The 12-hole Challenge Course, the second of the three planned golf courses at Monarch Dunes in Nipomo, CA, is scheduled to open August 29, 2008. Like Monarch Dunes "The Old Course", the new course was designed by Damian Pascuzzo and Steve Pate.
I'm curious to learn what gca-ers think about a 12-hole course!
I got a chance to walk the course by myself yesterday (walk, not play) and took a few photos with my pocket camera. This will certainly be a challenging par 3 course! I'll try to get out and take some better photos after the June/July gloom clears. A few sample photos are shown below.
The 12 par 3 holes range in length from 70 yards to 200 yards (240 yards from the back tees). You'll get the opportunity to use every club in your bag from the tee. The 2 longest holes, 5 and 12, are dead into the wind under normal conditions and may even require driver off the tee. A lob wedge will reach the short 3rd hole.
The greens are expansive and undulating, containing large swales and ridges, and are well protected by fescue-covered sand dunes and large lacy bunkers. Carries from tee to green vary from sand dunes, long grasses and small lakes. Poppies, lupines and other wildflowers cover the landscape. The course is very walkable. The cart paths seem unnecessary. Carts are required to stay on the cart paths.
I'd pick the 9th as the signature hole. The green is framed by a variety of wildflowers, fescue dunes, lacy bunkers, and a frontside lake. It's tee box is one of the longest in California, angling out to 80 yards. The left side of the tee box allows for a short 105 yard shot to a welcoming fairway and green. But the tee at the other end faces a challenging 135 yarder over a lake into a left to right cross wind.
Green fees will only set you back $16.00, or $1.33/hole ($12.00 or $1.00/hole for members)! Carts are only $9/round.
9th green from left side of tee box
9th green from front bunker
example of large undulating greens from 1st green
10th green from tee box
1st green from fairway
I've paraphrased a
description of the course by Damian Pascuzzo below, that can be found on the Monarch Dunes website at
monarchdunesgolf.com.
There's also an excellent
article by Dan Hruby in the May issue of Golf Today Magazine about the new course, also available on the Monarch Dunes website.
Each hole has the tees arranged to vary the angle of attack. Players teeing off from the back tees will face the most difficult shot, while those playing from the front tees will have a far easier line to the green. Each hole has at least 5000 square feet of tee space and we will have set out three sets of tee markers giving players plenty of choice.
The greens may be the most memorable features on the golf course. Pascuzzo and Pate's idea from the first day of design was to create very large, very undulating greens. Players will encounter ridges and swales running through the green that may change 3-4 feet in elevation. To accommodate this type of movement, the greens are about 8000 square feet. The superintendent has agreed to keep green speeds a little more modest so that these undulating greens stay fun and playable. Designing that much movement in the greens enabled some areas on the green that are quite challenging when approached from the back tees. Players will have to think hard about how they want to attack the hole. Playing strategy will change every time out depending on where the flag is that particular day and what the wind is doing.
The golf course has a natural, rugged appearance, which is enhanced by the dunes that were shaped throughout the fairways and around the greens. The golf course was completely constructed by shaping the native sand into the desired features. There were no outside materials imported to build the greens or bunkers as is done on most golf courses.
There are five lakes which come into play. The lakes are on holes 3,4,5,8 and 9. The residential development uses these golf course lakes to handle 100% of the project's storm water. Extra capacity was designed into the lakes so that the storm water can be stored and then dissipated back into that ground to recharge the aquifer. The golf course uses the same turf grass as found on Monarch Dunes Old Course. The fairways and roughs are planted in a blend of fine fescues. The greens have been seeded in velvet bentgrass.