Interestingly enough both the 3rd holes are par 3's. I'm not going to fall for the adage that just because the 3rd at Sand Hills is longer it is more difficult. I find the holes 3rd at Sand Hills and Dismal equally challenging.
John,
I can't agree with you on this one either.
First a couple of pictures:
Dismal River, Hole 3: Par 3, 150ish Yards (photo taken from 200ish yard back tees) - if you look very closely, the pin is tucked just over the front bunker
Sand Hills, Hole 3: Par 3, 205 YardsTee View:
From back of green:
The tee shot at Dismal River is very scary the first time around. A severe run-off short, a very deep bunker right and some obvious and severe green contouring put a lot of pressure on this short-iron shot. But, at the end of the day, this is still an 8-iron for most players and the green as a target is plenty big. Furthermore, the contouring on the green more often will help the better player than hurt him. The green is split into three distinct sections, front-left, front-right and back. Each front portion is a mini-bowl... good shots are rewarded with a short putt, bad shots will have a difficult putt/chip to get the ball close in the bowl. But, as I said, it is a short-iron and these bowls more often help than hurt.
For the first time player the tee shot at SH is not intimidating. The green is deep and wide and the slope to the left will help the player get the ball on the green. What is impossible to comprehend is the severity of the slope of the 3rd green... like Chris said, the left side is many, many feet higher than the right. Hit your tee shot too far left and get it stuck in the tall grass, there is zero chance of even chipping the ball onto the green. Leave it just short and you have a chip that could break 25 feet. A front-right pin is gettable, but anything else is a very difficult 3. I'm sure many people have hit what they thought were pretty good tee shots and then pretty good chips and walked off the hole with 5 or X, and two-halves of what used to be a putter.
Oh, and it is impossible to cast length aside. Dismal is an 8-iron, SH into the prevailing (I think) wind is a hybrid or 3-wood for most. That is a big difference, period.
Sand Hills is the harder hole.
Now, if we want to compare the 200 yard tees at each course, my opinion is reversed and I think Dismal is the harder hole.
C&C designed the 3rd green at SH to accept fairway wood shots. That slope on the left can be used to kill a 3-wood and have it kick onto the green. The green is also wide-open in front allowing shots to come up short or run onto the green. The same is not true of the 3rd at Dismal. I played it a bit downwind, and 4-iron in hand I wasn't sure how I was going to carry the slope/bunker short of the green and still have my ball stay on the firm green. The aforementioned contours, which will collect balls toward the pin, will (I think) often repel them when the green is approached with a 4-iron instead of an 8-iron. And, as I said before, if on the wrong portion of the green at DR, it is a tough two-putt.
From the tips, DR has the harder third.
But, since we're talking about the squares at DR, I have it:
Hole 1: DR
Hole 2: SH
Hole 3: SH
SH 1 UP
...Hole 4 coming when I have a few minutes