The Prairie Club

The Prairie Club awaits golfers looking for a unique experience that will leave a lasting impression for a long time. Located near Valentine, Nebraska in a region of the country called the Sand Hills, The Prairie Club is part of the growing family of links style courses that are starting to dot the northwest part of the state. Other courses such as, Wild Horse, the Sand Hills and The Dismal River golf clubs were built before The Prairie Club and received many accolades from publications like Golf Digest. The Prairie Club, however, is a little different than its predecessors. First off, there is a second 18 hole course that winds along a Ponderosa Pine forested ridge above Snake River canyon. Secondly, unlike the Dismal and Sandhills Golf Club, The Prairie Club is open to the public and offers stay and play packages at its luxurious lodge and cabins. This is a resort destination style course anyone can enjoy.

Founder and Chairman Paul Schock wanted to keep the course public to let people enjoy world class golf.  His solution was to hire architect / professional golfers Tom Lehman and Graham Marsh. Lehman and also Chris Brands designed the Dunes course and Marsh designed the Pines Course. According to their website, Schock, Lehman, Brands and Marsh wanted to take things slow and took more than two years routing out holes through an immense amount of acres used for 36 holes of stunning natural landscape.  To them it was all about the pristine land and the serenity.  No houses, no distractions just golf. Very little earth was moved to make this course.

The Dunes Course 

Rated the 35th greatest public course in America in 2015 by Golf Digest, The Dunes Course was designed for bump and run play with large greens and windy conditions.  Half the holes play into the wind and half the holes against the wind.  With its dramatic elevation changes, endless views of the Sandhills in all directions and immense blowouts golfers get a great feel for links golf.

Fairway blowout bunker on Dunes Course.

Before I go any farther covering the Dunes Course I want to explain a few things about minimalistic design and a thing called "blowouts". Blowouts are sandy areas where rapid wind erosion literally “blows out” a hole in the surface of the landscape.   They are found scattered throughout all of the Sand Hills and vary in size from a few feet in circumference to a few hundred feet.  The Dunes course routes fairways and greens around these natural hazards to create a unique layout with minimal land moved to keep a native feel to the course.



At 7,583 yards and a par 73 the Dunes course will give you all you can handle especially if the wind is blowing.  Built on fescue and collonial bentgrass the average green size is 14,000 square feet with an average stimpmeter of 12.  The fairways are generously wide but that's about the only break you get on this challenging track.  It's the approach shots and short game around these greens that will do most of the damage to your scorecard.  The greens are guarded by large intimidating blowout bunkers and the big undulating greens can leave you crazy long puts over major slopes on the greens.  Finally, there's the wind and the uphill or downhill shots to contend with that will leave you guessing on your club selection plenty of times.


Hole overviews and photos

View of tee box on par 4 hole 2 Dune Course.  The right side of fairway is guarded by out of bounds fence row.

Approach shot view of par 4 hole 2 Dunes Course.

View of tee shot on par 5 hole 3 Dunes Course.  A slice or push will land you in a monster blowout bunker on the right.  A hook or pull left will run your shot over the fairway and down a steep hill into the tall fescue.

View from tee box of par 3 hole 4 Dunes Course.  Its easy for a lot of golfers to end up with an 80 to 100 foot put on this green.

Par 4 Hole 5 Dunes Course.  Bunkers down the middle of the fairway force the golfer to pick a side of the fairway.  Large blowout guards right side of the green.

View from tee on par 5 hole 10 Dunes Course.  Blowouts are in play on every shot.

For hole by hole tours of the Dunes Course see the Prairie Club's course tour on their web site at the following link http://theprairieclub.com/golf/dunes-course/.

The Pines Course

Rated the 75th greatest public course in America in 2015 by Golf Digest, designed by Graham Marsh, The Pines Course features five sets of tees ranging from 5345 to 7403 yards.  On this course the prevailing prairie winds are blocked by the western rim and Ponderosa pines of the Snake River canyon.  Built on fescue and collonial bentgrass the average green size is 8,000 sq ft and the average stimpmeter is 11 in peak season.  The course starts off with holes 1-3 still in the same prairie landscape as the Dunes course.  On hole 4 you start to enter the pines as the course gets closer to Snake River canyon.  The Pines Course designs also features a lot of carries from the tee over large blowouts as seen below in photo of hole 5.

Hole overviews and photos

View from tee box on par 4 hole 5 Pine Course.  This hole is a dogleg right that forces the golfer to carry the tee shot over an immense blowout in front of the fairway.

