Kiva Dunes Golf Course

Review & Rating of Kiva Dunes Golf Club in Gulf Shores Alabama

Wow, what a fantastic track that is well deserving of all the awards and accolades, some of which include:  

• Best Courses You Can Play – Golfweek 2015
• Golf Digest voted Kiva Dunes #2 in the Best New Public Courses in the U.S. (Dec. 1995) and ranked them #58 in America’s Top 100 Public Courses in 2003
• Golf Magazine rated them in the Top 10 Courses You Can Play

Kiva Dunes Golf Club was designed by Jerry Pate, winner of the 1976 US Open as a PGA Tour rookie, and the course opened in 1995.  He designed a wide-open, links-style course that meanders through sand and trees and environmentally protected areas on a stunning and secluded piece of property between the Gulf of Mexico and Bon Secour Bay. 

In November 2015 $1.5 was invested to improve Kiva Dunes Golf Club  playability, lower the maintenance costs, and improve the pace of play.  Money was spent on transitioning the greens to TIF Eagle, making the bunkers much easier by changing the steep faces from sand to grass, cutting back on the scrub brush, and lots of other changes.  

What we think makes Kiva Dunes Golf Club a fun and must play course includes:

• excellent conditions from tee box to the pin and the course is very well maintained and manicured
• lots of variety with each hole being a little different from the previous holes
• a little bite of everything that will test your game including forced carries, dog legs, hidden hazards, water and sand, wetlands and natural areas, wind,  and contoured fairways and alligators
• pot to monster sized bunkers plus waste bunkers – all of which are fairly easy to find
• challenging green complexes and heavily contoured and rolling fairway
• holes that require good club selection as well as course management skills and precise approach shots

Kiva Dunes Golf Club is a bear from the tips at 7122 yards so make sure you don't try to bite off more than you can chew and you'll have a fun round.  Wind will typically come into play and it can have a significant impact on your score.  Generally speaking the fairways are ample off the tee box but if you spray it you're wet, lost in a natural area, under some trees, under the scrub brush, or in one of those treacherous bunkers. 

There are some outstanding holes at Kiva Dunes, some of which include:

• #2, a 541 yard par 5, with an intimidating forced carry over a wetland and huge natural sand area from the tee box followed by a fairway that twists and turns along a lake and past 6 bunkers to a guarded green
• #5 has a challenging shot off the tee to a landing zone with sand, water, and trees that can easily come into play
• #6 offers an excellent risk reward shot to try and shorten the hole by carrying a long natural sand area – you need to nail a tight fairway and not overrun it and land in the wetlands
• #13, a 175 yard par 3 with a carry over the waste bunker to a dramatically raised green complex with 5 big steep and deep bunkers surrounding it
• the spectacular 458-yard par 4 18th has a lake and a sunning alligator along the right side plus a long nasty stand bunker and one of the biggest greens I've experienced – 51 yards deep and just about as wide makes it over

If you've come to Gulf Shores to enjoy the 32 miles of beaches with white sand that looks like its specially ordered from a postcard then you'll love the bunkers at Kiva Dunes Golf Club which are large and deep and filled with enough of that same fine white sand to add another 5 miles to the beach.  I spent so much time in the bunkers I should have ordered an umbrella, a beach chair, and a Pina Colada.  I think I  took home over a pound of sand in the shoes, pockets, hair, and other body openings!  The good news is that they are in perfect condition and the sand is soft and thick.  The grass surrounding the bunkers can be equally as challenging – typically thick and difficult to hit from, but better there than in a steep faced bunker. 

The greens at Kiva Dunes are equally as treacherous as the bunkers – plenty of slope and undulation plus tiers and ridges.  The greens are huge which made 3 putts very common for me.  They were in perfect condition, held the ball well (a little firm because they are new), and ran true.  They were a tad slow when we played but they normally run around a 10.  The greens range in shape and most are well above average size and 18 is huge at 14,000 square yards – the average green at Kiva Dunes is 7500 square yards!

The Kiva Dunes fairways were also perfect.  Most are ample and there is room for some error.  Several have plenty of contour.  All of the fairways will cause you problems if you really spray the ball thanks to water, waste bunkers, or natural areas. 

Kiva Dunes has an excellent stay and play package and is opening a new beach front pavilion and swimming pool in fall of 2016.

Bottom line – Kiva Dunes can be demanding but it's fair and if you pick the right set of tee boxes and avoid the bunkers you'll have a good round and even if you don't score well, you'll still enjoy this fantastic course.