We had some lunch in between rounds then took the shuttle up to Sand Valley. The 1st tee for Mammoth Dunes is close to the clubhouse while the 1st tee for Sand Valley is up on a hill, a few minutes away. There is an outdoor bar/grill up there with good views of the course so it would be a nice place to hang out if you have the time.

My friend and I rejoined the same twosome we golfed with at Mammoth Dunes and started the round at Sand Valley. Sand Valley has the same rugged, sandy look as Mammoth Dunes, but the courses are different in a couple ways. Many green complexes at Mammoth Dunes feed shots onto the greens while at Sand Valley many greens do the opposite and repel shots. That means you need to knock down the flagstick with an iron shot if you want a legitimate birdie putt.

It was tough to tell exactly, but Sand Valley felt like a much harder walk than Mammoth Dunes. I’m sure walking Erin Hills the day before and Mammoth Dunes in the morning didn’t help my energy level, but it seemed that Sand Valley has more elevation change to it and was more spread out. The 4th and the 8th are pretty good uphill climbs before the back nine levels out.

Two of golf’s biggest architects – Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw – designed Sand Valley, which opened for play in 2017. The pair has created many other top-notch courses, including one of the courses at both We-Ko-Pa and Streamsong – a couple of my favorites. They have done a great job here and there aren’t any bad golf holes. However, it takes more thought to play Sand Valley than Mammoth Dunes.

I tried the black-orange combo tees (72.0/132/6686) and think you will do good to shoot your handicap. The fairways are wide, but precision is needed on the approach shots. The course is a par-72 with five par-3’s, eight par-4’s and five par-5’s. The yardages vary from 136 to 557 yards. The 8th hole is the 136 yarder and has a cavernous bunker short of the green. If you play into the center of the green then that leaves a slick downhill putt.

The back nine ends with a string of difficult closing holes. The 16th is a long par-4 with bunkers everywhere, surprise! The par-3 17th is 236 yards and has a large green that is one of the few at Sand Valley where the edges slope towards the center. That was a relief after having some shots earlier in the round roll off the edges.

The 18th is a 523 par-5 with an interesting green. The green is maybe 100+ feet deep and a large bunker sits to the right. There is a false front and then a small tabletop size section of the green sticks out between two bunkers. The pin was tucked back there when we played and it was a handful.

Just like at Mammoth Dunes, the conditions at Sand Valley were great. The tees, fairways and greens were all in excellent shape. The course played firm and fast which made it challenging around the greens. I had more luck with the bump and run than trying to fly chips through the air.

It is probably a toss up when it comes to course preference at the resort. Personally, I preferred Mammoth Dunes since it was more relaxing and carefree to play. But, you won’t want to skip either on a Wisconsin golf trip. Both Sand Valley and Mammoth Dunes are awesome, so it was the perfect venue to celebrate my 1,000th course. The resort is building a couple other courses so I look forward to a return visit to play those and the Sandbox (a par-3 course), which we didn’t have time for on this trip.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):