Back
In-between golf courses are having a moment.
Sure, smaller-footprint, fun-packed par-3 loops have proliferated across golf resorts and in local communities in recent years, but there is a great deal of middle ground between the quick-casual golf experience and a more traditional trek of 18 championship holes.
One resort willing to explore this little-charted territory is Sand Valley Golf Resort, Dream Golf's central-Wisconsin property run by Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser's sons, Michael and Chris. When the Commons, Sand Valley's next new golf course, debuts to guests in 2026, it will instantly become an exciting new entry into the space between the biggest and littlest of the game's diverse playing fields, alongside the resort's Sedge Valley course, which plays to a par of 68 and tops out at less than 6,000 yards but still offers as much challenge and intrigue as any "championship" course.
A 12-hole layout with one par 5, seven par 4s and four par 3s, the Commons marks architect Jim Craig's first official solo new golf course after decades spent as a key member of shaping and construction crews for Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw.
Craig's involvement in new Coore & Crenshaw builds from Talking Stick in Arizona to Friar's Head in New York and, more recently, The Chain at Streamsong has primed him to establish his own name as an architect. He knows Sand Valley well; he led construction of The Sandbox, the resort's dynamite 17-hole par-3 loop under the C&C banner.
After an advance peek at the Commons where I played several holes and toured the rest, I came away thoroughly impressed by what I saw.
The routing curlicues across rumpled, sandy ground and builds to a thrilling and scenic finish. It starts with the course's lone par 5, one of the most interesting straightaway holes I have played and my favorite first hole at any Sand Valley golf course. The folds in the fairway remind of the contours found throughout the links of North Berwick Golf Club in Scotland, a course Craig cites as one of his all-time favorites. Dynamite bunkering, including a gorgeous pit along the left side of the fairway, gradually tightens things up, and a large mound obscures a view of most of the green from the right half of the landing zone. But the most impressive feature is a massive open sand dune that sits in the middle distance like a dome behind the green, dominating the view all the way down the hole. Birdies and eagles, as well as Xs, are all in play, setting a strong match-play flavor that the Commons upholds all the way around.
The course's first eight holes sit on one main envelope of land before the tone shifts considerably. The Commons is the first course at Sand Valley where water comes into play in any significant way, and golfers must contend with it on holes 9, 10 and 11. The 9th is a brilliantly tempting drivable par 4 that hooks hard right around a pond, and then the nearly identical-length 10th makes a similar move, but in the opposite direction. Credit Craig for making these two holes look distinctly different. If the first hole's crinkled landing area is a subtle nod to North Berwick, number 11 is a more formal homage: a Redan par 3 that honors the original's semi-blind approach with two sentry bunkers planted into a high mound that obscures a portion of the fall-away green. Most Redan template holes leave this feature out. By instead leaning into it, Craig shows his sense of humor and a measure of confidence that is impressive for a first solo design outing. Craig has already secured the opportunity to lay out one of the first two courses at Dream Golf's next new project, Rodeo Dunes, 45 minutes east of Denver.
The Commons' name is another Scottish golf reference, to the way in which many ancient links sit on common land between town and sea. In time, it is intended to evolve into a piece of golf land that ties Sand Valley's resort infrastructure - lodging, restaurants and other amenities - to the property's evolving real estate component, which includes four-bedroom cottages that golfers will be able to rent from owners, as well as large estate homes that will be fully private residences. The Keisers' philosophy when it comes to housing is far lower-density and far more environmentally friendly than most developers; golf still comes first at Sand Valley. The existing estate homes sit on large lots and do not impose on their surrounds. Turning it into not just a place to visit but a place to live has interesting down-the-line implications for Sand Valley. Could it eventually become something like a Midwest version of Pinehurst?
For now, the Commons is about to become golf course number 6 on property - a fun alternative to a second 18-hole round and an intense experience all its own. With it and a massive new practice facility opening ahead of next September's U.S. Mid-Amateur at Lido, 2026 is set to be as big a year as Sand Valley has had in its relatively short but impressively productive life so far.
Comments (0)