I was lucky enough to plan a recent trip to both Sand Valley and Lawsonia between July 7 and 11th. Many thoughts come to mind -- both positive and negative about each location.
Sand Valley – PROS
ONE. Ability to provide caddies of all ages and abilities (Age 20-60) whom may be locals, or have traveled to other national resorts including Bandon Dunes.
TWO. Advance email warning about temporary greens on SV and discounted greens fees to compensate. ($220 – 50 = $170).
THREE. Walking. It was just nice to see so few if any carts. I did see one group or three (2 sons and their older father) playing up 18 one night but that was the only player cart I saw in 3 days play.
FOUR. Sand - Sand - Sand. Amazing to look at visually, but more importantly feel under foot. The areas within 50 yards of the green surface and the putting surface itself were something I have never experienced before. The way the ball would react when it landed, and the making of/lack of pitch marks was something that was learned and fostered with each hole played.
FIVE. Proshop. May not have been the biggest, but it had options from $10 to $100 and up. Logo options for both courses from great brands not available at most courses including Seamus and Galvin Green.
SIX. Fast and firm conditions leave you with many options from the fairway, and even more from just off the green surfaces.
SEVEN. Fun – Fun – Fun. The short 17 hole Sandbox course is just as fun as it’s childhood memory suggests. Holes play about 65 to 165 yards with ALL holes providing the option to run up or putt up a ball from nearly every teeing ground. The ability to make a 1 or 5 on every hole keeps your mind active until the very last putt is holed.
EIGHT. Keeping a ball in play. Losing a ball is certainly possible, but very limited at both courses. Wide fairways and large greens allow players of all abilities a shot at a par on nearly all 36 holes.
NINE. Bus to take you between common spots. (Clubhouse/Lodging/Mammoth Dunes – Sand Valley Course –Range)
TEN. Space and acerage to build 1 or more courses.
ELEVEN. Mammoth Dunes Hole #6. 260-320 yard Par 4 giving players the option to make a 1 or a 7. Take a look at the pin position before you decide what club to pull. Short left bunker lets you know that driver may or may not be the best play for everyone from the tee. Huge boomerang green shape allows putter, wedge, or your favorite chipping club to approach for birdie. Pictures did NOT do this whole justice as to the width of the green complex and just how far the front right pin is from the run up area short and left and how big a mound sits between the two points.
Sand Valley - CONS
ONE. Temporary greens. For me SV holes 2, 5, and 8 remained closed. I was told that they were to open the original greens "soon" but they would not provide a future date an instead monitored day by day. The local rule was "2 putt maximum" until the original greens were reopened.
TWO. Lodging. For others I was paired with (traveling as a single), not an issue. For me personally, this was a BIG issue. Maybe I am not the courses "target customer", but is not every person who makes a tee time important as far as word of mouth to friends and family. Traveling as a single may not be customary for a destination resort, but $275 (and upwards to 750) for a single king bedroom is not for this traveler. I have not been to Bandon, but understand there are limited options for housing nearby. Nearby (about 15 minute drive away) in Wisconsin Rapids there were many options to stay for at or below $100 nightly. Lodging was currently being built nearby so maybe price will diminish as number of rooms increases, but it seems this is the going rate not only here but at the other Keiser properties coast to coast.
THREE. Generally starting from the #10 tee. Both the starter and my caddy informed me that most groups start this way. I the minority, actually started from the #1 tee and showed my caddy his first ever round holes 1 to 18 in that order. Besides the yardage book and sign logistics, I am unsure why starting from the #10 vs the #18 tee would be common practice.
FOUR. Cost. The normal $220 green fee (and even the $170 discounted rate) was the most I have paid personally to play. I know other places are more (Straits at Kohler) but this will certainly exclude many players purely from a budget standpoint.
Sand Valley - Unsure.
ONE. Food. My food options and cost were more than reasonable. Steaks, fish, and burgers for $40 and less. Online I saw that many more food options have become available recently (seeing a photo of a menu posted but unsure of exactly what social media platform). Problems just became more evident when laying out logistics. Cooking food outside when it is summer and 80-90 degrees and sunny is not ideal, but what about when 60 and rainy? Seating for 30-50 people only? There are 53 holes with 216 plus players golfing at any one time. I know this is only temporary, but not ideal for heavy weekends like July 4 or Labor Day holidays.
TWO. Mammoth Dunes large green complexes. If you are a statistics keeper during your round you may love this particular course. If you are a poor lag putter (with putts of 40-80 feet possible multiple times during a round) you may find scoring here a challenge. There was no practice putting green near the SV course leaving only the MD practice green outside the clubhouse the only option. It is large-ish in size but as you can imagine with any traffic at all, practice putting from 40-80 feet can be almost impossible to prepare yourself for what lies ahead.
Lawsonia Links – PROS
ONE. Cost. $83-88 during the week to ride (and even less to walk).
TWO. Understated pro shop and clubhouse. I just find it a great job of prioritizing what is important, with money being spent ON course conditioning or OFF course on seeing the pro shop from miles away (Ex. Bolingbrook GC outside Chicago).
THREE. Large wooden round pegged bunker rakes. Old school touch just seemed like the perfect touch.
Lawsonia Links – CONS
ONE. Onsite lodging for single. Like SV there are options onsite (single suite, birches house, dawson house, and moreau house double suite) but none are great options for a single, so in a nearby hotel I stayed. Onsite options listed above range from 110-550 and up nightly.
TWO. Steep upslopes between greenside bunkers and green surfaces. It is certainly a much tougher up and down than normal with all but the dramatic 7th green having at least one green side bunker. Getting out of the bunker is just the first part of chasing par. If you are unlucky and leave the ball on the uphill grass wall between the bunker and green surface, leaving your third shot to probably being tougher than the second shot that landed in the greenside bunker.
Lawsonia Links – Unsure
ONE. Geographic location to attract players. Others I talked to said that this area attracts many boaters and travelers to the local lakes. I am just unsure how busy the course stays away from larger metro cities like Milwaukee, Madison, or Chicago.
TWO. Multiple blind tee shots. The first two holes are not the toughest on the course but not being able to see the shots land can play tough with long grass to the right side of fairway on both holes leading to big numbers early.
THREE. Laserlink rangefinder on every cart. No fancy GPS screen just a simple laser gun.
Favorite Holes
Sand Valley = 1,2 ,3/8, 9, 10/16, 17, 18 (Favorite #9)
Mammoth Dunes = 5, 6, 7, 8/10, 11, 12, 13, 14 (Favorite #13/14)
Lawsonia Links = 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11/17, 18 (Favorite #6)
Scores
Sand Valley = 7 “An excellent course worth checking out if you get anywhere within 100 miles”
Mammoth Dunes = 7
Lawsonia Links = 7
Overall
I am very glad that I traveled a few extra nights to play on both sites. It was not a cheap trip, but an overall VERY good experience. I think location makes day trip from Milwaukee/Madison/Chicago possible, but very difficult. This means most will plan to stay nearby and make multiple rounds of play more than possible (60 miles drive apart). Traveling from Phoenix, I doubt I will return for play soon. Especially with possible plans to clearing land for course 4 in the near future (according to staff members I talked to at the resort). A west coast trip, possibly Bandon Dunes will be my next adventure to explore.
Justin