I visited Awarii Dunes two weekends ago. Played Wild Horse in the AM and watched part of the finals of the Nebraska State Amateur take place under very firm conditions.
I would say I left with a mixed opinion of AD with full understanding that one tour and visit is not enough to understand/vet all of its features.
The course had a lot of standing water on it in spots, I'm not sure if this is a surface drainage issue or something from the grow in. It did have thunderstorms the night before but both Wild Horse and Dismal were bone dry the same day (although you cannot compare Sand Hills topography) to a course that is a long way from either of those. As some of Mark's pictures show, there are swaths of fairways missing turf or are just plain dirt so I was not sure if this is just growing pains or if the rustic motif is meant to emulate the wild conditions of NW Ireland. Having seen Yale suffer 2 of the last summers, I'm not adverse to these conditions, I'm just noting it looked like the course opened a bit early.
There were several things I liked, Engh is definitely trying to make the course fun and get people to come back using the same ball. You can hit the ball almost anywhere and find it (unless plugged) and obviously that will give many joy.
Engh disguised some features well. For example the 1st fairway bottlenecks for the 2nd shot and you have to hit over a ridge to what is actually a 90 yard or so fairway. I hit a hook and found my ball 30 yards from the native grasses well placed for my 3rd to the green.
*The pulpit green site on the 14th is a great visual and a tough 2nd shot either as a short par 5 (which the tees we played it from) or a long par 4--i think the hole is better this way.
*The course ends well with 17 and 18- I particularly liked the green site on the 18th with the chipping/bailout area on the right and the sliver of a green backed up firmly against a waste bunker.
*The course is walkable---I did ride and there is some distance from 9 green to 10 tee.
*To compare the course vs. the terrain of its West Nebraska cousins is not an argument worth having and I think it has to be viewed in isolation by itself.
I realize Jim Engh reached into his Carne/Rosapenna/Donegal pallete to design the course and be creative , but I think I would tire of the greens at some stage. The 4th and 7th double green is interesting but for the fact that the spine thru it (when approaching from the 7th hole) is very severe and to my eye pins can only be put on a diagonal there. With firm conditions playing to a limited # of pins there (and this can be said for other holes) could become an issue.
Further more all of the punchbowls/multi-tiered while fun to play and let me say I think that is Engh's ethos--be fun to play-- get old to me, because they just arent natural-esque and can alternatively punish or reward shots by caprice. They look engineered to my eye and in full disclosure I play a Raynor course as my home club. Many of the bunkers looked only roughly shaped and unfinished with firm hard pack rather than sand. They were obviously from the pictures not his usual muscle bunker forms. I am guessing the rough aesthetic is inspired by NW Ireland and they will remain this way as the course matures. There are crazy features out there and that works for some, I like quirk too, I just feel there is too much here on a low profile landform/site.
The 109y par 3 13th made little sense to me. When I saw it on the scorecard I thought it would feature a devlish tiny green. Instead there is the biggest green on the course and the least severe. What was the inspiration for this?
Overall I think the course is going to be private and thus fulfill whatever mandate a private club wants to have. I would not label Awarii Dunes from my time there as a "destination course". IE, unless I'm driving west from Omaha I would not make a special effort to seek it out, but that is solely my opinion. On Tom Doak's scale I would say AD is a 5..Nothing wrong with that, just my own opinion from a visit.
