[Chip Gaskins]

After upsetting the good manners and politically correct applecart with my Dismal River post I will stick to just posting a few pics from these two unbelievable courses.

I will say this though, if all courses could be as understated, fun, affordable, perfectly maintained, strategic, etc as Wild Horse, then everyone in the world would play golf. 

What an absolute joy!  Golf at its best!

Wild Horse











Sand Hills

[Rick Shefchik]

Chip,

I agree completely with your assessment of Wild Horse, which I played a couple of weeks ago. Really, really fun golf. Your photo of the par 3 13th brought back great memories:



With the wind blowing in excess of 30 mph from behind, I used a 7-iron on the 191-yard hole and landed my tee shot short and right of the green. The ball bounced hard left, following the contour of the ground, rolling the final 40 yards or so until it ended up 20 feet from the hole. It's a shot you don't get to play at many U.S. courses.

[Brad Swanson]

I wonder how long it will take a certain someone to reply with a post that compares a certain course in NM to Wild Horse with the conclusion that that certain course in NM is better?  I say 8 hours.

BTW, I concur with WH being a very special place.  Many of my favorite moments on the golf course were spent in Western Nebraska.  I can't wait to get back to relive them.

Cheers,
Brad

[PThomas]

i keep wishing someone would build a Wild Horse on the site of a farm near Chicago...I wish i could!

[Phil McDade]

I wonder how long it will take a certain someone to reply with a post that compares a certain course in NM to Wild Horse with the conclusion that that certain course in NM is better?  I say 8 hours.

Brad -- you could probably get better than even odds on the "under" of the over/under on that 8 hours......

[Jerry Kluger]

Looking at the two courses it reminds you of how big Sand Hills is and how small Wild Horse is.  I'm not saying that bigger is necessarily better, just that the scale of the two courses is so different.  In fact, WH is so small that when we were playing the course the group behind us seemed to have had a few brews or were just plain loud, and you could not help but hear their conversations as you were teeing off.

[Phil McDade]

Rick:

Don't know if you've been following some of the Redan threads lately, but the shot you describe strikes me as exactly how a Redan can be approached. Yet I wonder if some of the purists on the board would not consider this hole a Redan.

Thoughts?

[Rick Shefchik]

Good observation, Phil. I hadn't thought about it as a Redan, but it does play in a similar fashion. The green doesn't slop away from you, but when it's downwind, the effect is exactly the same: You can't fly a shot to the green, because it won't hold. Figure out how short to land it, and you're in business.

But this was true with almost all the downwind holes at WH.

[Sean_A]

Chip

Thanks for posting the pix.  I am really taken by these courses and enjoy the images.  As I ask about any course that looks interesting - any more pix?

Ciao

[Ken Moum]

Looking at the two courses it reminds you of how big Sand Hills is and how small Wild Horse is.  I'm not saying that bigger is necessarily better, just that the scale of the two courses is so different.  In fact, WH is so small that when we were playing the course the group behind us seemed to have had a few brews or were just plain loud, and you could not help but hear their conversations as you were teeing off.

You know, the more I see these of these courses, and the more "similar" layouts I play, the more I come to believe that I like the little courses better than the big ones.

The whole idea of 18 secluded holes once sounded sublime. Now I want the course to feel like St. Andrews--where it is possible to see dozens and dozens of golfers and caddies at one time.

In fact, I recall standing on the 16 tee and looking over at the 3/15 green. There were 8 in my group, and another ~16 golfers and caddies on the green.

Looking at Sandhills and Dismal River with no one on them, and nothing visible except grass makes me want to go bird hunting, not golfing.

Ken

[Tim Pitner]

I loved Wild Horse, but one thing it was not when I played it was firm and fast.  In the heat of the Midwestern summer (right around July 4, 2007), it was pretty soft. 

[Chip Gaskins]

Chip

Thanks for posting the pix.  I am really taken by these courses and enjoy the images.  As I ask about any course that looks interesting - any more pix?

Ciao

Sean-

Here you go...

Two very very special places.  Wild Horse may be the most comfortable golfing environments I have ever experienced.






















Sand Hills

[Jim Johnson]

Great photos Chip...feel free to post more. I can't get enough of courses like this.

For one who's never been to that part of the country, tell us what ingredients of Wild Horse did you like so much?

Or anybody else who's played there, why is it so special to you? It sounds/looks like a great course.

JJ

[Jeff_Mingay]

Jim,

Wild Horse is really good for many of the same reasons all really good course are really good.

The course features an excellent variety of interesting holes and green complexes; there's plenty of interesting contour throughout the course (complimented by firm, sandy ground); beautiful bunkers, grasses and vegetation provide the property with gorgeous texture, and help with melding golf holes into their native surroundings. As you can see, the course is very, very nature in appearance.

Moreover, Wild Horse doesn't beat you as much as Sand Hills can. Wild Horse is constructed on a more subtle property, on a much smaller scale than Sand Hills. In turn, it's not as difficult. This is not to say Wild Horse is a push-over. It isn't... especially when the wind's up. 

[John Kavanaugh]

How do they get away with the bees ass mowing pattern around this green?

[Chuck Brown]

i keep wishing someone would build a Wild Horse on the site of a farm near Chicago...I wish i could!

