The next rounds on our trip were at Sand Valley Golf Resort. Currently, there are two courses here and we had Mammoth Dunes lined up for Tuesday morning and then Sand Valley in the afternoon. It was the big day, golf courses 999 and 1,000 for me!
I’m not really sure where to begin this post. I guess I’ll start by saying that Tuesday will likely be one of the most memorable days of golf I’ve ever had. I got to play two incredible courses, caught another perfect day of weather and enjoyed the experience with a friend and a cool twosome.
Sand Valley Golf Resort has quickly become one of the top golf resorts in the country. The same guy – Mike Keiser – owns Sand Valley, Bandon Dunes and the Cabot courses. My friend and I were on a whirlwind golf trip through the Midwest and didn’t stay on the property, but it had a Bandon vibe to it. Golf is the primary focus and the facility is in a remote area.
Mammoth Dunes was designed by David McLay Kidd, who is also responsible for other famous courses. Bandon Dunes, Gamble Sands and Tetherow, to name a few. I played Tetherow last year and completely got my butt kicked by that course so I was sort of expecting the same thing at Mammoth Dunes. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case at all. Instead, Mammoth Dunes has a resort course feel about it and was friendly to play. I guess Kidd had a change of heart when it comes to playability, which I appreciate!
We played the orange tees (70.5/124/6587) and what makes the course so playable are the large fairways and sideboards that surround many greens. Some of the fairways are probably 40 or 50 yards wide so there is a lot of space to find crooked shots. The green complexes are genius and generally speaking, the edges of the greens feed the ball onto the putting surface. That means you can get creative – or lucky – to get an iron shot close. Even when chipping you can play away from the flags and let shots trickle back, depending on the pin position. Fun!
The course’s difficulty mainly comes from all the sand and the large greens. The bunkers and waste areas are a significant part of the design. Many are rugged looking and deep, with small grass mounds in the middle. The bunkers here seem more playable than Erin Hills, where we golfed the day before, but you can still end up with many long bunker shots. The greens are big and require good touch when trying to lag a putt.
I think the best holes at Mammoth Dunes are the shortest holes. There are two driveable par-4’s, the 6th and the 14th. The 6th has one of those bowl-shaped greens and is in a “C” shape. It wouldn’t surprise me to have to putt the ball off the green and then let the slope take it towards the flag. The 14th is downhill and if you sling a right to left shot between the bunkers it can chase to the green. The 13th is a 126 yard par-3 that plays over a gigantic sand pit.
The conditions were great, just what you’d hope to find at one of the top public golf courses. There was some release in the fairways and around the greens. The tees and fairways (fescue grass, I think) were full while the greens were a medium fast pace and pure.
My opinion is that Mammoth Dunes is a great golf course and I’d put it somewhere among my personal favorites. It felt like a course you’d find in the North Carolina Sandhills, maybe a more friendly version of Tobacco Road. Make sure you play this one on your Wisconsin golf trip.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):