The Villages at Tullymore, MI: The #1 Dream Hole
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version of GolfCourseHome Magazine, featuring the 2010 GCH Dream 18!
The Dream 18 of
2008
2nd Annual Dream 18
by Editors of GolfCourseHome
If you were to play 18 of the finest, most memorable golf holes to be found within any golf course community, which ones would they be? You’ll find the answers in this Second Annual Dream 18 listing, devined from among the 200-plus communities featured on GolfCourseHome.net.
These havens of the country club lifestyle represent more than 5,000 golf holes, 300-plus championship courses and more than 75 different golf architects—a wealth to choose from. Many of the courses are highly ranked by the leading golf publications and have been crafted by the great names in golf course design. Best of all, you can live on them.
Here is a quick list of the holes, in our Dream 18 sequence. Below the initial list you will find in-depth descriptions. For detailed information on any of the below courses or communities, just click on the highlighted name of the community.
1.
The Villages of Tullymore, (12th),
Stanwood, MI
2.
Kingsmill on the James (15th – Woods Course),
Williamsburg, VA
3.
Tennessee National, (12th), Loudon, TN
4.
Blackstone, (8th) Peoria, AZ
5.
Ross Bridge (13th), Hoover, AL
6.
Montreux (17th) Reno, NV
7.
The Club at Olde Stone (16th) Alvaton, KY
8. Sugarloaf Mountain (13th), Cleremont, FL
9.
Heron Point by Pete Dye, Sea Pines (18th), Hilton
Head, SC
10.
Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, FL
11. Paa-Ko Communities, Sandia Park, NM (7th)
12.
Deer Brook Golf Club, Shelby, NC (14th)
13.
Hawthorn Woods Country Club, Hawthorn Woods, IL (10th)
14.
Glacier Club, Durango, CO (5th, Glacier nine)
15.
Mountain Air Country Club, Burnsville, NC (1st)
16.
The Bridges at Preston Crossings, Gunter, TX (14th).
17.
Horn Rapids, Richland WA (14th).
18.
PGA National, Palm
Beach Gardens, FL
Hole No. 1, The Villages of Tullymore, (12th), Stanwood, MI. The Tullymore golf course, designed by Jim Engh and ranked No. 14 on Golf Digest’s "100 Greatest Public Courses,” is a canopy of rolling woodland and waterway within the 800-acre Tullymore - St. Ives Resort complex. Lakes dot the landscape and Shinglebolt Creek winds through it. This year’s “dream 18” begins there with a classically quirky and British-style par-3 that many have likened to the famous “Dell” hole at Lahinch in the west of Ireland. The common feature between the two is a green mostly hidden behind a substantial dune. No. 12 at Tullymore, at 247 yards, certainly outsizes its Irish predecessor. Click here for information about The Villages at Tullymore!
Hole No. 2, Kingsmill on the James, (15th – Woods Course), Williamsburg, VA. This 2,900-acre resort community is growing in popularity among home buyers even as its amenity package continues to expand and improve. The new Woods Course, named by Golf Magazine a "Top Ten New Course You Can Play," was designed by Tom Clark in concert with U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange. The duo ornamented their 6,659-yard parkland-style design with a unique double green with a bunker in the center. The green is shared—St. Andrews style—by the par-3 12th hole and our featured par-4 15th. Though only 384 yards long, No. 15 ranks as the fourth-hardest hole on the course, due in large part to an imposing water hazard that fronts the green. Click here for more information about Kingsmill on the James!
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Hole No. 3, Tennessee National, (12th), Loudon, TN. Rolling hills and over three miles of waterfront provide a bucolic setting for Medallist Development’s bold and history-minded Tennessee National. Carving his way through foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Greg Norman laid out a richly varied golf course, using the shoreline of Watts Bar Lake as a hazard on several holes. One excellent example is Norman’s intimidating par-3 12th hole, guarded down the right side by the famous lake and swarming with bunkers—eight in total—up by the green. From the front tees it’s a sporty little hole, but way back at 209 yards it is a daunting proposition.
Hole No. 4, Blackstone, (8th) Peoria, AZ. Thrilling mountain views and black volcanic rock, indigenous to the area from which the community earned its name, make this community (within Vistancia) a jewel of the desert and make the Blackstone golf course, designed by Jim Engh, a visual delight. Engh’s gift for adapting classic hole designs of Great Britain and of America’s so-called Golden Age is on display in this “punchbowl” style par-4. The genius of the design is that the same raised mounds that partially hide the green serve to gather off-line shots and steer them toward the flag. Click here for more information about Blackstone!
