Just returned from my first trip to Prairie Dunes and I've got to say I was more than impressed with it.  While I've always heard how highly regarded it was, I've always thought that I'd find it good but maybe not quite my cup of tea.

I found it to be exactly the opposite - immediately one of my favorite courses and a place I think everyone should go if they are able.

Without getting too much into discussions that have been had before (or overlapping Ran's writeup) I'd say that the things that struck me most strongly were these:

1) The course is nowhere near as narrow as reputed - You can lose a ball on every single hole, sure, but you know you've hit a very poor shot if you do.  The corridors are much wider than I'd imagined them to be.

2) The greens are possibly the best I've played - my favorite thing about them is that they are contoured without being crazy (like a Doak green, for example).  Often times a single feature dominates the playability of the green and even your approach shot.  The thought process is much more complex than simply being on the right level or in the proper quadrant of the green.  Take, for example, the hump short of the 11th green - You have to start thinking about this single feature from the tee.  Same goes for the fall-off left of 18 and even the hump on the right side of 1.

3) The course is much more fun that I'd thought it would be - when considering it against other highly regarded middle-america courses (Ballyneal, Sand Hills) which have been built with the fun factor looming large, I'd imagined Prairie Dunes to be the antithesis of fun - long, windy, narrow, and difficult.  While it is at times long, certainly windy, and without a doubt difficult, it's not narrow and it's a ton of fun - from the rolling fairways to the greens that have just the right amount of contour to them, to the various chipping areas and the often awkward recovery shots from them, it's just through and through a fun (and extremely challenging) course.

As for the pics (Sorry, don't have a scorecard in front of me for yardages)

1st tee just after sunrise


Behind the 1st green


2nd hole


3rd tee


4th hole - par 3


5th hole - par 4


6th hole - par 4


8th hole - par 4 - one of the best holes I've ever played


8th green - Can't even begin to capture the contours here


10th hole - par 3


12th hole - par 4


14th tee - very confusing on the first play


15th tee - par 3 with a menacing chute of trees to navigate


16th green


17th fairway - Par 5 - 517 yards


The extremely difficult 17th green


18th hole - par 4


Behind the 8th green with the 9th and clubhouse in the background

Awesome photo work....I love the native grass framing; the par 4's look especially strong. Hope the trusted 3-metal served you well.

....and when will the write up be posted on greenskeeper.org ?

Magnificent! Great photo work Ryan. What a treat that must've been!

I went out there myself for the first time within the last month and I felt that golf course was some of the most sophisticated application of really good golf architectural principles I've ever seen in my life, and believe me I have seen just about all the great golf courses and architecture.

Tom,

That's exactly why I'm being such a pain in the ass to get you to write it.  

As someone who loves virtually everything about PD, with the exception of the severity of the gunch (which, with your straight ball I'm sure you never saw), I'm really eager to compare notes.

Ryan,

Thanks for the pictures.

Prairie Dunes is a wonderful golf course, although, with the newly NARROWED fairways I don't think it's as good as it was when it had more generous fairways.

Why do clubs that host big tournaments, that prepare the golf course specifically for highly specialized and superior field, leave the course as it was prepared, for vastly superior golfers, when the vast majority of the club members who will play the golf course for the next decade are average to high handicappers ?

Ryan,
  Thanks for the post. After my first trip there I started a post about what keeps PD from being the best course in the US. I too think it is an exceptional test of golf while still being quite fair and enjoyable. As you stated you have to hit a pretty poor shot to be in serious trouble. The course can be summed up in 3 words, ....no let up. All four aspects of your game will be equally tested: driving, approach shots, short game and putting. The other course I put in this category is Royal Dornoch.

Patrick and Brad,
   I don't think the fairways are much if any narrower than when I was there a couple of years ago. #17 is the only one I see in these pictures that looks a bit narrower. Some of our resident members will have to chime in with the definitive answer.

Ryan,

Thanks for the pictures.

Prairie Dunes is a wonderful golf course, although, with the newly NARROWED fairways I don't think it's as good as it was when it had more generous fairways.

Why do clubs that host big tournaments, that prepare the golf course specifically for highly specialized and superior field, leave the course as it was prepared, for vastly superior golfers, when the vast majority of the club members who will play the golf course for the next decade are average to high handicappers ?

Pat,

Do you feel the same way about Merion? PD and Merion are similar in this respect with narrowed fairways.  PD's rough is usually kept shorter and less penal than Merion's (of course Merion does not have the gunch)..

In picture after picture, it just felt like the fairways were meant to extend all the way to the fescue/gunch.

They weren't meant to extend all the way to the gunch and they have never been cut out to the gunch.  If they were then they would have been some of the widest fairways in golf.  I think what you are seeing especially with regards to the pics of 17 is kind of a forced perspective.

There is a fairly large landing area available off of the tee on 17 because you are teeing off at an angle.  After that the fairway does tighten as it gets closer to the hole but as there are no trees, fairway bunkers or cross-hazards on the hole the narrowing fairway is one of the major defenses of the hole.  That and the wind which is generally in your face and the diabolical green.

I agree with Ryan that there is ample room off of the tee and the fairways are more than wide enough.  

As I said before, I enjoyed the course very much when I played it.  I also found it to be quite difficult.

I made a long post late last year.  In my post, I mentioned that I witnessed 18-20 balls hit into the gunch in 45 holes of tournament golf with 0-5 handicap players.  Therefore, the chances that a low handicapper would spray the ball into the gunch was about 10% per hole.  Most of these balls were not found.

The fairways are pretty wide.  The course is a gas to play.  But the long grass areas come into play regularly.

Doak may build wild greens, but I have never seen a Doak green more severe or punitive than the #2 green at Prairie Dunes.

I've never been there, but the rough appears totally out of place.  Is it thick enough to keep balls from rolling into the gunch, thus making the course more playable?  I'm thinking the rough may be a savior for many balls heading for their death in the gunch.

Is the "narrow fairway/wide rough" look unusual though? I think that is the same wardrobe that Merion wears......

If that is todays business attire for championship golf, I'm all for a more casual sun dress...not just for looks, but for comfort as well....

Joe

Doak may build wild greens, but I have never seen a Doak green more severe or punitive than the #2 green at Prairie Dunes.

FYI. #2 green is being softened by Bill Coore next month to create more hole locations.