Quivira Golf Club: Insider Tips

From a player’s point of view, the award-winning, architectural juggernaut requires careful study—and a realistic approach. The visuals, notably a series of holes that tiptoe along sheer granite cliffs high above the sea, can be very intimidating, especially to first-timers. Because of the vertiginous setting, each risk-reward scenario on this epic layout must be weighed very carefully.

Here are 10 insider tips that apply across the board.

• When in doubt, take the conservative route. This golf course rewards prudent play, not heroic recoveries.
• Consider moving up a set of tees from your normal preferred yardage. You’ll reach more greens in regulation and have more fun.
• Play the desert rule. If your ball departs the fairway and enters an inhospitable landscape thick with prickly vegetation, take a drop two club lengths from where the ball entered the desert, with a penalty of one stroke.
• Quivira is hilly. The land rises sharply from sea level to huge dunes and desert foothills. Rolling fairways present an assortment of uphill, downhill and sidehill lies. Depending on the lie, players must adjust their stances and grip up or down on the club to ensure solid contact.
• The invisible hazard at Quivira is the wind. The prevailing breeze is from the west-southwest, but it can shift during the round and must be taken into consideration on every shot.
• Arrive at least an hour before your tee time. Quivira’s driving range parallels the beach within earshot of the booming surf. As a place to warm up, few practice facilities anywhere in the world can match its setting. The steady onshore breeze gives players a taste of the challenge that awaits. In addition, the dedicated short game practice area is excellent.
• The greens at Quivira are firm, fast, and true. Spend some time on the practice putting green before teeing off to get a feel for how firmly the ball needs to be stroked to reach the hole from a variety of distances.
• Be observant. Throughout the course, Nicklaus built kicker slopes and containment mounds that tend to gather the ball to safety or feed the ball to the hole. A case in point is the dazzling par-3 14th hole, which plays across a chasm to a tiny green that crowns a rock pinnacle high above the boiling sea. Hit safely to the grassy slope on the left, and the ball will generally roll down the slope and onto the green.
• Make your visit to the Cliffs Comfort Station at No. 6 brief. From this exalted perch nearly 300 feet above the sea, you can scan the horizon for whales during the winter months, take a few pictures, grab a quick snack and go. Save your appetite for the Mexican specialties served at The Oasis, the halfway house at No. 9.
• Be sure to savor the entire experience. Quivira sprawls across an exalted and unique Land’s End landscape. It presents challenges that can overmatch duffers and mystify experts. Don’t let a few mishaps spoil your day. Long after you’ve forgotten your score, you’ll remember the mesmerizing top-of-the-world views.

Start planning your next golf getaway! Be sure to book your tee time in advance.