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Hole No. 5, Ross Bridge (13th), Hoover, AL Ross Bridge is a private community set within an exciting golf resort and spa complex in a woodland setting near Birmingham. It combines small-town comforts with sweeping views of the surrounding foothills, plus a destination golf course that is part of the famed Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. The Ross Bridge course is big and brawny in the Jones tradition, sprawling over 330 acres and stretching almost 8,200 yards. The hole at Ross Bridge that truly tests a player’s fortitude is the 698-yard (no typo) par-5 13th, lined with hazards from tee to green.
Hole No. 6, Montreux (17th) Reno, NV Montrêux is a private, gated golf community bordering Toiyabe National Forest in the Sierra Nevada mountain range near Lake Tahoe. It is home to the only Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course in northern Nevada and the host site of the PGA Tour’s Reno-Tahoe Open. Montrêux’s 18-hole Nicklaus Signature course winds over 7,552 yards. Also, the tee elevation above the fairway on the 17th hole is 138 feet, giving the drive a heroic “hang time” that leaves players sighing their approval. Click here for more information about Montreux!
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Hole No. 7, The Club at Olde Stone (16th) Alvaton, KY. Tucked serenely into the rolling hills of Kentucky, Olde Stone offers all the amenities of your favorite club community. It starts with a championship golf course designed by Arthur Hills, a resort-style swimming pool with a zero entry feature and an adult Jacuzzi garden. The golf course was named a "Best New Private Course" for 2007 by Golf Digest, partly on the strength of its “Redan-style” par-3 16th, featuring the classic front-right bunker placement and a side-sloping green that allows shots to be played short and right of the putting surface, so that they kick toward the standard pin placement in the back left portion of the green. Click here for more information about The Club at Olde Stone!
Hole No. 8, Sugarloaf Mountain (13th), Cleremont, FL. This new, 1,400-acre private community occupies the highest point in the Florida peninsula and is home to the Sunshine State’s only Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw golf course. One of its highlights is the 507-yard 13th, a par-4 of seemingly prodigious length. In fact, it's the longest par 4 in Florida, but the blind tee shot plays severely downhill, reminiscent of the 10th at Augusta National, so the hole plays quite a bit shorter than its stated yardage. If the drive comes “slingshotting” off the slope correctly, your second shot can be played with a short iron.
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Back to Quick List Hole No. 9,
Heron Point by Pete Dye, Sea Pines
Hole No. 10, Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, FL. Among its 72 holes of championship golf on this landmark coastal community is the tricky but highly praised 10th hole on Pete Dye’s Oak Marsh layout. The hole, measuring just 307 yards from the furthest-back tee, is a prototypical short par-4, with water right of the green, water behind it and four penal bunkers surrounding the putting surface. Many golfers have the power to reach this hole in one, but few have the accuracy to avoid big trouble. Founded in 1971, this resort community was an early example of the twin appeal of excellent golf and an eco-conscious master plan. The Plantation’s three-plus miles of unspoiled beach and its vast tracts of coastal marsh and woodland remain its prime assets. Click here for more information about Amelia Island Plantation!
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Hole No. 11, Paa-Ko Communities, Sandia Park, NM (7th). The hole we highlight at
Paa-Ko is named “Field House” It’s a charming par-4 that stretches
496 yards from the back tee box but only 425 from the members’ tee.
The strategy on this graceful, downsloping hole is to shoot for the
middle of its saddle-shaped fairway, avoiding the rocky ravine and
grass bunker that protect the inside of the dogleg. The green is
open in front and receptive to a run-up shot. Paa-Ko Communities
lies on the eastern face of the Sandia Mountains, integrating
upscale residential development with untouched lands to provide a
sense of true community in a setting of natural elegance. Its
27-hole Ken Dye golf course is one of the best in the Southwest.
Hole No. 12,
Deer Brook Golf Club, Shelby, NC (14th). Joining this select
collection of golf holes is No. 14 at Deer Brook, a highly versatile
par-3 hole dominated by a large, imposing pond. Architect Rick
Robbins scattered an array of tee boxes along the far arc of the
lake and laid out a gang of bunkers, five in all, around the green.
Day in and day out, this one-shotter reveals subtle new playing
angles depending on wind direction and tee- marker placement. If
nothing else it’s an advanced course in precision club selection.
