posted on GCA.com, but not everyone sees all threads, so it gives more people a chance to see it.  I've known about it for some time (soon after AOTD ended) and have already put it together (awhile ago) for that additional week or two of AOTDs I keep promising but can never seem to get around to.

I love this shot of the club taken before the season opens (early June, usually) as the sand has been blown everywhere in the offseason.

[ed_getka]

Tyler,
   Ben's porch is just below #9 fairway if you have made sense of the picture now. Just across the dirt road, below Ben's porch is the practice putting green, which is really fun with some good contours to get you ready for your day. If you follow the dirt road back towards the bottom right of the picture you will see a branch off to the right, just below and to the left of that would be the driving range, which is an unmaintained field, so there will be no apparent green grass except the tee box.

[Jay Carstens]

I love this shot of the club taken before the season opens (early June, usually) as the sand has been blown everywhere in the offseason.

As I understand, this blowing out is problematic and something they make an effort to minimize during the winter months.  It's especially tough during dry conditions, when the wind gets up and sand can practically cover the fairway fescue in some areas.

[Tyler Kearns]

Scott,

I must have missed it, but I'm not surprised that you have already found it.

Ed, Noel & Brad,

Does the 16th feature a diagonal 'Sahara' hazard in between the two sections of fairway?

Tyler Kearns

[ed_getka]

 Tyler,
    #16 has a HUGE blowout bunker that plays on a diagonal to the tee shot. I haven't seen the real Sahara, so I don't know how they compare. You can bail out right off the tee, which makes the hole play longer, but you can go through the fairway, and be in real trouble. If you challenge the "Sahara" bunker aggressively you land on a downslope that gives you a little turbo boost to move you closer to the hole. Of course, all of this is dependent on the wind.

[RJ_Daley]

Here you go Ty...

View from 16 tee and diagonal carry bunker or bail out right.


the first LZ on a less risky bite-off, but challenging the bunker to get to the top of the FW crest.


almost getting to the more risky LZ and just short of the turbo boast or speed slot to get down the fairway further.  Note the Wisconsin head cover of who almost got there...

[Adam_F_Collins]

This was most likely discussed somewhere already, but there seems to be a lot of long distances between holes - If this is indeed the case, how do people find this affects the overall experience?

[RJ_Daley]

invigorating!

[Jeff_Mingay]

Both 1 and 16 have fairways set on a distinct right-to-left angle to the line off the tee. I really like this look. Plus, it creates strategy. You can reduce the length of the hole by taking the riskiest line, long. Or play safe, short right.

 

[Scott_Burroughs]

This was most likely discussed somewhere already, but there seems to be a lot of long distances between holes - If this is indeed the case, how do people find this affects the overall experience?

Adam,

There are not long distances between the holes.  Click on the aerial to zoom in and you can see the tees rather close to the previous greens.

[Tyler Kearns]

RJ,

Thanks for the info, I guess I was a little fooled by the aerial, which features sand that has blown about during the off season. It really obscures the fairway portion between the 1st and 2nd landing zones, thus making it appear as two distinct fairways - seperated by blow out hazards and prairie grasses. Your pictures make it clear that is not the case.

Tyler Kearns

[RJ_Daley]

Ty, it is interesting how the blowouts, particularly on the back 9 show sand migration into the fairways in a NW to SE direction.  One would think #4s big ol bunker would also be a problem, but it is must on the correct side of the blow-out wind and doesn't seem to effect that FW or green approach.  Same with 18s vast sand waste area where the wind takes it away from the maintained turf.  Yet, it is my understanding that the normal golf season prevailing wind is from the SSW-S-SSE.  I'll bet it gets colder than heck with that north wind screaming out there.

[ed_getka]

Scott is right about the walks being relatively short. However, there are a few short walks that go UP, so you get the bonus of doing a little cardio work during your 36-54 hole days at SH.

[Tony_Chapman]

Tyler - I posted this photo as well awhile back at AOTD: The Holy Grail. It is an aboslutely wonderful photo, isn't it. I hope to someday get back there.

[Tyler Kearns]

Tony-I obviously missed your post, but I'm sure this form of redundancy will be overlooked by everybody, maybe even welcomed  . Anyways, it's new to me, and it is nice to finally be able to better understand the routing of the course, and the relationship between the holes.

Tyler Kearns