I did get to go back with my associates and play Sedge Valley a couple of days in late September, courtesy of Michael Keiser. We had a blast, playing five balls the first day and three balls on day 2.
Pace of play was awesome, as the resort stuck to 12-minute tee times at Sedge this year so as not to wear it out, as opposed to 10-minute gaps on the other courses. The difference was amazing . . . but they were giving up significant revenue to do that, so I doubt it will continue long-term.
I did not worry about the lack of par-5's at any point, though that's in character for me. The only par-5, #11, was one of my sleeper favorite holes.
Played an annual tourney last week in 7th year: 8 guys from our club v. 8 caddies and pros from Sand Valley in a Ryder Cup type format.
First round on Sedge, PM spin around SandBox then round on Lido the next am.
Played two 9-hole matches on Sedge against both caddies and SV pros/managers. Caddies said Sedge serves up some of the slowest rounds due to:
1. Routing has a par 3, drivable par 4, then short par 3 and another longer par 3 (consecutively) on front 9 that just kills pace of play.
2. Unlike the other courses, Sedge has a ton of deep grass adjacent to fairways and greens so guests lose a ton of balls.
3. Back 9 has a reachable par 5 (if you can hold the green!!) , very short drivable par 4 and then a par 3 consecutively that also creates bottle necks.
Side notes:
- caddies up there are serious players...as in +5, +4. +3....we got smoked this year. We beat the pros and "managers", but caddies were way too good. (Adam, Southie, Hutch especially!)
- 16 of us played SandBox and we had 3 holes in ONE!!!! No one had ever seen that.