Dom Furore
Dom Furore
Dom Furore
Overview
The golf course wasn’t so much designed as discovered. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw trudged back and forth over a thousand acres of rolling sand hills in central Nebraska, flagging out naturally-occurring fairways and greens. By moving just 4,000 cubic yards of earth, and letting the winds shape the bunkers, the duo created what is undoubtedly the most natural golf course in America, a timeless course design. For decades, winter winds had always reshaped the bunkers, but course officials have recently discovered a method to prevent that. At the close of the season, they spray the surface of the sand in bunkers with a product that creates a crust to resist the howling winds.
About
Awards
Ranking history:
100 Greatest: Ranked since 1999.
2023-'24 ranking: 8th (highest)
Previous ranking: 10th.
Best in State: Ranked first since 1997.
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Panelists
Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists
100 GREATEST/BEST IN STATE SCORES
Shot Options
Character
Challenge
Layout Variety
Fun
Aesthetics
Conditioning
Reviews
Review
“Sand Hills is truly remarkable in so many different facets, and achieves deservingly high marks across many of our criteria. It's extremely vast, and visually welcoming for the most part. But on almost every hole there is a perfectly placed bunker, slope, or blind area to play just enough of a mind game to cast doubt on many tee shots. The wind is such a critical element of the design, and contributes strongly to the variety and shot options. For example, on the scorecard 7&8 are back to back short par 4s, but the two holes play extremely differently, in part due to the wind. In both examples, your desired shot into the green will dictate your strategy back on the tee. Mid-iron through driver could be used on each tee shot, while infinite short game shots await around the greens."
Read More2022
Review
“The 3 closing holes perfectly encapsulate the brilliance of Sand Hills. Each consists of remarkable, bold landforms that epitomize the Nebraska Sand Hills, and require challenging, fun, and interesting shots. In particular, 17 is one of the most intimidating wedge shots with no hazard or OB in play. Coore and Crenshaw struck an incredible balance at Sand Hills by rewarding a combination of careful consideration and creativity. The result is a fun and playable golf course that will make you question your strategy and hit a large variety of exciting golf shots."
Read More2022
Review
“Sand Hills is a shrine for golf! It receives an outstanding score for character given its innovation and ingenuity in course design. Dick Youngscap, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw took a substantial risk building a golf course in the middle-of-nowhere Nebraska, but the quality of the land, soil, and features suited for golf (plus Coore and Crensahw's ability to uncover them) led to it becoming the greatest modern golf course in the US. The course receives an exceptional score for shot options given the variety of risk/reward options off the tee, into and around the greens, as well as the demands it presents to the player to hit a variety of trajectories, shot shapes and landing spots with strong rewards for well-executed shots and suitable penalties for misses. Every hole on the golf course is distinctive and memorable. Conditioning is just the way it should be: firm, fast, with smooth and true putting surfaces. Aesthetics are wonderful as they are defined by towering sand dunes and long-range views of the Sand Hills region itself with no man made distractions."
Read More2022
Review
“The lasting memory I have from playing multiple rounds at Sand Hills is that several tee boxes make the player feel they are perched above the entire course, not just that 1 tee box on top of a hill, several times you get the mountain top feeling looking out without a tree in site, just rolling sand hills, native grass and blowout bunkers. The course played links style, with low penetrating drives traveling further than those hit even better with a higher apex. Take advantage of accurate tee shots that hit speed slots, kicking the ball 20% further if landing correctly on a downslope. Some short attainable par 4s gave some risk reward and beware of the massive changes to a hole with a different pin. Swirling winds seemed as if every day, every shot is different. "
Read More2022
Review
“As has been stated in numerous descriptions by the club itself and golf architecture writers, a one of a kind course built with minimal earth-moving and an amazingly low budget. Natural bunkering, green complexes, and native areas from start to finish. One seemingly can see for 20 miles on many holes with no other homes, structures, vehicles, or people outside of the course and the impressive views of the The Sand Hills of Nebraska. Very firm and fast yet fair playing surfaces throughout. Well thought out hole designs that allow for play with all wind directions. Some of the best bunkering one will encounter anywhere in America. A completely natural feeling on all holes. The course has 18 unique holes with 1, 16,17, "
Read More2022
Review
“Probably the finest course I have played that was built in the last 50 years. The Sand Hills formation is a natural Nebraska treasure and Crenshaw/Coore made this course blend in so well that it looks like it has been there forever."
Read More2022
Review
“Hard to beat it on any level."
Read More2018
Review
“Absolutely worth the effort to get here. The course that brought the architectural focus back to minimalism is an absolute stand out. Amazing collection of holes with wonderfully different playing characteristics depending on wind and tee played. Play from sun up until sunset and then enjoy the best steaks in golf."
Read More2018
Review
“I've only given a few 'five out of fives'. Sand Hills gets one of them. It is just glorious. The routing is genius and the holes were dropped from Heaven. It just doesn't get any better than this. It Coore/Crenshaw's magnum opus."
Read More2018
Review
“Great course, can't wait for the second one to open up. F"
Read More2018
Review
“Simply, one of the truly special experiences in golf. Life is simple here. You need to see Sand Hills or your golf experiences are incomplete."
Read More2018
Review
“It doesn't get any better than Sand Hills. Isolated and all about golf. Most guests play 36 holes and enjoy an old school burger and magnificent vistas at the turn. Worth the effort!"
Read More2018
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