After 3 years I finally got to play Awarii Dunes, teed off around 3:30 pm for $75 which was an all you can play rate. The course received around 1.5” of rain the two days prior to our arrival, which the pro pointed out would cause the course to play a little slower than normal.
Observations:
Staff was very friendly and excited that we were there. Fairways and green surrounds were some of the largest I have ever seen. I had played the previous 9 hole layout several years ago and some of the original routing remained on the front 9. The trees and fence line on the back 9 framed the routing more vs. the front. I always scratch my head when you have a short par 5 or 4 and then a very long par three back to back. (15 & 16). There are several contoured greens, kick plates in the fairways and very unplayable native areas that at times encroached into the bunkers.
I agree with several of RJ’s comments around the promotion and direction of the club initially. Overall, I liked playing this course, but I went into the experience knowing that it was not a typical sand hills style golf course. I grew up in Kearney many moons ago and think that this course does have a future calling as a semi private and very good golf course for the Kearney area and will get replay rounds from several drop in guests.
I will go back. I will ask this question, do you need the exclusivity model to be successful?
A couple of photos:
#2 green, par 3, 180 yards.
#13 - Short, short par 3. I believe it was playing less than 100 yards yesterday.