View from tee box on par 3 hole 6 Pines Course.  Green is guarded by two blowouts bunkers and canyon on the right.

View of green and backdrop of Snake River Canyon on par 3 hole 6 Pines Course.

View from tee box on par 5 hole 11 Pines Course. 

View from approach shot into hole 11 green Pines Course.

View of large blowout and tall fescue that guard the right side of par 5 hole 15 fairway Pines Course.   The left side of the fairway has pines and fescue.  Golfers are forced to either layup with an iron on the top of the hill left of this bunker or hit a fade with the driver close to the cart in this photo.

View from tee box on par 4 hole 16 Pines Course.  Golfers must carry the bunkers with their tee shots and keep it straight between the pines.

Approach shot view of par 4 hole 16 Pines Course.

View of par 3 hole 17 Pines Course.

View from tee box of par 5 hole 18 Pines Course.  This is easily one of the best holes in all of the Prairie Club.  Tee shot must draw around the right side of the fairway to have a chance to go for the green in two.  The 18th green is elevated behind a small canyon with large blowout bunkers guarding the green.  Golfers have the option of laying up to the fairway right of the green on their second shot.

For hole by hole tours of the Pines Course see the Prairie Club's course tour on their web site at the following link http://theprairieclub.com/golf/pines-course/.

To sum it up, if you're looking for a great place for a golf travel vacation The Prairie Club will deliver.  TripAdvisor also has very high marks for The Prairie Club.

Accommodations

The Prairie Club offers several stay and play packages.  Golfers can choose to stay in the main lodge, the Bunkhouse in one of its 12 single occupancy rooms or one of the cabins each with a four bedroom suite.

How to get there

The best option for traveling to the Prairie Club by commercial airline is to fly to Sioux Falls, SD. Then you will need to rent a car and head west on I-90 and south on highway 183 to Valentine, NE. The Prairie Club is located west of Valentine on highway 90.  Google Maps link.

More Information

For more information on The Prairie Club I highly recommend checking out their website at http://theprairieclub.com/.

Top PGA tour pro Instagram accounts worth following

Looking for some good PGA Tour Pro Instagram accounts to follow?  There are a lot of tour pros these days that are posting some really good Instagram content.  But there are also a few who have come up with some really creative ideas and have a good eye for photography as well.  By the way, the ranking of these tour pros is completely for fun and I fully admit there may be others I left out that belong on this list.  Either way, the pros on this list are great embassadors for the game of golf and help make the game better all the time!

1. Ian Poulter

Helpful Links: Instagram Link

Summary
Ian Poulter must have great photography skills. Whether it is cool close ups of his car collection, interesting aerial photography and outdoor shots or beautiful golf courses or other parts of the world Poulter's account is definitely worth checking out for golf fans around the world.

2. Ben Crane

Helpful Links: Instagram Link

Summary
The cool thing about Ben Crane's account is the variety. The subjects of his photos can be anyone from the Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte with other fellow shaved head men to this hilarious post of a sea captain trying to golf on a raft.

3. Rickie Fowler

Helfull Links: Instagram Link

Summary One of the best things about Rickie Fowler is he takes time to help promote the game of golf. His Why Golf series (photos and videos) is very cool. We applaud his effort to grow the game we all love. Rickie's Instagram account features some cool selfies and nice outdoor photography of beautiful places.

4. Lee Westwood

Helpful Links: Instagram Link

Summary
Lee Westwood's Instagram account has some great candid shots of friends and fellow golfers. Also, like Poulter, I really like the scenic shots of golf on his account.

5. Rory McIlroy

Helpful Links: Instagram Link

Summary
Rory's Instagram account has a great variety of photos. What I really like about McIlroy's account is he takes advantage of Instagram to let golf fans get a taste for a "day in the life" of Rory which is really cool.

Quintero Golf Club

Located in the northwest valley of Phoenix, Arizona the Quintero Golf Club offers an excellent experience for golfers who want to play a course with remote surroundings, elevation changes and incredible views of the upper portion of the Sonoran desert.  Rated as one of the top courses in the Phoenix area I definitely think this a top 5 public course that you need to put on your golf bucket list. Quintero, like many courses in Phoenix, was not immune to the economic crash of 2006. However, since Troon golf has taken over management of the course the future seems much brighter.

At 7208 yards, with a USGA rating of 74.9 and slope rating of 147 from the tips, Quintero is a very challenging course.  Scratch golfers to about 8-10 handicap can probably handle the tips.  For handicaps in the 10-20 range I recommend playing from the Gold tees at 6845 yards.  Another option a lot of golfers like to try is rotating between the Gold and Silver (6435 yards).  The scorecard actually lists which holes are recommended for a Gold and Silver tee box rotation.

