Legends Golf Resort (Moorland)

The golf course industry is not one that invites controversy; read 99 of 100 course descriptions and they’ll all conclude their course is fun, fair, and great for all. The Moorland course at Legends Golf Resort takes a distinctly different tack, self-labeling P.B. Dye’s as “controversial” and “definitely a target golf course.”

It’s a long way from Tom Doak’s Heathland course, which opened at the same resort the same year as Moorland. Legends may be a little tough on itself, however. Although the course plays much like a layout from P.B.’s late father Pete, with numerous water hazards and large sandy waste areas, the course gives wiggle room for players to use skill and find par.

Consider the No. 14 par four, which features an Alps-like hill ahead of the green. True, playing to the safe area of the wide fairway will leave you a blind approach, but there’s the opportunity to take risk from the tee and get a peek at the flag. That’s the essence of strategic golf, and a model taken directly from C.B. Macdonald’s playbook.

That said, there are certainly punishers as well, with approaches to greens perched high on hillocks or along lakes.