Sand Valley Begins Construction on Sedge Valley, Tom Doak Design Inspired by Historic Heathland Courses

(Rome, Wisconsin) – Sand Valley, one of the country’s premier resort destinations set amidst 12,000 acres of tumbling prehistoric sand dunes, announces new plans to expand its golf and resort experience. Construction on Sedge Valley, the third 18-hole design to be built on resort property, will begin in spring, 2022 under the direction of architect Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf Design. 

Sedge Valley will add to the resort’s collection of top-rated layouts, Sand Valley (Coore & Crenshaw), Mammoth Dunes (David McLay Kidd), The Sandbox (Coore & Crenshaw) and the forthcoming Lido, which will open to members and resort guests in 2023. 

“The golf experience at Sedge Valley is completely different from anything else on the property,” says Sand Valley co-owner Michael Keiser.  “Tom Doak moves so easily from the large-scale engineering project of the Lido to this much more intimate design. Greens are the heart and soul of any golf course.  Watching him identify and work his routing to these incredible natural green sites has been an amazing process. This is how the great ones have always done it.”   

Sedge Valley occupies an intimate piece of Sand Valley’s property rich with sandy soil, native groundcover and a prominent rock outcropping. Sand Valley owners Michael and Chris Keiser gave Doak the green light to follow his own inspiration for Sedge Valley – and that started with identifying the most exciting and best green sites the land had to offer.

“When you don’t have to think about stretching a course to 7,300 yards, you can start thinking about finding cool green sites without worrying about how close together they are,” Doak said. “I don’t have to worry as much about a severe slope at the edge of the green being “unfair” if you’re hitting a relatively short approach into it. My idea for Sedge Valley is to bring back a more intimate scale and build classically styled holes that everyone can enjoy, but which may require some compromises from the long and wild hitters.”

Sedge Valley is scheduled to open in 2024.

“These are exciting times for Sand Valley,” Keiser says. “The Lido is growing in and will open in 2023. Sedge Valley will follow a year later, along with some significant additions to the resort experience, which we will be announcing soon.”

Course Design FAQ with Architect Tom Doak

Q: How does Sedge Valley contrast with the two existing courses at Sand Valley? 

A: The first two courses at Sand Valley are among the biggest, widest courses ever built. They invite you to swing away, but you seldom think of the word “finesse” to describe them. My idea for Sedge Valley is bring back a more intimate scale and build classically styled holes that everyone can enjoy, but which may require some compromises from the long and wild hitter. 

Q: Sedge Valley borrows from English inland designs. For the golfer who may be familiar with links designs, explain some of the characteristics they will find here. 

A: The heathland courses built around London in the early 1900s were the first great inland golf courses, and Sedge Valley will integrate some of those characteristics – native groundcover as a strategic element, for instance. This property has sand, open expanses, good terrain and intriguing green sites – the fundamentals of holes that stand up over time. 

Q: Whose work have you considered in the design of Sedge Valley? 

A: Harry Colt did hundreds of great courses on all types of property, including heathland and links courses, and he was one of several designers whose best work remains relevant, interesting and challenging. The inspiration for Sedge Valley comes from a handful of courses that never expanded much beyond their original scope – Colt’s Swinley Forest and Rye, Sir Guy Campbell and C.K. Hutchison’s West Sussex, Woking by Tom Dunn, The Addington by J.F. Abercromby, and Tom Simpson’s New Zealand Golf Club. These are designs that have remained essentially unchanged over time. I can’t think of a higher standard. 

Q: Michael Keiser says that Sedge Valley may have the most interesting collection of green sites at the resort. What does that mean to you as a designer? 

A: When you don’t have to think about stretching a course to 7,300 yards, you can start thinking about finding cool green sites, without worrying about how close together they are. The fifth at Sedge Valley is a 290-yard par-4 with a skinny shelf of a green. It’s the kind of hole that actually gets long-hitters into trouble because they feel compelled to attack even when it’s not wise. That freedom from length also means that back-to-back par-3 holes are fine, provided they’re different. The sixth and seventh at Sedge Valley will be 150 yards and 220 yards, respectively. 

So the overall design does allow us to focus more on the green sites themselves. I don’t have to worry as much about a severe slope at the edge of the green being “unfair” if you’re hitting a relatively short approach into it. You look for great green sites. We found them here, and it’s a credit to Michael and Chris that they have allowed us to build around those great sites. 

Q: Your work varies dramatically in scope and scale. What will golfers discover at Sedge Valley that may surprise them? 

A: One of the most charming parts of the game is just the simple social interaction – that’s why strategic courses that lend themselves to match play are so much fun. You lose something when you have to design to the longest and most overpowering players. I don’t think you have to build a course that separates players by thousands of yards on the scorecard. A truly great course invites different styles of play but also encourages a shared experience. I think it’s still possible to make it work, and I believe Sedge Valley will show that. 

For more information, visit sandvalley.com.