Damn good idea.  Worked pretty well for Charlie MacDonald.  I'd say don't stop at just one.  Build a half-dozen of them.

By the way, the pictures are magnificient.  Thanks very much.  I enjoy bird hunting as much as -- no, more -- than the next guy, and I think Sand Hills is one of the most beautiful and photogenic courses in all of golfdom.

[Dieter Jones]

How do they get away with the bees ass mowing pattern around this green?

Exactly! To be honest I hadn't really noticed it that much in other pictures of SH green surrounds before but that one sticks out like Dogs B..'s.

To me it takes away some of the wonderful "natural" progression from fairway contours to green contours. That looks like it belongs on a very different type of golf course.

[Adam Clayman]

Chip, Dave Axland and Dan Proctor are the kings at building affordable golf. They have an opportunity to build one in Colby Kansas if'n someone could come up with the paltry 2.5m.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Wonderful pics Chip.  Thanks for sharing.

They convey such a wonderful sense of isolation.  Were you the only group on each course?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Chip, Dave Axland and Dan Proctor are the kings at building affordable golf. They have an opportunity to build one in Colby Kansas if'n someone could come up with the paltry 2.5m.

I thought Rod Whitman's the "king of building affordable golf" 

[tlavin]

Chip, Dave Axland and Dan Proctor are the kings at building affordable golf. They have an opportunity to build one in Colby Kansas if'n someone could come up with the paltry 2.5m.

Adam,

Where do they want to build it?  Outside of town?  Is the terrain in any way similar to the sand hills area?

[Adam Clayman]

Terry, I don't believe the terrain is similar to the sand hills, however, there are pockets of very sandy sites running throughout that region. I have seen the aerial of the site but no topo. I believe it is out of town but again, not sure. I do know that Dan told me if they do build it, it will be "pretty good". Anyone who knows Dan, will appreciate his humility and translate "pretty good" into better than that.
 Jason Hines has posted some of the articles about the towns existing course and the plans for a new one.
Any serious inquiries? I can forward to Dan.

Jeff, I'm sure you know better than I, but since WH was built for under 1.5 and I have yet to play my first Whitman, it will take some convincing.

[Sean_A]

Chip

Thanks for indulging me!  I really like the look of this hole - excepting the strange mowing pattern.  Do you have a pic of this hole from further back?  I wonder if the bunker looks to be a huge greenside deal from further away.


On a different note, here is a wonderful example of what I consider to be an over-bunkered hole.  The green site is delicious!


Perhaps another case against framing, but the greensite doesn't look quite as interesting.  Still, too much happening to solve any archie problems.  I especially dislike how the back bunkers break up the flowing view to the distance.


Ciao

[Brad Swanson]

Perhaps another case against framing, but the greensite doesn't look quite as interesting.  Still, too much happening to solve any archie problems.  I especially dislike how the back bunkers break up the flowing view to the distance.


Ciao

Sean,
   Perhaps you have fallen prey to a great case of architectural deception here.  Would you believe me if I told you that only one of the bunkers visible in this picture is actually greenside, and that 3 of them don't even come into play on this hole?  ALso, the real devil of a bunker behind the green isn't visible from this photo either.  The photo was taken from the lower right corner of the aerial below of the 14th hole.  The bunkers you see behind the 14th green in the photo are actually the fairway bunkers of the next hole.  Nifty, huh?  Its just as deceptive the 1st time around in person as it is in the photo.



Sometimes it tough to judge the quality of a hole/greensite just by counting up the bunkers in a picture.


Cheers,
Brad

[Sean_A]

Perhaps another case against framing, but the greensite doesn't look quite as interesting.  Still, too much happening to solve any archie problems.  I especially dislike how the back bunkers break up the flowing view to the distance.


Ciao

Sean,
   Perhaps you have fallen prey to a great case of architectural deception here.  Would you believe me if I told you that only one of the bunkers visible in this picture is actually greenside, and that 3 of them don't even come into play on this hole?  ALso, the real devil of a bunker behind the green isn't visible from this photo either.  The photo was taken from the lower right corner of the aerial below of the 14th hole.  The bunkers you see behind the 14th green in the photo are actually the fairway bunkers of the next hole.  Nifty, huh?  Its just as deceptive the 1st time around in person as it is in the photo.



Sometimes it tough to judge the quality of a hole/greensite just by counting up the bunkers in a picture.


Cheers,
Brad

Brad

It is quite evident that the forward and two rear bunkers are not near the green.  However, that isn't the point.  The bunkering still frames the green and I prefer it didn't - especially with the view.  I thought there may be a sneaky bunker right, but I guess not.  I do like the idea of the hidden rear bunker becasue it gets the job done with minimal visual fuss.  You must remember that when I speak of framing bunkers it is in terms of what they offer in terms of play against what they cost and what they do to views or how they look.  Some may think it clever that bunkers from another hole visually act upon the hole in question, but I often don't care for it simply because I view the vast majority of bunkers as visual intrusions on the landscape.  The question then becomes do the bunkers in the background need to be visually in play for the hole in the foreground?  Of course its a matter of opinion, but I believe bunkering is often the easy way out when other options could be considered. 

Ciao

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