Dismal River Club (Red Course)

Favorite Hole

No. 12, par 4, 430 yards

The 12th begins an outstanding sequence (Nos. 12-15) of eclectic par 4s, a hallmark of the course. A large diagonal ridgeline cuts from left to right acting as a hog’s back fairway feature. Drives that are pushed too far right will be deflected to a non-ideal approach angle or at worst kicked to a low point leaving the green blind. Playing down the left towards the American flag on the horizon gives players an approach along the long axis of the green and a flatter landing zone short of the green. This is important because the downhill fairway typically forces you to land the ball short of the green that tilts away from the line of play. From the suboptimal right approach angle another ridgeline cuts in front of the green making it more difficult to find the putting surface that juts out on a peninsula.

I’m a sucker for greens that fall away, which makes the approach shot one of the most exhilarating on the course. In addition, the hole plays out to the far east side of the property leaving a beautiful endless view of the rolling dunes in the distance.

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Overall Thoughts

Any golf course built in the Nebraska Sandhills inevitably gets compared to the first and most prolific course in the region, Sand Hills Golf Club. While Sand Hills is deserving of such praise it casts a shadow over the many great courses in the region and sucks up a lot of the attention. The Red course at Dismal River falls victim to this shadow despite its genius routing, world-class par 4s, and highly talented construction team.

One of the key aspects of Doak’s design at Dismal River is the variety of holes and green designs. No two greens feel remotely similar, and each hole has a very clear-cut motive. This isn’t a result of the shapers coming up with 18 unique green designs; it’s because the routing is so versatile and leads golfers to delightful natural green sites. Doak’s team didn’t need to manufacture green designs because the routing utilizes the preexisting natural undulations and allows those natural elements to create the identity of the green. Lead associate, Brian Schneider, shared with me that the majority of the greens on the Red course were shaped in less than an hour, with some taking 10-15 minutes. This is a reflection of great land married with a great routing and Doak’s ability to find great green sites and adapt the holes around them.

What’s even more fascinating about this course’s routing is the way it makes the severe sandhills site extraordinarily walkable. While the terrain is ideal for building dramatic and interesting golf, it’s not as easy to build a highly playable and walkable golf course as some may think. This quote from Doak himself summarizes this notion very well:

“The cliché about designing a course in the Sandhills is that you can see potential golf holes in almost any direction you look. There’s some truth to that. The land is fascinating because there are undulations that never end. But the land is also deceptive. A lot of the holes you see don’t work out. You walk out 200 yards and find a blind ridge. Or a feature that seems like it’s 300 yards away is actually 800 yards. Or you find a great hole but you can’t go right from there to the tee of another hole that works.”

Doak’s solution to the hurdles he outlined above was to use an “open-jaw” routing that ends at a point far away from where the course starts – nearly a half mile from one tee to 18 green – unlike most golf courses that start and end at a clubhouse. To put this all into perspective, the course begins halfway up a 200-foot sloped hillside, and by the sixth tee you’ve reached the high point, leaving you with 12 holes of descent down to the dramatic riverside finish. Part of why this concept works is because the clubhouse is over a mile away from where the golf course sits, so there’s going to be a journey to get back to the “home base” no matter what. This brilliant concept allowed him to find the very best golf holes on the site while mitigating strenuous uphill walks.

Some of the strongest holes of the course happen to be several of the par 4s.

No. 2, par 4, 472 yards

The second is a brute and climbs roughly 50 feet, which gets the most cumbersome walking out of the way early. The tee shot is semi-blind to a wide fairway where an enormous and captivating blowout bunker guards the direct route down the left. The green is quite simple and beautifully restrained, but its convex shape requires precise long iron approaches to find the surface.

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No. 4, par 4, 388 yards

The fourth is world-class and makes use of two centerline hazards to drive the strategy of the hole with left and right options off the tee. The aggressive right route requires a longer carry over native grasses and the possibility of catching a fairway contour that leaves players with a blind approach. Great drives down the right end up on top of a plateau between the bunkers and a full view of the heavily contoured green. The safer left route gives players a view of the green but some of the corners where pins can be tucked will be semi-obscured.

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No. 9, par 4, 374 yards

A terrific cape-styled hole plays over the entrance road and begins the “lower 10” section of the course. The fairway undulations are simply splendid with tons of rolls. Well-struck drives will crest the large bowl that sits in the landing zone and avoid a blind approach. The green is an extension of the fairway and the undulations short of the green make running approaches tough to navigate.

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No. 14, par 4, 419 yards

A vexing hole that immediately provokes thought on the tee. The slightly uphill fairway weaves through the dunes and pinches down right in the landing zone. Too far left or too far right will leave an obstructed view for your approach shot. The green sits perfectly behind the edge of a dune and down in a bowl. Back left pins can be accessed via a swooping kicker slope along the right edge of the green.

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No. 17, par 4, 454 yards

A truly blind tee shot that plays up over a diagonal ridgeline not too dissimilar from the 18th at Riviera CC. Drives that take on the trouble down the right will benefit from a speed slot that kicks balls down the broad slope. The contours in front of the green will funnel balls toward the middle from this lower right fairway portion while the upper left fairway section leaves a longer approach in.

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Several other par 4s including the sixth, seventh, 13th, 15th, and 18th are worthy of mentioning as well, making Dismal River Red’s par 4s possibly the most robust set I’ve seen anywhere.

The final piece of this puzzle that quite literally tied everything together is the highly talented group of shapers and construction workers who helped with the project. The tie-ins to the natural terrain and fine-tuned detail across the course are executed so well thanks to the team Doak was able to assemble. This is an often overlooked but impactful piece of designing golf courses and can propel them to a new echelon. Below is a list of several names who assisted on the project, many of which now have their own golf design businesses and are creating their own original designs today.

– Brian Schnieder (Lead Associate)
– Don Mahaffey (Irrigation Designer)
– Eric Iverson
– Don Placek
– Brian Slawnik
– Blake Conant
– Clyde Johnson
– Jaeger Kovich
– Brett Hochstein
– Jeff Stein
– Clay Payne
– Zach Varty

While the Red course may never receive the praise it deserves due to its brawny neighbor or the financial/maintenance struggles over the years, the clever one-off routing and world-class par 4s allow this course to hang around the top level of modern golf designs. With Kemper Sports now managing the club, things seem to be chugging along in the right direction.

2 Eggs

(How We Rate Courses)

The brilliance of the routing and the way it makes the heavily undulating site walkable is a feat in its own right and worthy of significant praise. Many architects would have just settled for building a cart-dominant golf course versus figuring out a way to make compelling holes while staying walkable. The design itself stands out in the region and is chock-full of high-quality golf holes of all lengths. While the turf is firm and well suited to the design features, it’s not quite what it could be, but it’s on the right path.

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Additional Content

How to Stand Out in the Nebraska Sandhills (Sept. 2024 Design Notebook)