Deer Brook Golf Club is a master-planned golf community in the Blue
Ridge Mountain foothills. Excellent conditioning and a clever
routing by Robbins make Deer Brook a top-quality golf experience.
Its bentgrass greens are medium- sized and sited on subtle knolls
and hollows. Water comes into play on seven holes.
Click here for more information about Deer Brook!
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Hole No. 13, Hawthorn Woods Country Club, Hawthorn Woods, IL (10th). A true thinking-man’s par-4, the 10th at Hawthorn Woods plays shorter than 400 yards even at its longest. Golfers must strongly consider playing their tee shots with fairway wood or a long iron to the plateau landing area. The best-positioned tee shot will leave a middle iron for the approach shot. From atop the plateau the green sits well below the fairway and is protected by a bunker right and a water hazard left, putting accuracy at a premium. Set amidst rolling countryside and centered on a championship Arnold Palmer Signature golf course, Hawthorn Woods is a private enclave that offers a high quality of life and proximity to the commerce and culture of Chicago.
Hole No. 14, Glacier Club, Durango, CO (5th, Glacier nine). No. 5 on the Glacier nine up in the light air of this sporting community is a strategic par-4 that plays from 330 to 360 yards downhill, depending on tee placement. Position, not necessarily length, is the appropriate strategy. The long, narrow green is protected by a wetland on the right and bunkers left. Wise golfers will be sure to avoid the menacing bunker in the center of the fairway to have their best chance of sticking the second close to the hole. Glacier Club is a private luxury, mountain golf community just outside of Durango amid the natural magnificence of the surrounding Rockies landscape. Its amenities are already built and ready for members’ enjoyment, including 27 holes of golf –three of the most scenic and satisfying nines in the Rockies.
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Hole No. 15, Mountain Air Country Club, Burnsville, NC (1st). The Mountain Air motif of elevated teeing grounds playing down to sinuous fairways begins at the alpine club’s par-4 first. It’s a charming, 361-yard finesse hole with a dogleg-right fairway and a compact green surrounded by four bunkers. Most golf communities in the eastern U.S. look up to Mountain Air, which perches on a 4,600-foot peak called Slickrock Mountain. With 70 degree mid-summer temperatures and 100-mile panoramic views, the community’s 6,425-yard original 18 (watch for a new nine opening soon) is a joy to play in summer.
Hole No. 16, The Bridges at Preston Crossings, Gunter, TX (14th). The Bridges at Preston Crossings is a new master-planned community being built on the site of the historic MM Ranch. It’s a 1,580-acre site well-suited for the design style of Fred Couples, who uses subtle land features to create appealing and disconcerting shot challenges. Couples outdid himself in designing the thought-provoking and truly demanding par-5, No. 14 Hole, which can play as long as 619 yards from the black tee markers. Most members would take the hole on from the blue tees, making this a 536-yard three-shorter. Assuming you drive it well, the next challenge is to play across a pond to the left side of what becomes a split fairway, and wedge it onto the green from there. If you play away from the pond, a good second shot will leave you in a low, trough-like section of fairway playing upslope to the green.
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Hole No. 17, Horn Rapids, Richland WA (14th). Keith Foster, praised for his skill in balancing visual beauty with strategic complexity, provides us our penultimate challenge with this position-over-power par-5. The 512-yard 14th at Horn Rapids begins with a U.K.-style blind tee shot to something of an “island fairway.” Longer hitters have to club down to avoid driving through the fairway into a transition area. The approach shot will need to keep to the right side of the green to avoid the bunkers fronting the left side of the green. Horn Rapids is an 800-acre, master-planned golf community near the banks of the Yakima River in the sunny, temperate Tri-Cities region of Washington. The community’s reputation for neighborhood sociability extends to its Keith Foster-designed golf course with it sweeping desert views. Click here for more information about Horn Rapids!
Hole No. 18, PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens, FL (18th, Champion Course). A classic 18th on a tour-tested layout provides the closing hole for this edition of the Dream 18. The 18th at the Champion Course (home to the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic) exemplifies this community’s landmark status in the world of competitive golf. The hole, newly renovated by Jack Nicklaus, is a 600-yard double-dogleg par-5 that starts with a long carry over a reedy Florida swamp and doesn’t let up. It was the scene of a Ryder Cup- winning wedge shot by Lanny Wadkins in 1983. PGA National is a resort community that not only offers five golf courses, but amenities from spa to tennis to health and fitness.
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