Join our interactive roundtable! My GPS directed me down a dirt road which could have used some dust suppressant. The fairway is plenty wide but as you can see there is gunsch all down both sides waiting for the wayward tee shots. Prairie Club (Dunes) Valentine (T79m) 2. All I have to do is eliminate 100 of them. All thats missing is an ocean at this linksy-looking layout that played host to the 2002 U.S. Womens Open (Juli Inkster) and 2006 U.S. Senior Open (Allen Doyle). If you would like to play through, all you have to do is ask. Prairie Dunes, 55 miles northwest of Wichita and in a small town with a very modest membership, was only a nine-hole course; its routing was expanded by Press' son, J. 100 Greatest: Ranked since 1969. The land that Press wanted to work with didnt allow him to keep the original number sequence for the first nine holes so he ended up having to do a little renumbering. From the white tees it is eminently reachable playing only 487 yards. Previous ranking: 25th. Unfortunately, it wasnt as simple as just adding holes 10-18 to complete the course. Again I got carried away with the zoom lens and didnt really get the whole picture. You may also call me at 703-967-4327. I would like to again thank Dave for hosting me at the Prairie Dunes Country Club. (1) Prairie Dunes Country Club Hutchinson, KS 198 Panelists 100 Greatest Best In State Prairie Dunes was the top nine-hole course in America for 20 years. He was BORN in Princeton, Kentucky, and attended the University of Kentucky and Stetson University, but never graduated. Disappointed, I then hit a poor drive into the gunch on the ninth hole. A more sensible play is certainly a 200 yard shot somewhere between the green and the right fairway bunkers. All private and public courses in Americas 50 states are eligible for recognition in this biennial ranking. It really cant be seen in this photo but this was a pretty severe green and could be very penal if your ball ends up in the wrong spot. The photo below is of the 3rd hole which is a short par 4 that played 308 from the white tees. Maxwell himself said of the par three 10th hole - "this is the most beautiful par three ever constructed. Missing left where the bailout area is leaves a short sided chip which can be tough to leave close to the hole and could end up back at your feet. The golf gods struck back on the 165 yard Par 3 fifteenth hole. This epic $100,000 golf-cruise itinerary is loaded with Top 100 courses, Why Scotland's ultra-luxe Ardfin Estate is one of the coolest spots in golf. I made the short right to left breaking putt for my par on the second hardest hole on this very difficult course. Your email address will not be published. Home - Prairie Dunes Country Club - Hutchinson, KS America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses By Derek Duncan and Stephen Hennessey May 02, 2023 Golf Digest has published America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses since 1966, making it the oldest and most. Below is a photo of the approach on the 6th hole. This hole instantly made my favorites list. There was gunch between the tee box and the fairway. I hit my drive to the left of the bunker just off the left side of the fairway. In 2003, Golf Digest placed it at No. I used my putter from just off the back of the green for my 75 foot putt. Good insight on the course. Get updates on my quest to play the top 100 golf courses on the Golf Digest 2017-2018 list, in one year. Its easy to make bad decisions on the tee box at this course, so unless you are very consistent off the tee my advice would usually be to take the safe route. Missing left where the bailout area is leaves a short sided chip which can be tough to leave close to the hole and could end up back at your feet. With todays flag location it pays to hit the green. It took awhile but Mac finally found my ball, in the rough, 10 yards past the back of the green. Continuing with our series from The Itinerant Golfers quest to play all top 100 American golf courses, The Scratch Pad is glad to bring you a profile of the 25th rated golf course in America, Prairie Dunes CC. The green is to the right. The cart girl apologized to us as did the assistant-pro whom she told as well. To shed light on the best courses in every state, we broke out the full results of our Top 100 Courses polling into state-by-state lists. I chose to play from the blue tees which measured 6560 yards with a 144 slope and a 74.1 rating. Maxwell also took a minimalist approach to fairway bunkers which works out very well since the rough is quite penal and you don't need additional hazards. The course remained this way for twenty years until his son, Press Maxwell, came along in 1957 to add nine more holes and make a full eighteen hole course. I hit my drive into the rough left of the fairway. Having played the top 100 courses in the world I now have a new quest. Year Constructed: 1937/1957 Here's how he thought it played, Royal Liverpool greens fees: What it costs to play the 2023 Open Championship venue, 5 deciding holes at Royal Liverpool, home of the Open Championship, 'Fair or unfair?' Prairie Dunes Country Club - Top 100 Golf Courses of the World The fairway is again very wide, but any swings that get too loose will result in a ball lost to the gunsch. Drives going too far to the right run the very likely risk of resulting in an approach shot that is blocked out by the trees. My ball landed on the green, but kicked off behind the flag. 18 on Golf Magazine's Top 100. My fourth shot went over the back of the green. The 7th hole is the first par 5 of the course and the only one on the first nine holes. Co-architects Tom Lehman and Chris Brands sought to shape the course from the inside out, revealing the dramatic figure of the land in a way exhilarating to the avid golfer. I hit an 8 iron over that right front bunker. I worked at Prairie Dunes as an aspiring