Kokopelli Golf Club:
This Southern
Illinois Trickster
is a Real Treat

By Kiel Christianson,
Senior Writer

Marion, IL -Kokopelli, the mythical Hopi symbol of fertility, replenishment, music, dance, and mischief, is usually depicted playing a flute, and his distinctive silhouette is omnipresent in the Southwest. Travel a bit north and a half-continent east, however, and you'll run into Kokopelli again in Marion, Illinois, where the Native American figure exchanges his flute for a golf club and poses in the logo of Kokopelli Golf Club.

Just about the only part of Marion that resembles Kokopelli's native land in the Southwest is the course itself, where 96 sprawling bunkers make parts of the 7,154-yard Steve Smyers layout feel very desert-like, indeed. With five sets of tees, this course offers a fair challenge at an excellent price - and they don't even charge extra for all the bunker practice you get during your round.

Steve Smyers, whose designs can be found from the Caribbean to northern Michigan, prefers designs that recall the roots of the game while at the same time respecting the local vegetation and landforms. The 176 acres on which Kokopelli is built was an old coal strip mine, making for an interesting mix of more open, linksy holes with several running alongside and down into the last remaining water-filled mine pit. Smyers doesn't want anything to besmirch the purity of his layouts, so you won't even find yardage markers or hole numbers posted at the tee stands.

His attentiveness to the environment lends a clean, but visceral feel to the course: The sand traps range from small, deep pot bunkers to flat, branching fairway bunkers with oh-so-Scottish bushy fringes. And while some driving holes don't have even one fairway bunker (e.g., Nos. 7 and 14), others (e.g., Nos. 3 and 16) resemble parts of the Vieques bombing range.

Aaron Fisher, Head Pro at Kokopelli since the course opened in 1997, notes that even with all the bunkering and ever-present hazards off the tees (ranging from fescue nearly thick enough to lose your golf bag in, much less a ball, to water to trees), "You can get away with spraying the ball a bit off the tee." However, he continues, "Approaches, and especially chipping and putting must be sharp."

Fortunately, Pete Ferguson, Course Superintendent, has put his encyclopedic knowledge of turf management to good use: The Cato bentgrass greens are immaculately kept - smooth, quick, and true - as are the tightly mowed chipping/collection areas surrounding most of the greens. Approaches that don't stick will end up in these areas, and if you don't have a solid bump-and-run or flop-shot game in your bag, you may need a calculator to add up your score at the end of the round.

Conditions: B- Layout: A- Service: A+ Practice Fac.: A- Club House/Pro Shop: A+ Pace of Play: A Value: A+ Overall Rating: A-

Ferguson's efforts on the greens are all the more impressive considering the brief yet somewhat contentious history of the course. The original owners spent a grand sum of money building the course and luxurious clubhouse, apparently with an eye toward selling out and making some fast cash. The deal didn't materialize as quickly as expected, though, and in the three years after the course opened, minimal funds were designated for upkeep. The result was basically three years of neglect.

A new ownership group, including Smyers himself, finally bought the course late in 2000, and conditions, along with customer service, have been top priorities. Some of Smyers's ambitious bunkering is being completely rebuilt to better hold the sand and drain after heavy downpours, and each and every bunker will eventually be refilled and fluffed. Numerous patches of winterkill in the Bermuda fairways will be back later this season, as well. Marion experienced 45 days of straight below-freezing temperatures during the winter of 2000-2001, and it took a bit of a toll on some fairways.

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In fact, this may be one of the most difficult regions in the country to maintain course conditions: Too hot in the summer for bentgrass, too cold in the winter for Bermuda, and heavy clay topsoil. All things considered, the new ownership has already done a fantastic job getting the course back into shape. The only obvious impediment to play were a few of the signature bunkers, which were almost as hard as concrete, forcing some delicate clean picks from even greenside bunkers.

From the tips, hole No. 1 gives you a good indication of what your round will be like. Tee shots must travel uphill, staying between two fairway bunkers left and three right at the crest of the hill. Note that the third bunker on the right side is not visible from the tee, so if you're going to miss a bit right, you'd better hit it long. But not too long, since there is some gnarly fescue right of and beyond that last hidden bunker.

No. 3 (559 yards, par 5) is one of the semi-signature holes. From the tee you need to negotiate no less than thirteen fairway bunkers off the tee, carrying as many as you can without hooking one into the woods left or spraying one way right and long into the trees. A creek runs diagonally across the fairway, so you need to decide whether to carry it or lay up short on your second.

The 204-yard, par-3 8th is another near-signature hole, with sadistic bunkering encircling a sickeningly undulating green. It must be hard to even find a level spot on which to cut the hole on this putting surface. There is still some evidence of the previous owners' lack of care here. Some of the bunkers are washed out. According to pro Fisher, something called Bunker Wall will be installed in all the greens, beginning with these, to keep the walls firmer and allow balls to roll down into the fluffier bottoms of the traps.

The back nine starts off with a breather, as Nos. 10-14 rank only as the twelfth, fourteenth, sixteenth, tenth, and eighteenth most difficult holes, respectively. The last four, however, rank sixth, second, eighth, and fourth, respectively, so try to score early or you might not score at all.

The 419-yard, par-4 13th is a gorgeous hole…literally. From the tips, you hit over as much of a 90-foot deep gorge as you dare. Feeling frisky? Cut off 270 yards on the fly for just a 150-yard approach to the bowl-shaped, well-bunkered green (and then flex until your neck veins pop out). Or chicken out and leave yourself 200 yards in, remembering that anything even a smidge left from tee to green here is dead. But hey, no pressure.

The 14th may be the easiest hole statistically, but it is also perhaps one of the most beautiful in all of southern Illinois. At only 146 to 61 yards (depending on your tee), all you need to do is play darts with a wedge or short iron. The green is well below the tees, small, and surrounded on three sides by the water that fills the old strip mine pit. Oh, and there are three wicked bunkers, of course. Anything short or left here will be wet. Heck, even the green was wet a couple of years ago when the entire thing slid down into the water after a heavy rain. Amazingly, there is no obvious sign of the damage today.

The 540-yard 18th is a solid closing hole. From 30 yards into the green, all you can see from the fairway is bunkers and mounding that hides even more bunkers. It takes a good bit of experience - or a GPS system or forecaddy (neither of which are available) - to have any idea of where the putting surface actually is hiding in all that sand.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.