I played Pine Dunes today in Frankston, TX and enjoyed the course so much that I thought I would post some of the highlights. Pine Dunes opened in 2001 and was designed by Jay Morrish (
www.pinedunes.com). From the back tees the course plays from a distance of 7117 yards and has a rating/slope of 74.4/131. This is the first Morrish course that I have seen and it would be hard to grade him with anything less than an 'A' for his work at Pine Dunes. I was particularly impressed by the par 3's and 5's. Here is a look at why...
Par 3's -
Hole #3 (160/130/108/88)
Coming from the reachable par 4 2nd, this short par 3 provides a bit of trickery at the tee. It is hard to judge just what the proper distance is as the green hides below a fronting bunker.
The green itself (pictured from behind) falls of hard to the left and away. The tee boxes seen in the distance are one of many examples at Pine Dunes where Morrish made the course playable for everyone by using the front tees not just to shorten the hole, but also to provide an easier angle for the shot at hand.
Hole #6 (254/225/188/156)
Playing very down hill, the sixth provides an exciting tee shot for anyone to hit. While the distance can be troubling from the back tees, I found that it played at least 20 yards shorter than the number on the card.
Pictured from the right of the green it is easy to see how well the green and its surrounds fit a hole of this length. The ground game is in full effect at Pine Dunes as it was firm and fast everywhere. This shot provided the opportunity to land a ball short and to the right, using the movement of the ground to get the ball around the bunker and close to the hole.
Hole 12 (204/164/130/99)
Accuracy is key at the 12th where a slight miss to one side or the other can cause a need for a most difficult recovery shot.
A shot that is pulled left leaves a very delicate pitch out of the green side bunker...
and anything that is short or right finds its way to the bottom of the slope where only a glimpse of the top of the flag is available...
Hole #16 (178/154/124/105)
The final par three is well bunkered with a heavily undulating green.
A shot off line here could easily result in a three putt bogey.
As a group, I thought the par 3s provided a wonderful variety of shots with nice distance gaps playing at 160, 258, 204 and 178.