Great work, Jason. Makes sense-17 is always a tough drive for me, because:
1. Obviously, it's the narrowest fairway on the course
2. It's a straight hole, which for my eyes, is the toughest to play. I can't work the ball off a gentle bend, etc. That's why, even though playing the new 480 yard tee on #5 into the prevailing wind is absolutely nuts for me, I LOVE that tee. It frames the hole wonderfully and gives you the bunker on the left to work the ball off that. Also wides the effective width of the fairway.
I guess I thought the driving areas are generous, because as another member pointed out, many of the hole have gentle bends (1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18) and you can work the ball with the shape of the hole to effectively widen the fairway.
I am not a straight driver of the ball. But, I can work the ball, and typically have some consistency of my right to left move, which works very nicely on all of the above mentioned holes other than 16 and 18. However, I can down the right side on those hole and have a lot of room left to miss.
I LOVE Prairie Dunes (about 90 rounds in my 4+ years as a national member) for a couple of reasons:
1. It's a great test of golf between the wind, gunch, and green complexes
2. However, that being said, it's still FUN to play. Maxwell, from what I can see being an associate of Dr. MacKenzie, also believed bogey to be reasonably attainable and par a challenge for the average golf. The Maxwells give you places to miss and places to layup if you decide not to try to force a shot into those greens (example, any approach for me over 180 yards on #8-I'll take a 7 iron and leave myself a 30 yard pitch up the hill).
3. It forces you to commit to every shot. If you are commited to a shot and a shot shape, and you avoid the dreaded double cross (which Prairie Dunes does not tolerate in any way, shape or form) you will be at least partially rewarded.
4. The greens just take my breath away. Either from the sheer beauty, or being paralyzed by the thought that my chip shot, if I miss my landing spot, will either go bounding off the green or come back at me. I tell some of my guests that there are holes that if you aren't in complete control of your short game, you should simply just put your chip shot in the middle of the green and take bogey.
Vog
Not sure why I did this but I measured the width of the fairways on this aerial tour - http://course.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/course/course/prairiedunes/aerial.htm#
I don't know the course well enough to really know the likely landing spot for tee shots but the fairway widths generally do not vary a ton other than where bunkers pinch. Many are angled to the tee so that could make them play wider or narrower depending on which way the player moves the ball. In general the front nine appears to be wider than the back. There seems to be more regular rough on the back so I would not be surprised if those fairways have been narrowed at some point.
1. 37
3. 35
5 - 37
6 - 35
7 - 37 (narrows to 29 at bunker)
8 - 31
9 - 37
11 - 34
12 - 30
13 - 29
14 - 34
16 - 30
17 - 29
18 - 30