Golf Scrapbook Blog (The Top Ones)

Sand Valley (and Mammoth Dunes)

September 2023 – Our annual guys trip took us out to the World of Cheese & Miller Lite – Wisconsin. We started the trip in north-central Wisconsin at the Sand Valley resort, matriculated back across the state to outside Milwaukee to stay and play at Erin Hills and ended up in Kohler to play the two Whistler courses. It was a lot of driving but the courses and accommodations made up for it. Will try and discuss Whistler and Erin elsewhere but will focus on Sand Valley here.

We meant to book the trip for 2022 but were shut out so booked this almost two years in advance. Overall the Wisconsin Tour was super costly and covered a lot of miles but we were able to check a few top 100’s off the bucket list and would recommend the trip to those who have the stomach to walk five courses in five days with hours of drive-time in-between.

So Sand Valley is the newest -or next to newest versus Gamble Sands – super remote golf resort featuring top brand-name designers peddling their wears via top rated public tracks in East Bumblefuck locations. Both Sand Valley and Mammoth Dunes are getting some Top 100 love from the golf mags and now a new re-creation of the famously lost Lido course is ready to open on the property to complete the trifecta of golf. Our buddy Rob took a tour of the course and the rest of us caught glimpses here and there.

The resort: Accommodations were really good. We only stayed on property one night. The on-site lodging we stayed at was right on the Sand Valley staging area and featured a series of cabins (set up like little townhomes) with a “gathering” cabin in the middle where we could keep our booze and snacks and meet for some football and après golf drinking and bullshitting. We played Mammoth first – which is right at the main clubhouse – then played Sand Valley.

To the courses: A lot of debate about which was the better of the two courses amongst our group. Personally I liked Sand Valley better (Coore and Crenshaw) but others liked Mammoth (David McClay Kidd). I’ve been on a bunch of McClay Kidd courses in the past two years and I do like his design – super wide fairways make it easy off the tees but the greens are huge and you need to hit your spots to prevent snakes or worse! This though ranked three of four from the courses of his I played: St. Andrews Castle Course, Bandon Dunes, here and Gamble Sands. Overall, I played ok here and ended up with an 88 and felt I played really well on Sand Valley and only shot one stroke better.

Sand Valley

Layout comes from Ballpark Blueprints.

#1: A gentle opener – the # 9 handicap. We played the Orange/Sand combos for 6,300 yards and 325 yards here. Obviously stay right. Opened with a nice par draining a long putt.

#2: First off, I can’t zoom into the map with my phone so totally guessing the holes here. I think #2 – 369 yards. Natural bunkers frame pretty much every tee shot but some decent room if you get over the bunkers to the left and fade it like I do. A bogey here.

#3: Par three and 168 yards. Bogeyed. Entire course gave off a Pine Valley vibe. Played with our buddy Dave who is a rater for Golf Digest so itching to get his thoughts post round.

#4 Methinks: Par five. 522 yards almost 600 from the back. Slightly uphill. I bogeyed here again but was hitting the ball very well.

#5: 164 yards (according to our Caddie Jimmy). Another hole. Another stroke. Another bogey net par. Note the severe drop offs on all sides.

If this is #6 then it’s a 415-yard par four. We would get rained on for a hole so I know I missed a picture later on so may have fucked these up.

I think I skipped the par-5 7th, 515 yards. Got a birdie on that one. So I think this is the 8th hole, par three just 115 from the orange tees. Par on this one. Love the variety of golf holes and shots.

9th Hole – Short par four – played it from 290 yards and at least two of the guys in our group made it on the green. I missed short left with an impossible stance that I had to take a baseball swing on it. Double bogey but a solid 41 on the front.

10th hole, 491 yards, par 5. You come back by Craig’s porch, grab some drinks and back to the back. Short par five. This was from the walk just off the tee. The bunker is easily cleared on your drive but was in the depression to the left. Bogeyed and would bogey all but two holes on the back (one par and one double) for a 46 – the back is a par 37.

I’ve decided to stop captioning these because frankly I forget which is which and I can’t figure out from my phone, the card or the course map so enjoy the scenery.