We are in our second year of membership, and we love having Ocean Dunes as our home course. The course is on sand, so even after heavy rains, it’s usually playable the next day. The layout is unique a... Continue »

We are in our second year of membership, and we love having Ocean Dunes as our home course. The course is on sand, so even after heavy rains, it’s usually playable the next day. The layout is unique and challenging. If you like straight holes with wide visibility, this isn’t the course for you. Ten of the holes are completely blind, which makes your first round somewhat frustrating, usually with a lot of lost balls. Many of the fairways slant to one side, so even seemingly good drives can go awry, leaving you with a challenging second shot. We really enjoy the layout, and feel that our skills have been forced to develop.
The course is usually in good condition, especially the greens. The fairways are often patchy, especially in the summer, but we adjust by lifting and replacing. During the summer months, there is a predictable prevailing wind out of the NW, which typically gusts up to 30 or 40 mph.
Fortunately, the winds are minimal during the cooler months, so you can still play when it’s pretty cold (low 40’s) without a wind chill factor.
There are definitely too many days when pace of play can be annoying, for a variety of reasons 1) Much of the population is older, so they naturally move slowly. 2) Fivesomes are sometimes allowed. 3) Walkers can be very annoying, especially if they are slow movers to begin with. Walkers and fellow golfers would be better off playing at Florence Golf Links. 4) I think course management would be improved if they had a Marshall and a starter to improve and enforce pace of play. As members, we can always pick up our balls and go home when pace of play is intolerable, but it is frustrating to have to do so.
If you want or need instruction, Bob is an excellent teacher.
Overall we highly recommend Ocean Dunes. It’s been a pleasure to play here.