Prairie Dunes photo tour

[C. Squier]

GCA.com has a ton of information on Prairie Dunes, but I couldn't find a complete set of pics on the site.  These are from earlier this summer.  A few changes have been made since, the gunsch in front of #10 has been greatly reduced and the "1/7/8" project has been marked out by Dave Axland.  The project is to create a dune behind 1 & 8 tee and 7 green.  It'll help with traffic flow from the clubhouse and provide a much better aesthetic coming up 7 fairway.  13 green has also had underground drainage added this year.  

If I'm not mistaken, a few GCA'ers are heading down this weekend, so I hope this thread is timely.  Hope you have better weather this weekend, it was brutal a few days ago.

Side note: some of the pictures are taken from a vantage point on the current hole, but not of the current hole.  They're in chronological order, so if it doesn't make sense, it's not the current hole.

#1 - 432 yds Par 4





#2 - 161 yds Par 3




#3 - 355 yds Par 4




#4 - 168 yds Par 3







#5 - 438 yds Par 4






#6 - 387 yds Par 4








#7 - 512 yds Par 5





#8 - 430 yds Par 4







#9 - 426 yds Par 4




#10 - 185 yds Par 3




#11 - 452 yds Par 4





#12 - 390 yds Par 3




#13 - 395 yds Par 4





#14 - 370 yds Par 4





#15 - 200 yds Par 3





#16 - 415 yds Par 4






#17 - 500 yds Par 5





#18 - 382 yds Par 4

[Trey Kemp]

Great pictures!!! Thanks for posting!

[Sean Leary]

Clint,

Where exactly are the  1st and 8th tees going to be located? I like the new temp back tee for 8 where it is....

[C. Squier]

Sean, it was hard to tell....it was 35 degrees plus wind when we teed off. Needless to say, I didn't do a ton of exploring!  They have spray painted an outline on the ground though.

[Sean Leary]

No worries. I will check it out this weekend. We should get better weather, although Sunday is supposed to be quite windy..

[brad_miller]

Hope Huck is up to test.

[John Foley]

Clint - Thanks for the pics - I rememebr loving the coverage from the recent professional tourneys there and seeing what everyone had been raving about.

However, Am I the only one who thinks this looks bad?? I do understand the staregic implications and that the trees are an awesome speciman, but it just looks soooo wrong.

[Sean Leary]

Clint - Thanks for the pics - I rememebr loving the coverage from the recent professional tourneys there and seeing what everyone had been raving about.

However, Am I the only one who thinks this looks bad?? I do understand the staregic implications and that the trees are an awesome speciman, but it just looks soooo wrong.

Nope. Its the one hole that doesn't fit in with the rest of the course. The trees are the hole's only defense, however. I'd love to see the trees taken down, replaced with bunkers, and the back tee abondoned and return to the original tee. Make it a 340 yard drivable par 4 (prevailing wind is straight downwind).

If you ask many of the local members, this is one of their favorite holes because of the trees. Go figure.

[Adam Clayman]

Having recently been to hutch for the third time PD has grown on me. Enough can not be said on the quality of the greens and the way Stan George maintains them. Unquestionably the 8th hole stands out and is amongst one of golf's greatest(and maybe longest) sequences. The green on 8 yielded one of my cherished memories when the pin was back right. What a hoot!

[DMoriarty]

Great pics.  Thanks.   Makes me wish I was there, low 30's or not.

Nope. Its the one hole that doesn't fit in with the rest of the course. The trees are the hole's only defense, however. I'd love to see the trees taken down, replaced with bunkers, and the back tee abondoned and return to the original tee. Make it a 340 yard drivable par 4 (prevailing wind is straight downwind).

If you ask many of the local members, this is one of their favorite holes because of the trees. Go figure.

Where was the original tee?  Was it lower on the same dune as the current tee, or was it over on the smaller dune to the left of the cart path?

I don't mind this hole as much as some.  It has a terrific green and the bunker front left and the green falloffs make things very interesting downwind, from any distance.  Given that this is almost the only hole where trees are in play, and given that they provide some strategic value, and given that there are a few other similar groves of trees on that part of the course, they don't really bother me much. That being said, I hope that they won't be replaced when they fall over. 

My host pointed out that the traps left and the trap at the front left of the green project that side very well without those trees, and that it is very annoying to be in a bunker with a tree right in front of you.   I agree, so if a few of the left trees disappeared it might be a good thing.    But if these trees are the extent of the shortcomings at PD then the place is pretty damn good.

[C. Squier]

I think the trees provide a lot more protection than bunkers because they make you flight your 2nd shot differently if you're a little left or right.  You have a decision off the tee, a hybrid anywhere on grass gives you plenty of room and you don't have to worry about the trees.  A driver deeper up and the straighter you need to be.  Very possible to be too close to the trees.  Everyone I've played with says it feels like kicking a field goal, which is pretty interesting to me.  You're never completely stymied by them, just need to reroute your ball flight. 