Superintendent, now out of the golf industry. In my opinion, Prairie Dunes is well worthy of the high accolades it receives. I double bogeyed that hole to finish with a score of 45 on the front nine. I hit an 8 iron which landed short of the bunker protecting the front of the green. (Photo: Brian Oar). Also, Hutchinson is not by any means a "boarded up" town. After a couple of putts on the putting green, Mac and I headed to the first tee so that we could get ahead of the foursome that I had just been talking to. Because of the golf courses high ranking on most of the major lists, Prairie Dunes enjoys a very robust non-resident membership, creating an interesting dynamic at the club. Not bad, for someone who is not generally well known in the world of golf course architecture. June 24, 2017 I stood on the tee box of the first hole at Prairie Dunes for the second time. 12th hole tee shot with a 3 wood. There will be more on the Black Jacket group and tournament in future blogs. Coupled with my round, that added up to about six hours of golf. . As I stood on the tee box surveying the hole, I was faced with a decision. I then 2 putted for a double bogey. As I emerged from a dust cloud, back onto a paved surface, the soft calm voice of my GPS announced that I had reached my destination. I hit a 6 iron to just right off the green, but short of the front right bunker. Today the Par 3 fifteenth hole was playing 156 yards from the white tees. For much more on how we rate courses, click or tap here. I made the straight come back putt for par. I thought that I had struck the ball well. The course is full of really fun shots and also offers a great challenge for the low handicap players. Played: October 9, 2010. The drive is hit downhill and the the approach shot is back uphill to a green that sits on a plateau. The 9th hole played a solid 400 yards from the white tees. With a reliable fade, I decided to attempt to carry about 230 yards of gunch. I'd shot a 86 for the 17 holes that I played. I recovered on the 370 yard par 4 sixth hole. That is how tough the pin places are. The photo below was taken from the tee. The 11th hole green. The fourth hole was another Par 3, playing 150 yards with a cross wind. I then hit my 5 hybrid into the left green side bunker. Heres a closer look at Kansas. Turns out that he was the nephew of a former ExxonMobil colleague that I had worked with when our offices were in Fairfax, Virginia. On the par 4, 410 yard 16th hole, I hit my drive 220 yards to the middle of the fairway, leaving 190 yards to the pin. This left me 140 out , but with a cluster of trees directly between me and the green. I don't see a place in golf for morons like these, though. and had been for three holes!! The hole doglegs to the right so the drive must hug the right side of the fairway in order to have the shortest shot into the green possible. $19.99 Puma IGNITE PWRADAPT Caged Best Kansas golf courses (2020/2021) 1. The photo below was taken from the tee box. Playing downwind, I hit my pitching wedge onto the back right side of the green. I was hitting my irons longer than I had in the past. InsideGOLF now includes 12 Srixon Z-STAR XV golf balls! On the 5th hole, a 411 yard par 4, we were again teeing off with the wind at our backs. From the blue tees the day before, I unsuccessfully tried to hit a fade over the gunch and into the fairway. Yet another green that accepts a running shot. . There is no water that comes into play on the Prairie Dunes Golf Course. Frequently ranked among the best golf courses in the United States, it has hosted several United States Golf Association national championship tournaments. On one hand youve got your local families who use the club for tennis, golf and swimming and on the other hand youve got your hard core golf aficionado crowd with theirPine Valley,Cypress Point andNational Golf Links logos bringing in groups of their friends on golf trips. . The 16th hole starts a fantastic stretch of finishing holes. The further left you go the shorter your approach shot will be but also the more gunsch that has to be carried. VALENTINE, NEBRASKA 69201 That sounded like a description of my second shot two days before on the first hole of the Flint Hills golf course. Prairie Dunes Country Club | Courses | GolfDigest.com That is the line that Mac advised me to take. I absolutely loved the 6th hole. May 4, 2021 . It takes a pretty lengthy and well placed drive to have a short iron into the green. Prairie Dunes enjoys a colossal reputation in the world of golf and yet, curiously, not but so many people make the trek to Hutchinson, Kansas to see the course. I'm sure most of the members of Prairie Dunes are delightful people but they should not tolerate this type of bad behavior. The photo below is of the 13th green complex. The tee box is elevated so a little extra yardage can be picked up on the drive. This is a closer shot of the 12th green. Not just one golfer - all three players. Just another hole where a bunker turned a seemingly well stroke ball into a bad shot. It has hosted both the U.S. Wome's Open and U.S. Senior Open as well as multiple U.S. Women's Amateur championships. Best public-access courses in Nebraska in 2022. Instruction Meet the new GOLF Top . It turns out that not only did he design Prairie Dunes and Southern Hills but he also was called in to do green renovations at Pine Valley and Augusta National among other courses. The tee box is elevated so a little extra yardage can be picked up on the drive. All private and public courses in Americas 50 states are eligible for recognition in this, The raters for GOLF.com also had some nice things to say about The Prairie Club in their, , the Dunes impressed GOLF.com with its , sweeping vistas, rolling fairways, enormous bunkers, and imaginative green complexes, GOLFs 2020-2021 Top 100 Courses in the United States, GOLFs 50 Best Golf Courses in the Midwest.