I played Southern Dunes near Orlando for the first time recently. Everyone in my group ranked it first or second out of the five courses we played except me. Dead last. Am I being too hard on it?
I’m not sure if “course fairness” is any kind of well-established metric, but I felt that the course was unfair. I think the penalty you get for a bad shot should be proportional to how bad the shot is. If you miss the sweet spot and your approach ends up a little short, the penalty is that you have a longer putt: that’s fair. If you hosel a 4-iron out of bounds, your penalty is that have to hit the shot again: fair.
Several times on Southern Dunes, I feel like the penalty was out of proportion. On one hole I missed the fairway by a couple feet and ended up in a sandtrap that was about 80 yards long. That’s not so surprising because there is a lot of sand on that course. What I was left with was a 180 yard approach out of the sand with a tree overhanging. I say cut back that tree or get rid of the sand. A slight pull with my driver shouldn’t be punished like that.
On another hole I had a PW approach into a pretty tricky green. It was clear that I needed to be short and right if I was get close to the pin. Well, I pulled that shot a little and went right at the pin. When I got up there I had rolled off the left side of the green down a big hill and now had a 25 yard chip shot up the hill into what was obviously a big false front. I expected that I wouldn’t be tight and I’d be stuck with a 30 foot putt, but it was much worse than that.
I was surprised that everyone else in my group liked it so much. I feel like they got punished worse than I did. So do I need to just toughen up? Or is it OK if I dislike a course because I don’t think it’s fair?
FWIW, the course was in great shape. I can’t remember when I’ve seen bunkers so perfectly maintained.