"Short and Sweet: 9-Hole, Par 3, and Short Courses Are The Future"
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There is much to feel good about in Adam Schupak's Links Magazine cover story on Par-3 courses gaining popularity, respect and a passionate audience wanting more of them.
For starters, there is the totality of the short course message being validated by big names like Woods, Spieth, Bandon and Pinehurst.
There is the sheer variety of projects, the styles of design, numbers of holes and different philosophies for building or adding a Par-3 Course.
The lack of dissent, except from Links editor George Peper and Golf Digest Architecture Editor Ron Whitten, speaks to the way these little courses resonate with most.
And selfishly, there is this very nice mention of the Prairie Club Horse Course's impact on Mike Keiser.
Bandon Preserve was conceived as a breather for the golfer walking 36 holes day after day at the resort’s four standout 18-hole layouts, while giving another option to the golfer who didn’t want to sit in his room all afternoon, either. Keiser says his inspiration for the Preserve was The Horse Course, a course with no tees, just expanded fairways and 10 greens, at the Prairie Club in Nebraska. Designed by Gil Hanse with Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford, the trio took the concept of basketball’s game of “horse,” which allows the winner of each hole to choose the stance, lie, shot, and green for the next hole.
Here's a fun drone shot of the Horse Course by Patrick Koenig:
