I am doing a course in Newton, KS, 30 Miles due east of Faldo's new course in Hutchison, so I stopped by to tour the constructions site, and also toured Prairie Dunes again. Some impressions.....
The site is as spectacular as PD, although there are a few flatter areas, and there is no question it is one of the top five projects being built in the US this year. However, the project is a pure housing course, with mostly single fairways with houses on both sides, some moderate walks to the next hole (occaisioned I think by more by Faldos use of land and not the need for housing) and with not overly wide golf corridors.
Like my Colbert Hills to the north, or Fazios Wild Dunes in SC, or any housing course on a great site, the course will eventually suffer when the houses sell. Some question whether there is a market for such houses in Hutch, but I noted there are a few other new subdivisions going in town, so maybe there is more hidden wealth out there than we know.
The course is only 8 holes built since August, which is remarkably slow by modern standards. They hope to get nine holes grassed this year. So, if you believe taking your time yields a better course, you probably think this one will be very special.
There is a LOT to like about this course, including a few of the best looking greens and green sites I can recall. Tees are square, and often cut right of the top of a dune while leaving the native grass nearly intact.
Greens have a fairly modern look. At first, I wondered if that fit the site, especially after going to so much trouble to build old looking tees, but after touring PD again, I was reminded that they are basically Maxwell standard greens on a spectacular site.
For that matter, I was a bit surprised to see rounded tees at PD, having recalled everything about the place as 'traditional." (BTW, the USGA had just visited PD and marked fw widths, etc. for the 06 Senior Open)
Bunkering is a mix of Chart Hills looking formal bunkers with dramatic shapes, and a few, simpler shaped "Blowout" bunkers, which have the native grasses kept on the far side. Bunkering is all visible, random as befits a dunes site, and in some cases, a seeming tribute to other courses. One hole has bunkers arranged to offset the fw, but they are visually in a straight line, much like the sixth hole at PD three miles west. The par 4 5th (about 460 yards, has a bunker similar in shape and relative location to Augusta 10).
There is a nice mix of green sizes, but they tend to be small to medium. The bigger greens, have modern lobes and shaping, sub dividing them into smaller targets. Most seem to require real precision shots, and they are well contoured! Faldo has a nice touch with green contours, although there are a few which some will think are too severe for a resort course. Of course, as Lou Duran likes to point out, who am I to talk!
I was "warned" by folks who had been there that they had "gone Scottsdale" with this, including wall to wall paths, etc. Overall, I think they probably need them, and did a good job of hiding them.
If there was anything that was too Scottsdale, it was the use of formal stone retaining walls on a number of ponds, and one on a short par 3 4th hole, with a reciruclating stream in front of a near island green. To my eye, those didn't fit.
There is some blindness on the course, most on account of the dunes. He had the option of leaving them, with a blind hole, or smoothing them out and cutting through them, but "sanitizing" the site. He has a mix of both, and the shaping on the ones where he cut through it very natural.
There are also some ponds on the property, and some are blind, like the 10 hole, a par 5 where, because an old natural gas line limited grading, the pond guarding the green is completly blind. On the 3rd hole they created several small ponds/wetlands on the perimeter of play to generate fill which can come into play inadvertantly without visibility.
I was surprised to see how many holes had water hazards on a sand dunes site. However, the water table here is about 2 feet below ground. Dig a hole, and it fills with water quickly.....so it is natural. The water table and preplanning for future subdivision means there is a lot of large drain pipe going in. Its necessary, but seems odd when driving through pure sand that drains well. On the flat area holes, there will be a few catch basins in the fairways.
This will be a championship course, especially given Kansas winds. There will be only 70 acres of turf proposed on a 7300 yard course, and it isn't nearly as wide as I would make it. Fairways will be Zoysia, a good choice, but they will make the course play longer. He has three double fairway holes, but each exist in about the same width as I did for one fw up at Colbert Hills. On the 8th hole, a par 5, he saved some native yucca, which requires a 250 yard carry from the tips into the prevailing wind to hit the fw. I wonder if play experience will force them to reduce some carries and widen landing areas at some point, given that it is a resort.
Well worth the trip to see, and it will be a very good course. I suspect it could do quite well, especially if PD opens itself at least on a limited basis to hotel guests. It definitely beats my site in Newton, which is bounded by RR tracks on all sides, plus houses. We have the same water table problems there as Cottonwood Hills has. I will go back as my project progresses to see how the course turns out.
I doubt Brad or Ron Whitten will hire me to write golf course reviews based on this piece, but I though some of you would appreciate a bit of an overview of the course.