The Founder's Cup at Sand Valley Golf Resort

For the folks who love a pure golf experience, Sand Valley Golf Resort exceeds those expectations. The accommodations and service is world class, and the golf courses themselves (Sand Valley, Mammoth Dunes, and the Sandbox) are well designed, beautifully kept to play fast, firm, and absolutely unforgettable. The tangibles made Sand Valley special, but the little details made it stand out.

For starters, the brand new guest rooms make you feel like you’re in a luxurious but understated hotel. Even though there’s a TV, room copies of “Dream Golf: The Making of Bandon Dunes” and Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There” makes sure you never need to channel surf.

If that’s all you notice before you look out the window, you’re in for a treat once you open the curtains. Just outside your window is a full, unobstructed view of The Sandbox, Mammoth Dunes, or Sand Valley, depending on where you stay. It’s like looking at Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom, except with reasonable rates.

A week before we arrived, NewClub CEO Matt Considine had the chance to play all three courses with grounds crew and staffers of the resort. After explaining that an extra box of balls were packed, he replied, “There is absolutely no way you can lose a golf ball here.” Save for a very wayward tee shot into the pond on the short par 4 ninth hole at Sand Valley, he wasn’t wrong.

Truly, it’s the course design that really highlights how Sand Valley got it right. Not only do they roll out the red carpets for their guests and treat them to amazing facilities, the courses are truly designed to be challenging for the scratch and kind to the high-handicapper.

If you hear this sort of description for any course with 200+ yard forced carries and water hazards galore, it’s just plain wrong.

For anyone that’s not a scratch, leaving a golf course without losing a ball is like shooting in the 70s -- plain and simple.

Even though we faced frost delays and howling winds, the weekend couldn’t have been more special for our inaugural Founder’s Cup and first golf destination as NewClub.

We can’t wait to come back for year two.