Tom Doak (2024)

Sedge Valley, designed by Tom Doak and inspired by the great heathland and links courses of London and the English coast, brings back a more intimate scale and classically styled holes. Golfers will encounter the timeless strategies and elements of courses that Doak believes have best withstood the endless advances of the game.

A spoiled walk

SEDGE VALLEY: A BREAK FROM TRADITION

The Sand Valley resort was a bucket-list destination even before its latest addition. Now, it offers golfers more variety and appeal than almost any other resort in the US.

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midwest golfing magazine

SLY LIKE A FOX

By bucking convention and length and with a little inspiration, Sand Valley has found a new way to engage golfers with the opening of Sedge Valley, it’s fifth course in Central Wisconsin.

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Caddie Services

At Sand Valley we believe that the game of golf is best experienced by walking the course with a caddie. Caddies know the course intimately and can offer invaluable insight about pin placements, yardage, playing conditions, club selection and are always there for the moral support you need.

An Intimate Design Inspired by Classic English Layouts

Sand Valley’s newest course may have the oldest soul of the bunch. Construction is well underway at Sedge Valley, a Tom Doak design that draws on the great heathland and links courses of London and the English coast.

Sedge Valley blends an intimate piece of Sand Valley’s property, rich with sandy soil, native groundcover and a prominent rock outcropping with a belief long held by Doak – that great golf holes built around the finest green sites and natural features can create a course that is fun and challenging for all players and one that holds up over time with minimal alterations.

A round at Sedge Valley will provide contrast to the broad, links landscape of Coore & Crenshaw’s Sand Valley and to the massive scale and friendly contours of the resort’s second 18-hole course, David McLay Kidd’s Mammoth Dunes. At Sedge Valley, golfers will encounter the timeless strategies and elements of courses that Doak believes have best withstood the endless advances of the game.

“Sedge Valley is unique,” says Sand Valley’s co-owner Michael Keiser, Jr. “With Sedge Valley, Tom Doak shares some unique design insight. This is a golf course intended to engage your imagination and decision-making at the game’s most visceral levels. You will re-think some of your assumptions – in a great way.”

COURSE DESIGN FAQ

with Architect Tom Doak

How does Sedge Valley contrast with the two existing courses at Sand Valley?
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 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 hitter.

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.
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.

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

Michael Keiser says that Sedge Valley may have the best collection of green sites at the resort. What does that mean to you as a designer?
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 sixth 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 seventh and eigth at Sedge Valley will be 119 yards and 143 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.

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