Ah Sand Valley. How I love thee so. How can I guy not love the sight of his first hole in one!
But to be honest, Sand Valley is lovable for many more reasons outside of that. The routing is a blast, the bunkering is challenging and beautiful, and unlike Mammoth Dunes the course is a bit more challenging but still rewards solid play.
The highlights of the course are plentiful but some of my favorites are the mega-punch bowl on hole 17 and a fun set of par fives. Coore and Crenshaw have been dialed in for a long time and this is another great addition to their greatest hits album.
Grades (where 1 is significantly below average and 5 is significantly above)
Scenery: 4 stars
Design: 5 stars
Condition: 5 stars
Practice Facilities: 4 stars
Experience: 5 stars
Click here for a more detailed breakdown of how I think about course ratings.
The bottom line is the I visited The Lido right after it opened and as you would expect all of the surrounding elements of the golf course just don't exist yet. The putting green was still growing in, the driving range at Sand Valley is a mile away, and the area around that course that had been clear cut hasn't started to regrow yet. The course itself has some fun holes but the routing is odd. Many holes run very close to one another and the 18th hole finishes about a 1/4 mile from the pro shop. If you get the chance to play, definitely do as it's amazing to think that someone designed a course with holes as bold as this over 100 years ago but if I put my blinders on, ignore the history element of the course, and simply grade it on my experience I would be a coin flip as to whether or not I would go out of my way to play the course again.
