Aging like a Fine Wine - Sand Valley Golf Course (Nekoosa, Wisconsin)
- aspoiledwalk
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Mason Savage
One characteristic of a great golf course is how often you are able to replay it. There are Courses that become dull, uninspiring or mechanical the more you play them. The uniqueness and scenic beauty that you once thought were special, now feel hollow. Every shot on a golf course like that becomes repetitive. On the contrary, there are golf courses that can be highly replayable. Instead of becoming dull, their beauty comes to light after lapping the course multiple times. It could be thoughtful greens, unique angles or a specific hole that constantly gets the best of you. Whatever the reason may be, you cannot get the course out of your head.
Maybe no course embodies this more for me than Sand Valley Golf Course. Sand Valley Golf Course is the original course at the Sand Valley Resort and is a Coore and Crenshaw design. As the resort has grown over the years, it feels like the first course has been overshadowed. Some love the mystique of the Lido, others love the fun of Mammoth Dune and others are enamored by the playability of Sedge Valley. All of these are great golf courses, they are some of the best in the United States, but for me, Sand Valley is the best course of them all. It has gotten better every time I have played it!
As is the case with every Coore and Crenshaw, the routing is so natural and free flowing. It feels like Sand Valley the golf course has always existed and all that Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw did was discover it. The transition from green to the next tee is seamless and the natural topography is the highlight of the course. The use of the sand dunes as features is apparent but not over done. It is just a perfectly balanced minimalist golf course design in a big beautiful setting.
The routing of the course is wonderful! The front nine consists of a counter clock-wise loop on the east side of the property and the back nine is on the west side of the property. It is a 6 hole counter clockwise circle before it spits you out on a small northern part of the property, winding up a hill where you end on the 18th green. There is just something romantic about the first tee shot. It is this combination of being next to Craig's Porch (essentially a half way house), perched up on this central dune and hitting your opening tee shot down into this natural sandscape. It is these subtle details like these, that stick in my head and make me think about Sand Valley all of the time.
Beyond the beautiful Wisconsin scenery, there is also top tier golf that is taking place along this beautiful routing and walk. One of my favorite holes is the 9th Hole, a short and potentially drivable Par 4. The 9th hole tips out at 300 yards and it is downhill. With a large proper drive, driving the green is possible. However, the risk of this is hole is that the closer you get to the green, the tighter the landing zone becomes. With the firm turf at Sand Valley, a mishit drive could bounce out into a waste area or if you are not accurate with your drive, you could end up in the large green side bunkers that protect the green. Having been in those bunkers plenty of times, all you want to do is just try and get out of the bunker. They are deep, penal and depending where the flag is, you are presented with a completely blind shot coming out of them. It is this strategic nature of the hole that makes it great. Do you take the risk off of the tee, or do you lay back and play it safe?
Another hole that I would like to highlight would be the Par 5 18th Hole. Maybe I have not had the privilege to play a lot of good golf courses but I would say, in general, I feel like the 18th hole is often underwhelming or feels “tacked on at the end”. That is not the case with any course at Sand Valley Golf Resort and it certainly is not the case at Sand Valley Golf Course. The Par 5 is a proper 3 shot hole that is up hill the whole way. With perfectly positioned bunkers for the tee shot and lay up as well as a sandy waste area that lingers on the entirety of the right side, there is plenty of trouble out there and it requires your complete attention as you try to close out your round. The final act of the round is navigating the enormous 18th Hole green that has different areas that impact your approach shot into the green. The Pin could be front left and utilize the false front on this green or it could be 50 yards further in the back right utilizing a small funnel. To add to the ambiance of the 18th green is the “stadium” created by the the spectators and other patrons of Sand Valley watching from the bluff above the green. It is an awesome setting to end a round of golf.
These are just a few of the holes and details that make Sand Valley special. The course has layers upon layers of great architectural genius and unique golf holes that is sure to get better with every round you play. It is this replay-ability that makes Sand Valley one of my favorite courses in the world.