Due to the recent thread regarding both the quality of Jim Engh's design work, and the general lack of discussion of his projects here on GCA, I felt this could initiate some responses.
At Hawktree, Jim Engh was successful at providing a good golf experience at an affordable price; hence all the acclaim it received upon opening. However, upon playing there a couple of times in late summer, I was struck by my lukewarm reception of the golf course.
The first issue is walkability. Virtually impossible if attempted on successive days. The golf course is situated on a fairly severe parcel of land, and the holes play repititiously from tees located on high points down into the numerous valleys where the fairways and greens have been constructed. This is followed by a steep climb to the next tee, and so the story goes on and on. The problem here being, that the topography is not negotiated in a more gradual manner, and the residual slopes are a formidable challenge to both ascend and descend (requiring a golf cart yields it much less affordable!).
Because of this treatment of the land, the repetitive elevated tee shot looses its charm quickly. It is a difficult task to gauge distance from such heights, some dropping nearly a hundred feet (No.3, No. 7, No. 10, No. 16), which tends to make the experience unnerving rather than exhilirating.
Engh is definitely not afraid to move a lot of dirt in creating his golf courses, and although the bold undulations of the natural landscape warrants such earthwork to make the land golfable, at the end of the day, the work does not seem to exist harmoniously with its surrounds. The mounding is simply too uniform and gracefully sculpted.
In sum, Hawktree GC is a good course that provides a fair, affordable test of golf and enhances the golfscape of the Midwest. I focused more on the negative aspects in an effort to stimulate discussion, and would say that the $45 green fee is worth a couple hour drive to the course (just playing out of black sand hazards is worth at least $10!). For the value of the money, it is a positive step forward in the realm of golf course architecture; small budgets can provide a solid product. And maybe that's where the high ranking stems from, because in comparison with other new designs in recent years, it's not obvious to me.
Tyler Kearns