Dismal Doak, The New Standard of Greatness?

[JReese]

You guys know what's better than a picture of a rainbow???


A picture of guys taking pictures of a rainbow.

Now if we could just get a picture of the guy taking a picture of the guys taking pictures of a rainbow. 

[Matt Glore]

Sam,


You are right about people's thoughts concerning the golf holes at DRR.  11, in my opinion, is one of the great par 3s in the world.   

Sorry!  I previously said 11 but I was thinking 12!  I think 11 is fantastic. 

[archie_struthers]

 


Have played 54 in one day at Sand Hills , and would have loved to play the 10 the hole four more times that day .




If Dismal is anywhere near as good , can't wait to see it !  Hopefully before the end of 2015 !


Enjoy them boys , you don't have to compare
 

[Jerry Kluger]

Tom: The greens at Ballyneal certainly have significant contours, and the "E" green is amazing but I look at Ballyneal's greatness as its routing and variety of holes.  The first time I played it we arrived in the afternoon and the staff said go out on #10 and if you get tired or need to get back just climb over one of the dunes and you'll find some holes to play back toward the clubhouse - I was hooked.  You don't have tee markers at Ballyneal because you just put a tee in the ground and go from there - angle or no on one, make sure you know where you're going on two, try on number three for a short one, how far down on four, which of the many tees on five, upper or lower on six, what difference does it make on seven just so long as you get to the green - as they said in the King and I - etcetera, etcetera.  Amazing.

[Doug Siebert]

You guys know what's better than a picture of a rainbow???


A picture of guys taking pictures of a rainbow.

Now if we could just get a picture of the guy taking a picture of the guys taking pictures of a rainbow. 

I had the opportunity for that shot and made a comment to someone (can't remember who) that I was going to take a picture but I didn't actually do it. I figured I was the only one who would enjoy something that meta. 

[Tom_Doak]

Tom: The greens at Ballyneal certainly have significant contours, and the "E" green is amazing but I look at Ballyneal's greatness as its routing and variety of holes.  The first time I played it we arrived in the afternoon and the staff said go out on #10 and if you get tired or need to get back just climb over one of the dunes and you'll find some holes to play back toward the clubhouse - I was hooked. 

Jerry:


Dismal's routing and variety of holes will hold its own in most comparisons.  There are lots of short-cuts available if you want to take them -- I would happily go around and around the little loop of 5, 6 and 7 and not get tired of it anytime soon.  But there also are not many holes you want to skip playing.  The toughest one mentally is #18 because it doesn't go right back to #1 tee! 

[John Cowden]

The Red provides a wonderful compliment to the White.  Or is it the other way around?  Regardless, throw SHGC into the mix, with the occasional foray north to Valentine, to say nothing of days spent coming and going in the rollicking delights of Ballyneal, and it's a wonderful, wonderful world. 


Tom, I have absolutely no problem with Dismal Red's conclusion at 18.   My mental challenge comes in fading my six/five iron appoach along the axis of the green. 


The holes of the back ten, or maybe just the whole 18, are an amazing journey.  If I can tame/escape 13, after my delghtful ego boost at 12, then 14 and 15 require all my imagination and focus to choose my lines and calm my excitement at the possibility of pulling them off.   16 can delight me or infuriate me; I need to be a better player to master this simple 130 yard puzzle.  Then comes the amazing 1-2 concluding punch of 17 and 18.  Exceptional golf holes on any course, in any setting.  But astride the high Horseshoe dune and fronting the "mighty Dismal", they are in a class and of a chracter all their own.


Then I calm down by tackling the blind shots on 1 and 2 on the Nicklaus course and all its special prairie holes beyond.  Your influence at Sebonick seems evident to this know-nothing.  Quite a place in all.

[Doug Siebert]

Tom, I have absolutely no problem with Dismal Red's conclusion at 18.   My mental challenge comes in fading my six/five iron appoach along the axis of the green.

If it started at the clubhouse I might care if it finished elsewhere, but given that it doesn't who cares where it finishes. My only gripe is that even though the deer flies seem to be pretty non-existent (for me at least) during all those holes down by the river, there seem to be a lot of them in the grass along that path from 18 green back to the road. I end up with a dozen of them buzzing around my cart, and while they aren't biting me they sure are annoying. Maybe they can mow that path 3x as wide to minimize that? It is really the only complaint I have about #18   #spoiledgolferproblems

[Dan Herrmann]

This thread, to me, shows the importance of great land for a great golf course.   The Nebraska Sandhills are perfect for golf course architecture because they're SAND, have beautiful elevation changes, and have access to the aquifer.

Really hard to have great golf on poor land.

And even then, it's not easy.  For proof, I submit the constellation diagram that C&C did that hangs in the Sand Hills clubhouse.  (see  http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=18697.10;wap2