I wont post as many pictures because John just about covered all the holes. Like John, I was pleasantly surprised. I had absolutely no idea what to expect because I had not played a Dick Wilson course nor had I played on the sand dune area of Florida north of Ft Lauderdale.
I walked away from the course thinking that it played and looked as though DW had this big piece of sand to work with and molded some fairways, built up some greens and called it good. So, it was much more natural than most Florida golf (or at least it appeared to be). The bunkering was very MacKenzie-esque in that you had some cool amoeba shapes and when looking back down the hole to the tee you could not see any bunkers. The greens were big and built up but had good internal movement. Like John said, the course can be played aerially but you better have your tee shot on the right side of the hole or else you'd have very little chance at holding the green, especially with the wind.
I didn't have a problem with the waste areas. They played like dunes or bunkers and I'm assuming they will firm up and pack down to be more like waste areas (although it sounds like the had to buy cheap sand). That being said, I'd rather have dunes sand that penalized me for hitting a fairway but allowed me to make a recovery shot than swamp/water/woods that you find on 99% of other Florida courses. This is evidenced by the fact that I played 1 ball the entire round.
Here are a couple pictures to supplement what John has already posted:
This shot is obligatory and I am very happy to say my 3rd of the year!!
This is the 2nd hole approach shot. A par 5 where reaching the green must be done from the right side as that is the only open side to the green. My shot, from the left, required a carry over the bunkers which was difficult, even with a short iron.
The 4th hole is a long par 4 up a hill; as you can see there is a lot of room off the tee. This is representative of most of the course.
The 280 yard par 4 5th where John uttered the famous words "I didn't come all the way from Kentucky to lay up"
As you can tell from the picture below, the par 4 6th has a preferred line of play up the right side which requires you to challenge the bunker
The par 3 7th. Long, 200 yards and up hill. One of my favorite holes on the course. You can tell from the American flag what the prevailing wind is and it was blowing. A shot played at the right bunker will ride the wind to the middle of a green. A runner could also be played to the opening on the right. The aerial shot was executed to perfection by John; I, on the other hand, was in the waste area to the left which is very cool as it transitions seamlessly into the bunker guarding the front/left. There was a lot of this waste area to maintained bunker transition around the course.
The 8th tee. Again, although my camera angle doesnt show it the best, notice the significant amount of room off the tee to the right. Notice, however, that the safe road requires the much more difficult approach.
The approach to the 8th from the preferred angle
Moving along, the approach to the 10th, a long par 4 (450 yards) into the wind and dog leg from left to right.
The 12th is a downhill par 5 that would be reachable but for the fact it was playing into the wind for us. A shot challenging the green but ending up left of target will leave you with this very difficult but cool pitch
The approach to the par 5 18th. A very cool hole to end a very cool round
All in all, a very fun course and a perfect muni. The sandy waste areas keep play moving along nicely even though they move in 7 minute tee times. We waited on just about every shot and played in just over 4 hours. Although this was likely faster because Mayhugh insisted we play in carts.
I can't wait to see more of Dick Wilson's work. After playing this course and reading the article posted by Tony Nysse on the other thread, sounds like he was a different kind of dude from the others in the post WWII modern era. Likely a result of being trained under Flynn.