This course is usually in excellent condition all times of the year with perfectly groomed greens and fairways.  The greens can play very fast at certain times of the year, especially in the winter with the rye grass.  For local Phoenix area golfers, who like to play upscale courses in the summer at reduced rates, Quintero is one of the best options in the valley.  While other courses usually struggle to keep their greens and fairways in tact during the extreme heat, Quintero and its higher elevations boasts some of the best greens and fairways you will see during June through August.

Hole overviews and photos.

The par 3 hole 6 is the first hole at Quintero where the view and panorama really open up to the golfer.  This challenging par 3 plays 219 from the tips and is a difficult club selection test because of wind and elevation changes.  (I've had to fire my caddie (myself) several times on this hole because of poor club selection).

Quintero's par 3 hole 6 has a big elevation change from tee to green and stunning views.

The par 5 hole 8 is one of Quintero's signature holes and one of my favorite par 5s in the valley.  There is a risk/reward option from all tees boxes.  Big hitters who want to go for the green in two have the option of cutting the corner and trying to land their tee shot on the uphill slope of the fairway above the creek that separates the lower and upper fairways.  Most golfers select the safer option of hitting a fairway wood and laying up before the creek and then hitting their second shot straight up (and I mean straight up) a very steep inclined fairway.

Quintero's par 5 hole 8 is one of the course's signature holes.  View from typical spot for second shot landing area short of creek that separates the upper and lower fairways. 

The par 3 9th hole has another elevation challenge to golfers.  Similar to hole 6 the green is straight down the hill.  The big difference on hole 9 is a water hazard guards the entire front side of the green. Club selection again is a big factor on this hole.

Quintero's par 3 hole 9.

The par 5 hole 10 offers more great views from the tee box and is an excellent way to start off the back nine.  At 521 yards this is one of the easier holes on the course and is a relief to many golfers after playing holes 8-9.

Quintero par 5 hole 10

Quintero course flyovers.

Quintero front nine

Quintero back nine

To sum it up, if you are up for a great challenge on one of Phoenix's top public golf courses Quintero is definitely worth playing a couple times.  It definitely helps to play this course several times to learn proper strategy and club selection.  Quintero's stay and play packages are also worth consideration.

More information about Quintero

For more information about Quintero Golf Club visit their web site at http://www.quinterogolf.com

Los Cabos Golf

Cabo San Lucas is a resort destination worthy of bringing your own set of clubs to enjoy excellent upscale golf.  Cabo golf is not cheap.  However, if you are willing to splurge for some great golf and incredible views of the pacific ocean you may find it well worth the price especially if you don't get down to Cabo very often.

Green side view at Cabo Del Sol ocean course

Cabo Del Sol Ocean Course

The most stunning course I had the fortune to play was Cabo Del Sol's ocean course.  At par 72 and 7,047 yards from the tips this course will provide plenty of challenge for the amateur golfer and pro golfer.  Cabo Del Sol was a former site of the Senior's Skins competition several years ago.  The icing on the cake with this course is the par 3 17th that forces a carry over the beach and pacific ocean to an elevated green surrounded by boulders.  My shot unfortunately hit a boulder and bounced 30 feet in the air back into the water after just landing short of the green.  With a view like this I could have cared less about my score.  Below is a view of the 17th on the ocean course.  For more information about Cabo Del Sol please visit their website at http://www.cabodelsol.com/content/golf.html.

View from tee box on Cabo Del Sol's Ocean Course par 3 hole 17.

Palmilla Golf Club Ocean Course

Another course worth the price is Palmilla Golf Club.  Palmilla is a Troon course and its ocean course at par 72 6,771 yards is not quite as long as Cabo Del Sol's ocean course but still provides the same stunning views of Sea of Cortez ocean panorama.  For those looking to get some high quality golf in during your trip to Los Cabos play these two course, take plenty of pictures and savor the memories.  Below are some photos from the Palmilla ocean course.

Ocean panoramic view at Palmilla Golf Club ocean course

Example of some of the elevation changes and ocean view at Palmilla Golf Club

Well hopefully this helps those of you who have never been down to Los Cabos and are looking for a great place to go and play some tropical resort style golf.  There are obviously a few more than just these two courses in Cabo so you will have a decent selection to choose from unlike some other resort destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico.  For more information on Palmilla golf course please visit their website at http://www.palmillagc.com/index.php.

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