Kevin,
Putting thoughts about courses can be tough to put into words, and even tougher to compare side by side.
Here are my thoughts about my previously listed courses played.
1. Order in which played.
Ballyneal-Dismal red-Dismal white-Bayside-Wild horse-Prairie club dunes-Prairie club pines (June 2017)
Sand Valley-Sand box-Mammoth Dunes-Lawsonia links (July 2018)
2. Thoughts on courses in order of which played.
2a. Ballyneal. 45 holes played/45 walked. It does NOT belong in this conversation but made me re-read my posts about it for comparison. Upon returning home I wrote "Ballyneal is the best modern course I have played. I enjoyed all 8 (of the 100 golfweek best modern the original post was about), but Ballyneal was fun, made me think, strategize the next shot, and most importantly made me want to return to play ASAP."
2b. Dismal Red. 72 holes played/72 with cart. I did play the white course 1 of the 3 days on site for the 5th major tournament. I think I may have had a different experience here if playing for fun only vs tournament pressure. Not all round were tournament rounds (54 holes were tournament rounds vs 36 for fun/planning). I did NOT do a course write up since many here have read about it and its story. When I look back on my time there I am torn between golf memories and friend memories. I met 20 or 30 new guys here that were all fanatics like me, and shared my passion. Being able to share my personaly story and feelings was great, and hearing what others enjoyed and disliked about both courses gave me great perspective. I am lucky and know a member here so I hope to play here again. My immediate thoughts about the course include great rolling terrain on a HUGE piece of property, still a bit surprised that the course ends near a small stream running through the dry bouncy turf of Nebraska, and hitting off tight lies to both uphill and downhill targets was great mental challenge especially in the blowing wind.
2c. Prairie club dunes. 36 holes played/36 with cart. After playing at the two previous properties you might have been lulled, but I was able to take 1 day away from golf and it was a great mental break to drive and recharge my batteries. Staying on site the night before started with a drive from North Platte, past Sand Hills, to an amazing setting just as remote as the past 2 coouses. Beautiful weather lead to 36 hole day with cart. I know that some may swear by walking (and I agree under the right circumstances but walking 14.5 rounds over 11 days is only for the best of athletes), but trip logistics allowed me to play more holes with cart vs walking less on foot. My post upon returning home stated the "course opens with an uphill par 4 and has some great open vistas including Par 5 3rd hole tee box. Bunkers and wind are it's main defenses so weather plays a big part in day to day scoring." My current thoughts on my #2 course played focus on being able to play a course with so many options. With differing tees and weather, this course would land on a very short list of courses I would be willing to play over and over in the changing conditions.
2d. Prairie club pines. 36 holes played/36 with cart. This was the second of two courses played on property. The resort allows one course open to outside play and one for members, making a 36 hole day on site impossible. When I got home posted that the course "starts with a solid Par 4 with very little "pines" seen. As you make your way toward the halfway house the trees begin to play a bigger part in the design and shaping of the holes. I would split 10 rounds here Dunes 6 to Pines 4." My current thoughts here focus on the differing landscape of 1 property, both from a open and exposed scene to a protected one out of the wind and weather if needed. I initially had the dunes ranked lower on my personal list of courses and would probably change my answer of split rounds from Pines 4 down to Pines 2. The landscape and width of the Dunes course compared to Pines just makes this a good, no GREAT 36 hole facility open to the public at a less than rediculous price (Less than $700 for 3 nights lodging, 2 days of unlimited golf, including food and drink). Probably the best value at a multicourse resort I have stayed at personally (Lawsonia WI maybe one of the best values of single course memories vs cost paid but I digress).
2e. Sand Valley. 18 holes played/18 walked.
2f. Mammoth dunes. 36 holes played/36 walked. Both of these courses I covered extensively earlier this year. A great overall experience to visit, but based on the previous write up about Prairie Club, it would be hard to imaging paying to visit here in th near future with literally 100's of great courses yet unplayed. Here is my post from earlier this year.
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.
6 "a very good course definitely worth a game if you are in town but not necessarily worth a special trip to see. It shouldn't disappoint you"
7 "an excellent course worth checking out if you get within 100 miles"
8 "being one of the very best courses in its region and worth a special trip to see. Could have some drawbacks, but these will clearly be spelled out, and it will make up for them with something really special in addition to the generally excellent layout.
Here are my final scores as 2018 concludes soon and 2019 is upon us in a number of weeks,
Dismal red -7
Prairie club dunes-8
Prairie club pines-6
Sand valley-7
Mammoth dunes-7
Justin