Dundarave Golf Club, P.E.I.

During U-S Open week, my wife and I had the pleasure of spending 4 days in one of our favorite golf destinations - Prince Edward Island.

I have written before about golf on PEI in this space and how rewarding an experience it is but it had been several years since we had been back.

Nothing has changed. In fact, that's the charm of the Island. The slow pace of life, lack of traffic and rural scenery that nearly always includes water will likely never change.

What the Island could have used during our trip was a little more global warming.

We arrived early Thursday evening at Charlottetown International airport. Our aircraft was the only one on the apron and we quickly got our bags and clubs, grabbed our rental car and headed to our first destination.

During our two previous visits to PEI, we had played the top courses on the Island except for one: Dundarave, one of two layouts at the Rodd Brudenell Resort on the east end of the Island, about 20 miles or so from Charlottetown.

Friday morning dawned grey and cool. And very windy. From the living room window of our comfortably furnished suite, I could see the flag on the 9th green of the adjacent Brudenell River course standing straight out.

On the practice tee, we were hitting directly into the teeth of the wind which was blowing at about 25 to 30 miles an hour. It would prove to be a three-club wind out on the course.

Dundarave was designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry and the holes are laid out around the Brudenell course. Dundarave measures nearly 7100 yards from the championship tees, according to the card.

Tees, greens and fairways are variations of bentgrass and the extensive trapping features PEI's natural red soil. This provides a unique visual feature to Dundarave but in wet weather, the sand can pack down in the traps.

Hurdzan and Fry have done a remarkable job creating Dundarave which was built in 1999 but feels like an old Stanley Thompson course built many years earlier. The holes are cut out of the PEI forest and, at no point on the course can you see another hole.

The golfer stands on each tee box isolated from the rest of the course - just him (or her) and the hole stretching out ahead. What this means in practical terms, however, is that you cannot walk this course. Even in a golf cart, moving from green to tee can take several minutes of riding.

We met up with Terry Hamilton, the CPGA director of golf and Blair Smith, general manager at Rodd Resort Brudenell on the first tee. All of us opted to play from the whites which seemed more than manageable at 6028 yards.

But that wind would prove to be brutal. A starting temperature of only 50 degrees soon dropped sharply into the low 40s and the wind actually grew stronger.

It blew so hard that we had to mark our balls quickly on the greens. At one point, as I bent down to mark mine, the ball shot off to my right another two feet during an especially strong gust.

Not pretty. But Dundarave's character was still evident despite the inclement conditions. The hole pictured above is number 8, a par-4 that plays 324 yards from the white tees. But the picture only shows the forward tees. The other three tee boxes are tucked around to the left out of the picture and force you to drive over a tidal marsh and the line of bunkers hugging the left side of the fairway to a narrow landing area beyond the traps, a distance of roughly 225 yards - all carry.

Guarding the far side of the fairway, you can see more bunkers.

Of course, the wind was directly in our faces off the tee which made a well struck shot imperative to clear the tidal marsh. My second tee shot did.

The conditions grew intolerable after 12 holes and we were forced to abandon our round on the 12th green. A shame, because Dundarave is a wonderful layout that forces the golfer to think carefully about shot placement. But it doesn't penalize a less than perfect effort, either.

The course is kept in immaculate condition; the greens run around 10.5 on the Stimpmeter. Not a lot of break but be careful not to over-read what's there!

I look forward to playing this one again when the weather is better.

Accommodations are found at the Rodd Brudenell Resort which sits smack astride both Brudenell River Golf Course and Dundarave. Rodd has a number of resorts in Atlantic Canada, three of which are on Prince Edward Island - all featuring fine golf courses. Our room was spacious and featured a living room, kitchenette and separate bedroom. A balcony that overlooked Brudenell's 9th green and 10th tee on the river was another lovely feature.

There are two places in the main building where you can eat but neither was open during our stay. We ate at Club 19 in the clubhouse - the usual pub fare, nothing fancy, but it was good. The staff really make the place, however. PEIers are among the friendliest people I have ever met. Blair Smith, general manager of Rodd Brudenell, made us feel at home and within minutes of meeting him, we felt like we'd known him for years. A good guy, as is Terry Hamilton.

We left Dundarave on Saturday as Tiger was working his way towards the top of the leaderboard at the Open. Our next stop was the Rodd Resort at Crowbush Cove and a date with The Links at Crowbush Cove.

More on that tomorrow.