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Long
before
Prince Edward Island
stepped out in the golf industry as one of Canada's
great golf capitals, it was known for more modest
returns from the land. The rich red soil, the potato
harvest, and the fresh produce it yielded, were all
distinct symbols of Prince Edward Island. It was to
foreigners simple, attractive, agrarian rough country.
Today, with the veil lifted, the Island's rota of
great golf draws tens of thousands annually, and it is
fitting that the Dundarave Golf Course, a Michael
Hurdzan and Dana Fry (Devil's Pulpit, Devil's
Paintbrush, En-Joie Golf Club) design, leave behind
the traces of a land that perennially yields great
harvests.
Today,
each spring as the native grasses grow back in from
the winter and the course is brought into summer
conditions, it is the sharp red sand in the bunkers,
the colour of a soft chili powder, that forms a
brilliant aesthetic contrast with the lush green
grasses and the cool blue of the wide Brudenell River.
While designing Dundarave in the late 1990s, Hurdzan
and Fry were adamant about filling the hazards with
local soil, and the red earth helps to give Dundarave
a unique Islander quality. Add in the fact that the
flashed-face bunkers for which the design duo have
received notoriety are present all over the course,
and the result is a layout as colourful as any in the
world. With the Links at Crowbush Cove garnering all
of the attention, it was high time for Prince Edward
Island, the golf destination, to develop some depth
and texture.
There
are no ocean views here at Dundarave, no grassy knolls
of fescue and beach sand that sweep along within
earshot of the breaking surf. The land, in fact, was
rich, uneven farmland, moving over choppy terrain and
including meadow highlands and a low, broad valley
through which the Brudenell rolls. Big and gradual are
the perfect adjectives to describe the land, and
indeed the resulting course as well. Each hole offers
itself as a distinct event, the product of a great
deal of strategic thought and design wisdom. That
said, the enormity of the land also calls out to its
guests to swing away: fairways often appear to be as
wide as a football field, though wild misses are
severely punished. In all, their is a counterbalance
of a need for power and a general disregard for
precision from the tee, while the demands shift to a
finer scope around the well-protected and deftly
contoured greens. Bashing away into the PEI landscape
is fine from the tee, the architects seem to suggest,
but finding the greens is a far easier task when
playing from the proper side of the fairway, so some
discretion and strategy from the tee is necessary.
Perhaps
not so at the first two holes, as
the course heads out into the land, but at the
462-yard third, power is imperative while accuracy
remains just as important.
The golfer must make two big swipes to
leave themselves with any hope of putting for birdie
and a realistic chance at making par, but angle plays
into the equation from more than 200 yards out.
Bunkers
flank the hole and guard the left front of the green,
but there is space short and right is for a running
play into the mouth of the green or into a large
chipping/recovery area. What putting surface would be
better suited than a massive one, which still requires
the golfer to exercise some thought as to get down in
two putts.
The
trajectory of the layout follows in this pattern,
featuring regular variations. Big drives need to be
fit in large fairways, between broad but not overly
punitive fairway traps, and long approaches need to be
played wisely towards the middle of greens. At the
fifth, a virtual mirror of the fifth at neighbour
Brudenell River, the large target sits on the banks of
a waterway. The sharp red faces of five bunkers creep
to the fringe of the green's collar, demanding the
shot carry the whole way, and it should find the
proper section of the green or else three putts may be
required. A unique little hole, in which poor shots
will find the sand, marginal shots will leave a
difficult two-putt, while a great shot will be
rewarded.
The last grand highlight on the front side at
Dundarave is the eighth, a 384-yard par four that
features a dynamic tee shot across a sodden field to a
crested fairway. Looking very much like one of the
Island's great signature hole, temptation is the one
great sin here. The
hole practically begs the golfer to hit their driver,
but like the siren song drawing boats to their demise,
the hazards claim as many golf balls. The prudent play
is to layup to the 150-yard marker and play in on what
is a relatively straight line. The heroic play may be
worth the tale one can weave should they pull it off
successfully, and leave just a pitch up the green's
open throat, but conservatism should prevail here.
Even
from farther back in the fairway, the golfer should
take extra caution with the approach, regardless of
the distance, as the green falls off deceptively in
all directions.
From there, the move to the back side is highlighted
by a strong stretch of par fours that can leave
players reeling when they arrive at 14 tee. The sight
there is not a harbinger for turning things around. At
208 yards, the subtleties of the elevation changes
give players the impression that the green is non-existent,
and what there is of it running away from the
golfer. In actuality, balls must carry to the middle
of the green in order to reach pins near the back, and
the tendency is to see a lot of traffic on the sharply
mown slope short of the green.
The closing quartet offers few chances to make up
strokes here. 457 yards at 15 bend over a pond and
around a long gradual stretch of forest. 16, which is
just 325 yards, is a departure from standard, but
danger lurks everywhere on this seemingly benign hole.
An aggressive play up the left side should leave no
more than a short pitch, but a miss on the tee shot
will almost inevitably result in a 60- to 100-yard
sand shot into the green. If you are to make a birdie
down the stretch, it will more often than not fall
here.
At the penultimate hole, it is the vista rather
than the hole itself that will weigh on the minds of
players. Lost in the distraction of a great view
across the island is the shot that must find a target
211 yards away. The broad bunker short and right is a
popular place, but conservative plays should be
resisted -- misses to the left tend to bound down a
small slope into a hollow of heavy grass. The talented play is the fade
into the opening on the left side, which should bounce
onto the surface and leave a relatively reasonable two
putts for par.
The long walk home at Dundarave is littered with
mines, or at least, the golf course equivalent. The
closing par five measures 522 yards and plays gently
uphill, but the tee shot must find its way among
several clusters of sand. To set up the best angle for
the third shot, a good drive finds the right edge of
the fairway, and the second plays up the same right
side. The front left bunker
guarding the green short is by far the most cavernous
on the course and has the ability to quell any hopes
for a good score. Once on the green, the golfer faces
a huge two-tiered surface that makes finding the
proper level somewhat of a necessity, if there are
hopes for a closing par.
While
technology has made most golfers longer, some
architects have chosen to simply build longer golf
holes, ignoring the slower progress of the casual,
leisure golfer. With
five sets of tees to choose from, the golfer can find
their appropriate marker to start from at Dundarave,
and while the course is "big", it is also incredibly
forgiving. Golfers should not shy away from the
driver, because only the ugliest misses will be
punished, and a short approach provides the best
chance to avert the tighter hazards around the green.
Hurdzan and Fry certainly have varied their flavours
of architecture through the years, but with Dundarave,
they can say they have found a style combining the
aesthetics of the land with a playable challenge to
delight casual and devoted players alike.
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