The Sandbox

The Sandbox occupies an unusual position in the Sand Valley collection. It is a 17-hole par-3 course with holes ranging from 40 to 140 yards, designed by Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw, and Jim Craig and opened alongside the original Sand Valley course in 2017. At $65, it costs a fraction of the resort's 18-hole rounds. Hole for hole, it is among the most architecturally interesting on the property.

The green complexes borrow from the template tradition that Macdonald and Raynor popularised in the early twentieth century. A Biarritz green, with its central swale dividing the surface into two distinct shelves, appears here in miniature. A Lion's Mouth green funnels approaches from the correct angle toward the pin while rejecting shots from the wrong side. A Redan green, angled away from the line of play with a front-left bunker guarding the entrance, demands a specific shot shape to hold the surface. These are concepts that appear in full scale at The Lido; here they are compressed into short-iron and wedge distances where the architecture is the entire challenge. The 17-hole format plays in under two hours, which makes it ideal for an afternoon round after one of the resort's major courses in the morning. Groups of varying ability can play together without the disparities a full-length course creates; a 40-yard hole equalises a scratch golfer and a 20-handicap in a way no 450-yard par 4 ever can.

Small in scale, serious in intent. Template architecture in miniature, and a strong argument for the par-3 course as a complete experience.