Kiva Dunes

In the early 1990s, developer Jim “Scrappy” Edgemon discovered an exciting property on the Fort Morgan Peninsula, a sandy spit that forms the south eastern flank of Mobile Bay. His vision was to create a golf and beach resort that was complemented by a links-style golf course so he called in former US Open champion Jerry Pate to fashion an 18-hole layout for the new Kiva Dunes development.

First opened in 1995, Kiva Dunes is testament to the two men’s shared love of golf and, twenty years after the course was unveiled, a one and a half million dollar refurbishment was carried out to upgrade all the greens and bunkers, as well as remove some of the trees that were hindering the agronomic integrity of the layout.

The unique location of Kiva Dunes on a very narrow peninsula that separates Mobile Bay from the Gulf of Mexico means that ever-shifting winds make each and every round on the course different, depending on whether it’s the gulf or the bay breezes that are dominating.

Highlight holes include the 541-yard 2nd (with the green positioned behind a small lake), the 576-yard right doglegged 5th (which features a number of large fairway bunkers), the 215-yard 17th (played across water to a very narrow green), and the 458-yard 18th, where the enormous home green is protected by an equally large bunker to the front right of the putting surface.