[Matt_Cohn]

I think the trees provide a lot more protection than bunkers because they make you flight your 2nd shot differently if you're a little left or right.  You have a decision off the tee, a hybrid anywhere on grass gives you plenty of room and you don't have to worry about the trees.  A driver deeper up and the straighter you need to be.  Very possible to be too close to the trees.  Everyone I've played with says it feels like kicking a field goal, which is pretty interesting to me.  You're never completely stymied by them, just need to reroute your ball flight. 

Exactly. You get behind the trees, not in them. They don't block recovery shots but in fact make them possible.

[Sean Leary]

David,

The original tee is way left and down. To get there you walk left off 11 green instead of right.

[Carl Nichols]

Thanks for the pictures; it looks like a great place.  It looks greener than I would've expected -- is that just the camera, had they had a lot of rain in the Spring, or is that from watering?

[Sean Leary]

Carl,

Its pretty normal. He keeps it pretty lush in the summer with the heat.

[tlavin]

Clint - Thanks for the pics - I rememebr loving the coverage from the recent professional tourneys there and seeing what everyone had been raving about.

However, Am I the only one who thinks this looks bad?? I do understand the staregic implications and that the trees are an awesome speciman, but it just looks soooo wrong.

John,

I'm with you.  This is a bit of a rinky-dink hole.  The "trees as goalposts" strikes me as quite sophomoric.  Trees, in fact, are the only negative issue at Prairie Dunes.  They might have three hundred cottonwood trees.  Twelve might be okay, but hundreds of those seed producers is a real nuisance.  And they are a blight on the dunes landscape.  The one hole named cottonwood might have twenty such trees, but fortunately they are located behind and to the right of the green, so they are out of play and just serve as useless "framers".  The Chute hole is similarly marred by a tunnel of trees.  The hole simply doesn't need them.

Having said that bit of negativity, I just love Prairie Dunes.  It's a top ten for me, that's for sure.

[John Mayhugh]

No worries. I will check it out this weekend. We should get better weather, although Sunday is supposed to be quite windy..

Rub it in why don't you?   

Thanks for posting the pics, Clint.  I cannot imagine how tough that course plays in cold, windy conditions.

[John Foley]

Was the startegic intent of the hole based upon the tree's or did the tree's grow in over the last 50 years??

[Sean Leary]

No worries. I will check it out this weekend. We should get better weather, although Sunday is supposed to be quite windy..

Rub it in why don't you?   

Thanks for posting the pics, Clint.  I cannot imagine how tough that course plays in cold, windy conditions.

I don't even know who you are anymore, really. Its like an alien has taken over your body...

[Sean Leary]

Was the startegic intent of the hole based upon the tree's or did the tree's grow in over the last 50 years??

Trees grew in. The original back tee box is about 340 yards or so, and I have been told that Press' intention MAY have been to have it almosy drivable.

Those trees have thinned as well in the last 2 years. It used to be even tighter through those trees. If you hit the fairway, they really aren't very much in play.

[Tim Gavrich]

How it is that the big lone tree at Chambers Bay is seen as iconic but the cottonwoods at Prairie Dunes are a nuisance?  I think they're alright, especially since that par 3 a couple holes later has its tee under a few more of them.  It's not like that hole is the only one where the trees are anywhere to be found.

Why the wooden signs with a rough hole outline on each tee?  Seems like it wouldn't be necessary at a private club.

PD looks incredible; some of the best-looking bunkers I've seen pictures of and the greens look like ones where a player could spend days.

[Mike Benham]

Prairie Dunes one day !

[Ron Csigo]

Clint - Thanks for posting these wonderful pictures.  Also, it was nice meeting you in the clubhouse that weekend and talking about golf courses and architecture while having a few beers.  I'll agree that the weather was not ideal since it was in the mid 30's that entire weekend but I did not mind it at all.  Prairie Dunes is a magical place that would be enjoyed regardless of the weather conditions.  The course was in superb shape.  My favorite holes on the course were #2, #4, #8, #11, #12 and #17.  It was hard for me not to list them all.

[C. Squier]

Clint - Thanks for posting these wonderful pictures.  Also, it was nice meeting you in the clubhouse that weekend and talking about golf courses and architecture while having a few beers.  I'll agree that the weather was not ideal since it was in the mid 30's that entire weekend but I did not mind it at all.  Prairie Dunes is a magical place that would be enjoyed regardless of the weather conditions.  The course was in superb shape.  My favorite holes on the course were #2, #4, #8, #11, #12 and #17.  It was hard for me not to list them all.

Those drinks were the beginning of the trainwreck.  Though I did learn that "nice bar" means different things to different people.  It's not everyday you see the mighty Yucca plant tramp stamped on a young girl's back.  Only in Hutch!

Hope you and Kyle can visit Chicago next summer, I promise better scenery.

[Ron Csigo]

Clint - I'm sure the smorgasbord that was prepared at your table helped soak up some of the drinks.  As for Chicago, just let us know when.  Have clubs, will travel.