Interesting sets of Par 5's - Twisted Dune

[Patrick_Mucci]

I recently played Twisted Dune and liked the par 5's a great deal, especially the first one, and uphill, slight dogleg right, which created a nice optical illusion on the second shot, with fairway cross bunkers obscuring the landing area behind the cross bunkers and in front of the green.  It made the shot appear much harder than it actually was.

I also liked # 9 and # 10 which are adjacent to the lake.
# 9 wraps around the lake while # 10 goes away from the lake.  I also liked # 12 with its large circular bunkers in the middle of the fairway short of the green.  They created another illusion that I found interesting.

I found all holes challenging, sporty and fun and was wondering about the perception of the par 5's from others who have played the golf course.

Is there a better set of 4 par 5's in the area, or in the State ?

[Mike_Cirba]

Patrick;

In the area?  No, although Galloway has some really good ones as well.  

In the state?  Probably, but I'd have to think more about it, which is a good sign for TD.  

[Paul_Turner]

Patrick

I thought they were a decent set too and agree that the 4th was the best.  A tempting drive towards that huge bunker on the inside of the dogleg.  I didn't find the lake very attractive on the 9th; but when playing firm, the run up approach to the green must be fun.  

[Patrick_Mucci]

P_Turner,

When we played it was fairly firm and the shot into the 9th green was interesting and challenging, especially when the pin is close to the water.

I would suspect that the lake was a necessary retention pond for irrigation purposes.  Perhaps Archie Struthers can comment on that.

I found the 4th hole terrific.
# 10 was interesting, and I liked the circular fairway bunkers short of the 12th green.

We had a pretty good breeze when we played that was in our face on # 10 and # 12.

I'd be interested to know if there is a prevailing wind at Twisted Dune, and what its usual strength is.

Mike Cirba,

Plainfield and Ridgewood would probably get the nod.

[Hillsideb52]

Patrick:

I played Twisted Dune 10 days back.  I also enjoy the par 5's.  #4 (called Bishop's Purse due to the bunker on the right) creates the optical illusion that you can cut the hole off by challenging the Bishop's Purse.  

The 2nd shot is the critical one on all the 5's, IMHO.  You either have to bomb a fairway wood to avoid the bunkers and leave yourself with a short pitch into the greens or lay further back with an iron to around 100 yds or so.

I agree, good holes.

[Bruce Katona]

Mike Cirba: I'm from Empire Golf, the company that owns Twisted Dune. The majority of times #18 (the long par 4 finishing hole) generally plays into the breeze. This hole runs west to east towards Atlantic City, but the wind really swirls around as the site has no trees.

All of the lakes on the property are interconnected and were created to retain and reuse stormwater for on course irrigation.

I'm glad the group enjoyed #9. It is a fun par 5, with the opportunity to sling a draw onto the green in2, utilizing the ground contours, slope and green contours, all which promote forward right to left roll and bring the ponfd into play.

The cross bunkers on 4 & 12 were created for the optical illusion and because cross bunkers are typical on a links-style course.

[Dan Herrmann]

bktona,
I played TD last year, and had a nice hand-drawn yardage book.  On the last par 3, (a great hole, by the way), there was a note in the book that said something like "Joe's tee", pointing to a spec of land in the middle of the wasteland.

So - what IS "Joe's Tee"?

[ET]

Building Twisted Dune I was one of Archie's "helpers". I kept a log of wind directions - Spring, Summer and Fall have NO prevailing dir., Winter mostly from the West.
Re: Joe's Tee on 16. Joe DiOrio a long time friend of many of us at the shore doesn't hit 'em as long as he used to in his days of playing at Atlantic city CC. One day Archie was showing Joe the course and Joe looked at the 180 - 190 yd. carry on# 16 and said he couldn't play the hole, he'd have to skip it. So Arch built a tee for Joe and others to carry maybe 125-130.
ET