Golf Scrapbook Blog (More Recent Ones)

August 2025 – Played ArborLinks as part of our three-course Nebraska trip. This was the first Dormie Club I stayed at (though not the first I played) and will go into that whole experience in a bit. The shot above is from my buddy Brian who brought his drone out with him and this is the 18th green with the drive-through silo and clubhouse in the background. Great clubhouse and amenities here that push ArborLinks comfortably into my top 200.

So as I noted in my GrayBull review, I have played at most of the newer public resorts situated hours or more from anywhere. For all of these, the resorts cater to you staying on property. For some resorts there is an on-property hotel and usually to gain access to the course(s) you have to stay on property. Sometimes the rooms are nice/other times they are pretty meh. Below I’ll list the top ten public access hotel-like resorts.

The top ten resorts (hotel)

1. Pebble Beach: The courses, the Lodge and Inn at Spanish Bay, the restaurants, the setting! Just go!
2. Kiawah: Kind of straddles the line between cottage and hotel though we stayed at the Sanctuary when we went so I put it in the hotel category. Also straddles the line between public access and private but since the top course on property is public access, I’ll again include it here.
3. Pinehurst: More golf than you can shake a stick putter at and whether you stay at the hotel or one of the “cabins” that flank it, it’s an awesome experience.
4. Greenbrier: It’s similar to the Homestead and Pinehurst and even though I like the Cascades course and several Pinehurst courses there better, the rooms, dining, et al at Greenbrier push it ahead of Homestead and just behind Kiawah.
5. Sea Island: They also have two different hotels here and we stayed at the Cloisters which has a great restaurant. Courses are a step down from Pebble and Kiawah but restaurant and accommodations are not!
6. Kapalua: C’mon you’re at a Ritz in fucking Hawaii!!!
7. Streamsong: This is a newer remote resort that went for the “hotel” concept versus cabins.
8. Homestead: As noted above, similar vibe as Greenbrier. Liked the Cascades course better than anything there but put the Greenbrier ahead of it for accommodations, dining et al.
9. Alcaidesa (Spain): Loved the course, view of Gibraltar, the modern clubhouse.
10. Vale do Lobo: In Portugal. love the course, views, clubhouse but just a hair less than Alcaidesa.

There are a ton of other resorts where I didn’t stay on property so they’re disqualified (St. Andrews for example) or are just below those named above. This was a really tough top ten list to make as there are so many good ones. Some not good ones were Innisbrook in Tampa (a 1970’s vibe), Golf Club at Landsdowne (in VA, pretty crappy course and meh accommodations), Split Rock (in the Poconos which is well in the Poconos and looks like it), PGA National (though stayed there in February 2021 so still wasn’t fully post-COVID) and others that I stayed.

Then you have the modern public-access remote “in the middle of nowhere” courses that feature primarily cabins or cottages. Impossible to pick a favorite between Bandon, Cabot (both in Florida and Nova Scotia), etc. and some one-course public access cabin resorts like Cape Breton, Erin Hills and Muskoka Bay. So many of these are way up in my top 100 and a stay in these cabins/cottages is definitely part of the experience and why they’re in my top 100.

All of that nonsense is just a long way to get into a discussion on the newest wave of PRIVATE courses that attract national members with the allure of cabins/cottages that rival or beat a lot of the public access accommodations. The Dormie Club has planted their flag directly into this niche market and offers a phenomenal on-property experience at seven different such clubs.

Now mind you, cabins at a private course are not new. My favorite private golf and cabin experience is at Pine Valley which is not new at all. Also stayed at the cabin at Oakmont which was pretty awesome.

But the combination of a great private course and the “exclusivity” of a stay on property with private dining and “spoil you rotten” service is awesome for a guest and would have me certainly consider joining such a course(s) – well if I had the money and connections to join a club like Ohoopee (which only allows a handful of Michael’s personal friends to join) or Apogee (just $750 large to join). In the meantime, I love being America’s guest. Just like at ArborLinks.

Speaking of which, while ArborLinks was the third ranked of three courses on our Nebraska trip, the whole vibe was unbelievable. Our host Michael got us a huge cabin where eleven of us all had our own rooms with one to spare. We had eats one night in the clubhouse and another in the cabin. Out back of our cabin was a chipping green with sand traps for late-night fun and practicing. The clubhouse was great and we could even hang out with my best friend (pictured below) as our buddies came in on the 18th green.

