Sedge Valley, Sand Valley’s newest course, is a must-play

My longtime partner teed off on the 6th green at Sedge Valley having learned his lesson, which almost everyone who plays the new course at Sand Valley Golf Resort has noticed.

“That’s why you sleep,” he said, “and don’t hit the basements, they’re dead.”

Sedge Valley has only been open since July, but the 5,829-yard, par-68 course is already doing what golf courses are supposed to do: making golfers. think.

This has long been the plan of Tom Doak, his team at Renaissance Golf Design and brothers Chris and Michael Keiser, who run the resort they built with their father, Mike Keiser.

“If you’re not on that course, it’s not like you have a better angle versus a slightly better angle,” Michael Keizer told GOLF.com during the build. “You might be on a bumpy road, and if you’re in the wrong position you have to think seriously about putting it in the right place.”

Let’s go back to that 6th hole, one of the many options off the tee. It is a 294-yard par-4 with a fairway that slopes from left to right. A 200-yard shot to the left side should sit on that top shelf of the fairway, leaving you with a short fairway and a good angle to the green. But it’s the same 200-yard shot that turns right and goes down the hill leaving a bad angle uphill to a thin target.

You can also go to the green, as my playing partner did, and find one of the five habitats around it. That led to a connected lie, his first bogey of the day and a painful education about Sedge Valley ($295 high), which has become a favorite course for many visitors to the famous two-track area (except for the semi-private lido).

Sedge Valley is inspired by classic, steamy English courses, and it lives up to that promise with a dynamite blend of gameplay and strategic challenge in the bustling heart of Wisconsin.

The highways are wide – not Sand Valley or Mammoth Dunes wide, but still enough – with green buildings that force you to hold your breath waiting to see what’s next.

Don’t be fooled by the par-68, sub-6,000-yard numbers, or. That may sound like a short course – there’s only one par-5 – but four par-4s stretch over 400 yards. (In the words of our starter, it plays more like a 6,500-yard course.)

There is also a trio of excellent short par-4s, including the aforementioned 6th. The 278-yard 12th shares features with the 6th. A layup on the left shelf of the fairway will keep you on the same plane as the green and give you the right angle, while anything right means a steep climb and a tricky line to the green with a large swale running through it.

The short final 4, the 318-yard 18th, may be the most memorable. A bunker 200 yards from the fairway crosses the upper part of the fairway which is very high from the landing area far below. Standing in front of the sand requires a blind wedge into a small green area surrounded by rough banks, giving you a punchbowl-like effect. A ball that sits on the top shelf leaves a flip wedge to the green that is clearly tucked into the edges of the fairway.

Sedge Valley is loaded with other goodies, too. The only blind shot is the approach to the long, uphill par 4 par 3, where you aim for the mark in the trees, launch your ball over a cluster of bunkers and cross your fingers as you climb in anticipation of a layup. There are back-to-back par-3s on the 7th and 8th (echoing what Doak hit on the 10th and 11th at Pacific Dunes), the second of which plays 80 yards longer to ensure you don’t hit the same shot twice . The par-5 one (the 11th) is also outstanding, with a space long enough and fair enough to encourage players to try to reach two, although a shot that misses the right will fall hard on the bank, leaving a difficult pitch.

After this par-5, you’ll come to the fairway, where you can get a $1 Italian beef sandwich (the budget-friendly grub is a Sand Valley signature). They are fun, but nowhere near as good as the golf course you play. That’s hard to beat.

Josh Behow

Golf.com Editor

As managing editor of GOLF.com, Berhow manages the day-to-day and long-term programming of one of the most widely read news and service websites in the sport. He spends most of his days writing, planning, organizing and wondering if he will ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and two children. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.