Sand Hills and Prairie Dunes

[Pat (Guest)]

I have one question for you.  What kind of connections do you have to be able to play SH more than about 2 times?  Are you a member?

[David Wigler]

Gene,

I also know our friend from Omaha.  The attorney from Council Bluffs that I was referring to is not a Golfweek Rater.  He was extremely impressed by PD but never critical of SH.  In fact, he recommended that I play it if I ever get his way.  As for the prominent Attorney you are referring to, do you expect sanity from a friend of Bill Murray's?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

MFouts,
Your on! Nothing better then golf with a bunch of screwball friends, I always say!

Dick, Once again, I think you of all people would admit that Dan and Dave would never ever try to compare Sand Hills, Prarie Dunes, or Wild Horse. In fact I think it would be hard for them to put their very own work in the same class as C&C or Perry Maxwell. they are that unselfish and modest.

But for us "Samplers" We like to visit Paris (so to speak) and have a taste of all of life's pleasures! (thank God we are talking golf courses here! I think they are in fact disease free!)

[John_Conley]

Could someone explain to me WHY Sand Hills is open for such a short season?

The Twin Cities golf season generally lasts from April 1-10 through October, usually into November, several years recently well into December. And our weather here is harsher than Mullen, Nebraska's.

You've obviously never been to Sand Hills!

It isn't about weather.  It's about keeping the course accessible to members.  

If a restaurant is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, is that enough for you and I to be able to frequent it even though we eat every day?  Same thing.

[Brad Miller]

Sounds like part of Sand Hill's charm is it's unquie and distant location,(awesome land) therfore manning the fort so to speak does become an issue, particuarly because there is no local play. Prairie Dunes being located in Hutchinson KS a town of about 50,000 and also within 45 minutes of Wichita KS which is quite a bit larger which allows for them to keep the fort up and running year round. (PD  gets local member play, after all it is a members club)

Sand Hills if located in Hutchinson KS would probably be open for a much longer period and would have much more local play??

[Matt_Cohn]

Just a question...are there similarities between Sand Hills, and Pine Valley when it was first built?

[fouts m]

General replies to previous posts.
David: I didn't play with you, but I know the members who did.
Southern Hills comparison.  I would tend to agree with your assessment of the greens, however I only played one time in
a downpour and would like to play again before I comment.
Evan: they have a very good reciprocal policy but I will contact you driectly.
RJ:  I know it comes off as blasphemous to some but Wild Horse is a great great course and the green complexes are as interesting as SH.  I know it's in the middle of nowhere but people should go out of there way to try and play WH.  Your write up made we want to go back and play it again.  I recently played WH with 7 guys, 3 who were members of PD and they all were very impressed by WH.
Gene:  yes that prominent attorney is a little over the top about PD but so are a lot of people who go to great difficulties and justify belonging to great courses.  I don't consider myself a PD zealot but a person who has a strong opinion about my personal favorite.
I am not a member of SH or PD but have been fortunate to gain access to both.

On Saturday the wind at PD was out of the south at about 25-30 MPH.  It never got as warm as predicted but was still nice enough to play 36.  The wind was with or quartering on 8 holes and against on 10 holes.  The greens were in great shape even though they are using 2 temporary greens to protect #2 and #14.  The course was packed and I can't wait to drive another 8 1/2 hours to play again as PD keeps you wanting to come back for more punishment and the realization that I'm not really as good as I think I am sometimes.

It will be very interesting to watch the women professionals play this course this summer.  It will all depend on wind and pin placements.