The 10 hole Short Course at Forest Dunes opened in August 2020 and is part of the trend of new destination golf resorts opening short courses with lots of short grass and wild greens. Those who have come to Forest Dunes in the past will be familiar with the site of the short course—the pretty, pine tree-covered hill just up past the driving range. I’ve previously profiled the 9-hole Threetops par 3 course at Treetops and have the 17-hole Sandbox at Sand Valley (plus the big courses) on deck.
The Short Course at Forest Dunes falls somewhere between Threetops and the Sandbox in style. Threetops is essentially a collection of full-length par 3s that could be on any normal course. The Sandbox has full length holes, but also a few 40-50 yard holes where you can do a bump-and-run or a putt. There are none of the former on the Short Course at Forest Dunes--its shortest hole is about 70 yards. Like the Sandbox, the Short is also a good drunk-and-barefoot course--not like Threetops, where drunkenness can result in putting your cart into the deep woods down a hundred foot hill, never to be seen again.
The first is just out behind the patio and plays across the tenth. As we can see, it was 107 when I played it and could probably play up to around 125. I actually think that this hole would make a great 200 yard par 3 because you could use the bank short and right of the green to run the ball on.
The Short Course at Forest Dunes falls somewhere between Threetops and the Sandbox in style. Threetops is essentially a collection of full-length par 3s that could be on any normal course. The Sandbox has full length holes, but also a few 40-50 yard holes where you can do a bump-and-run or a putt. There are none of the former on the Short Course at Forest Dunes--its shortest hole is about 70 yards. Like the Sandbox, the Short is also a good drunk-and-barefoot course--not like Threetops, where drunkenness can result in putting your cart into the deep woods down a hundred foot hill, never to be seen again.
The first is just out behind the patio and plays across the tenth. As we can see, it was 107 when I played it and could probably play up to around 125. I actually think that this hole would make a great 200 yard par 3 because you could use the bank short and right of the green to run the ball on.
The first is well-designed for a run-up shot. We young guys won't need to do that but it will still be helpful for seniors, women, and children.
The second is one of several 90-yard flicks to a very large and undulating green. This green exemplifies a common theme, which is large greens with collecting and rejecting sections. When the pin is in a collecting section, like on the left here, there will be holes in one. When it’s on a rejecting section, like this one, there will be three puts.
The second green, with collecting areas left and front right.
We can see that the pin on three is in a collecting area at the base of the ridge in the middle of the green here. But if you go long, the only thing collecting your ball is a hidden bunker. This hole really shows off the beautiful shaping that the architects Keith Rhebb and Riley Jones did on what was a gently sloping hill.
The beautifully contoured green and surroundings of the third.
Four is a half wedge shot to a ridge-top green framed by half of a white pine tree. The other half was lost in the July 2020 storm that also took out most of the leaning white pine in the parking lot and the left half of the forked red pine on the thirteenth hole of the Weiskopf course.
The fourth hole--suggested name, Half-and-Half.
Five is another big, wavy green with a collecting area left and a bunker through the back, like on two. The green on six is a bit different than those so far—long and skinny, with less interior contour and no bunkers. You can use the slope on the left to feed your ball onto the green and the slope over the back of the green to feed your ball into the eighth fairway. I like this hole a lot.
Like the second, the fifth green has a collecting area on the left although the right side is not as compartmentalized.
I really like the look of the sixth green, which lays without artifice on its gently rolling surroundings.
Seven plays uphill to another bunkerless green, but this one is much larger and with more interior contour than six. I find these bunkerless greens to be very visually appealing because they show off the interesting contours of the ground.
Over the edge of the sixth green to the seventh, which sits just as comfortably on its surroundings.
We pick up the bunkers again on eight and nine. Because it has a fairly flat an open approach on the left, nine might be the only hole that would work well with a putter. Unless you grew up at St. Andrews, putting, while possible, isn’t the best approach around this course because all the holes are at least 75 yards.
A more standard-looking green on the eighth.
Nine is interesting--although the card yardage is 150, on days when it plays shorter (like this day, when it was about 120), you could do a long pitch-and-run up the left onto the green.
The tenth is probably the most standard par 3 here, playing about 125 to a large green with the open sand of the Weiskopf course as a beautiful backdrop.
The closing tenth, bringing us back to original open sandy Forest Dunes setting.
I like having these short courses at golf resorts because they give you something else to do while drinking in the evening. This course is easy to walk and easy enough to hit the ball around, if if your vision and judgment are somewhat impaired. And if you’re not drunk or are a functioning alcoholic, there are a lot of opportunities on the Short Course to be creative and to use slopes to feed your ball to pin placements. So it’s a great addition to Forest Dunes—not that you needed another reason to go there.
RSS Feed