I know from past trips to Bandon Dunes that a common topic of conversation over drinks and dinner is which course the golfers assembled like best. It is an amusing exercise that invariably leads to interesting and rather spirited discussions. And I especially enjoy how favorites change year-to-year and trip-to-trip, mine included. One time it is the eponymous course, the first ever built on that property. On another occasion it might be Pacific Dunes. And maybe Old Macdonald, the Sheep Ranch or Bandon Trails sneaks onto the top of the list.
On a recent visit to Sand Valley in this central Wisconsin burg, I checked out the newest additions to its golf menu: Sedge Valley and Lido. And that experience, coupled with a conversation I overheard in the Mammoth Bar here one evening, revealed a new sort of parlor game, one that has devotees of all the Keiser courses now asking one another which resort they prefer.
That’s because the addition of those two tracks, one of which is Tom Doak’s homage to the great heathland courses constructed around London, England, in the early 1900s, and the other a rendition by the architect of the mythical Lido layout that Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor built on the south shore of Long Island more than a century ago, has transformed Sand Valley from a good golf getaway to a great one. And the quality and variety of its courses rival what its highly acclaimed big brother in Bandon has to offer, even if they are half a continent away from the Pacific Ocean.
Established in 2017, Sand Valley is located on land that was once covered by a prehistoric lake. Sand runs more than 250 feet deep in many places, which means the property drains exceedingly well. That makes it a perfect place for golf.
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