Sand shots are the last ones many of us master, if indeed we ever do. One skulled or chili-dipped bunker shot can ruin an otherwise well-played round and tempt a slammed club or a vow to never to play again. Been there, done that. But sand is unavoidable on virtually all modern golf courses; bunkering not only builds in an extra challenge but the white sands against green landscapes add some artwork to the day. Yet beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and to a golfer with bunker-phobia, a golf designer’s art will inspire nightmares.
Which brings me around to a dream of a golf course called Broomsedge and its eye-popping landscape. Located in a rural upstate area of South Carolina, the course is the vision of Mike Koprowski who hired Kyle Franz to co-design a dreamscape of a golf layout located on nearly 200 acres in the sandy inland area of the state. Yet with an average of more than eight mostly huge and deep bunkers per hole, your golf score and mood are at the mercy of avoiding them. Avoid them all, or at least most of them, and you will have a satisfying round. I found a few of them, retreated better than I typically do, and put up my best score in the last six months, an 80, albeit from the front tees. The attached photos will make the case better than my dark notes above.
I won’t belabor a description of the course because my playing partner for the day, my son Tim, captured it all in an article for GolfPass. Tim has been an excellent sand player since youth. He shot a 76 from the 6,900-yard layout.
