Sand Hills first time - worth the 5 hour drive from nowhere?

[LinksLover]

Finally got on Sand Hills last month. Took me four years of asking the same member every spring before he caved, and I'm still not sure I earned it so much as wore him down.

The drive is the first test. Flew into North Platte, grabbed a sandwich, then spent 45 minutes on highway 97 convinced I'd made a wrong turn into someone's cattle ranch. Then the clubhouse appears out of the dunes like it was dropped there. No range, no fancy entrance, nobody handing you a towel. Just a guy pointing at the first tee.

What got me was how much of it is feel, not visuals. I've played Bandon and Streamsong and Prairie Dunes, and those courses shout at you. Sand Hills kind of just sits there and waits. The fairways are wide enough that you think you're going low, then the greens do the talking. Faster than I expected for sand, and I three putted four times, which is not a number I usually say out loud.

Wind showed up on 12 and never left. My caddie had been looping there eleven years and said it was a mild day. A mild day. I hit a 6 iron from 155 and came up 20 short.

Ben's Porch is the spot everyone talks about, and yeah, sitting there at the turn with a drink and nobody around for miles is worth the whole trip. But here's my honest take, and I'll probably get roasted for it: as a pure golf course I'd still put Pacific Dunes above it. Sand Hills wins on setting and vibe and that weird quiet. Pacific Dunes wins on shots I actually want to hit again.

Anyone else feel that way, or am I just bitter about the four three jacks? Also curious how the wind usually plays because the member told me June is calm and I have doubts.