American Dunes Golf Club

In summary, we had a wonderful time. The entire staff at the club were beyond courteous and accommodating.

Heed the club's advice of arriving at least one hour before your tee time to take in the Memorial, check in at the Pro Shop, hit the practice range, the chipping green and the putting green.

The course was definitely different, plenty of native sand (waste bunkers throughout) but different was good. Course knowledge helps, I'd play a few holes differently next time around.

The only criticism: an inordinate amount of un-repaired ball marks on every green. The pre-starter (can’t think of a better word to describe him) as well as the starter on 1 stressed repairing divots in the fairways - first with the sod and then with the sand. No mention was made of the green ball marks. Besides my own, I repaired 4 or 5 others on every green.

At the turn the pre-starter asked us how we liked it and we mentioned the ball marks on the first 9 greens. His comment (paraphrasing) “we have a lot of first time players since the course is now a destination, they just don’t know any better.”

Perhaps equipping each player with a plastic one pronged divot repair tool upon check in along with instruction on how to use it by the pre-starter / starter coupled with a short demo on the cart video screens would help alleviate the issue.

That criticism aside, it was a memorable day and I’ll definitely make the trek back across the State to play again in the future.

I have had the pleasure of experiencing one of the most memorable rounds of golf here at American Dunes. The design by Mr. Nicklaus is beautiful. The challenge is available for most skill levels. The staff is as professional as any other high end course. And the cause is the ultimate reason behind this great golf experience. This is a must play venue. Well done.