Pros:
- Sandy Knoll OG is the 18-hole course on property, playing through a mix of wooded, semi-open, and open prairie style terrain. Hole variety really shines here: Two sets of tees (the longer Golds and a more manageable set of Blacks) and A, B, and C pin positions on most, if not all, holes. For review purposes, I played the front nine from the Gold Tees to the C Pin positions. After that it was Blacks to C pins. Only one set of pins are in at a time.
- Elevation throughout: it is named Sandy Knoll after all. Lots of fun topography coming into play without having any sort of major downhill or uphill bombers. What is here is used well.
- Amenities are good. Teepads are really decent turf pads, that I think I liked more than the typical concrete. Proshop, picnic area, port-a-johns and a warmup 9er across the street from the course. Good maps available, although the course flows naturally and I think we really only consulted it once or twice.
Cons:
- Prairie style roughs in places, for those that don't enjoy that sorta dealio.
- Really nothing else. There's not anything bad here holding the course back necessarily, the land available simply isn't enough to elevate this past Really Good to Excellent.
-This is really niggling, but the distances on the signs were a bit small and hard to read.
Other Thoughts:
- With 27 quality, fun, challenging holes on property, you want to make the trip to Sandy Knoll if passing through the area. It's not, in and of itself, destination worthy, but it's definitely quality road-tripping material. I'd kill to have this course locally.
- I kept getting like deja vu-y sorta vibes from this place. It's like some weird spirit amalgamation of courses I've played in MI and Wi (e.g., Birds Ruins) but truly its own thang.
- Gold Tees to C Pins are no joke and will rough you up and call you Sally.
--$5 day passes, look for the little yellow card from the proshop that shows you how to pay online, and place it on your dash.