The cabin itself was unbelievable.

So I had played Hidden Creek in NJ (one of the other Dormie clubs) but never stayed there and stayed at GrayBull after ArborLinks. Next month our host Michael set us up at Victoria National in IN and cannot wait to share the Dormie experience with my golf buddies. I will tell you, for a cannot beat it experience, the national membership at Dormie is manageable and may be worth it for the discerning, travelling golfer who wants to entertain clients and friends in style. Now to the course.

We teed off super early and after a night in the cabin sucking back vodkas, beers and wine, I was in no condition to golf but put on my big boy pants, grabbed a Bloody and here was the first hole from my drive. Not too shabby. One is a 483-yard short and downhill par five. Topped my second and not much better on the third shot though made it to the fringe but my three putt meant a bogey (net five for me). The Cottonwood tees played over 6,300 yards with a 71.5/132 rating/slope so no push-over. What is awesome here as with all the remote courses I get to play – no homes crowd the course.

I missed taking a picture of two (a short sub-300-yard par four I would yank my drive into the creek and then manage to double) and this is the short 125-yard par three 3rd. The easiest hole on the course and I would bogey. Grrr but got a pop to keep us alive on the front with all net pars.

Four gives you a good feel for the openness of the course. Uphill, 527-yard par five and the #2 handicap hole. Would bogey again for net par.

Five is a pretty cool take on a cape hole, here you need to cut off as much of the bunkers and tall rough as you think you can to give yourself a shorter shot in. I hit the best straight ball I could while playing for my fade and was in the rough. It’s 357 yards and would take another double.

The pin on six was way left on a tiny plateau on the green. It’s 185 yards and my hybrid put me on the center of the green but I couldn’t drop the two putt. I was close enough again for a pick-up bogey net par. My putting was really on and was just missing long putts that would serve me well on the back nine.

Seven is on the other side, coming the other way, from four. Par four, 370 yards and again just missing the par putt.

Tight corridor to drive from. Kind of forget what I did but eight is almost 400 yards and the #4 handicap. Whatever I did, it ended up a double.

Missed nine (413 yards/Par 4/#6 hcp) would end up in my pocket for a 7 and a front nine 49. I missed ten a double on a par five (497 yards) and here is eleven. I was in the bunker and got out really nice and again just missed the par putt on this 117-yard par three.

Twelve is a severe dogleg right with waste area protecting the entire dogleg. Tough hole at about 400 yards and would again end up in my pocket. But something clicked. Finally.

Thirteen is 365 yards and would finally par!

I would birdie the par three 14th (155 yards) and here is my drive on fifteen (380-yard par four) where I would three putt from the fringe for a bogey on the number one handicap. Since I was two-pop Shakur on the #1 handicap, it was for a net birdie for the team coming off a net one. We started scoring now and would end the back with a nine under one-man-of-three bogey golfer better ball net.

Sixteen is a 504-yard par five that I would play perfectly and drain another long putt for a birdie net eagle (I was net six under for the four-hole stretch).

Still the 16th tee box but you can now see the cabins ahead in the distance and off the right of the hole.

Seventeen and Eighteen are on the clubhouse-side of the dirt road that bisects the course. Hard dogleg left around some additional cabins. The line is between the three pine trees and the two telephone poles. I hit driver which ran me just through the fairway on that line so be warned. Below are the 17th and 18th from the drone.

So I was just in front of the pine trees but didn’t have a good lie so pushed it right of the green. Decent chip and just missed the par putt. In all 17 is the #3 handicap and just under 400 yards.

Eighteen from the tee. 382 yards with a creek and rough that start 220 yards from the Cottonwood tees. I would be in the rough after an awesome drive and would flub my second still short of the creek to the below location.

My flubbed shot was just up ahead of where I took this pic. That’s the silo to the left and the edge of the clubhouse beyond that. After the flub I would put my wedge within five feet and though I was draining those putts for the most part all day, I missed it here for a five net four and we would win the back handily. My two birdies net eagles and net birdie on the #1 handicap and par net birdie all would win me skins so despite a crap front nine, walked away from the round cash positive.