Short Course, Big Memories: Playing the Par-3 at Turning Stone

There’s a special kind of joy in stepping onto a par-3 course with your son — the feeling that every hole is a fresh chance for something memorable. At Turning Stone, that magic lives at Sandstone Hollow, the resort’s fun and deceptively tricky par-3 layout. It’s the kind of course that doesn’t worry about yardage or ego. Instead, it dives straight into what makes golf great: shot-making, laughs, little victories, and time well spent.

Gus and I have played plenty of big courses together — we’ve walked long fairways, battled long rough, and stared down tough approaches. But that afternoon (after playing Atunyote) at Sandstone Hollow reminded us that sometimes the best golf happens in small moments, not long yardages. Tight tee shots, slopes that make a simple chip feel like a puzzle, greens that reward a confident stroke and punish hesitation — and all in a relaxed setting where score matters less than the smiles between swings.

Par-3 courses are having a moment in golf. And honestly, it’s easy to see why. They make the game more accessible, more fun, and less about grinding through four-plus hours and more about being together. You don’t need a bomber driver or a tour-level bag. You just need a handful of clubs, a good attitude, and someone you enjoy being around. It’s golf distilled down to what we all fell in love with in the first place.

For us, it was one of those rounds where time slows down a little. Where a pure wedge feels just as satisfying as a flushed drive. Where the biggest debate of the day became whether a high soft shot or a little bump-and-run was the play. And where it didn’t matter who shot what — what mattered was that we were out there, trading jokes, pulling for each other, and sharing the kind of morning you want to bottle up and 

Turning Stone has plenty of championship golf — and we love tackling those layouts — but Sandstone Hollow reminded me that sometimes the shortest courses create the longest-lasting memories. If par-3 golf keeps growing (and it should), it’s because places like this are proving something simple and important: golf doesn’t have to be long to be meaningful. It just has to be shared.