The Dam Course is located on Binder Lake. The course's start is across the street from little brown building which was, in a former life, a bait shop. There is kiosk at the start showing some basic information. The concrete tee pads are enormous, probably 10 feet wide, way bigger than needed. The baskets are Kingpins which used to orange but most have faded to hot pink. They and my putter are a perfect match. The tee signs need to be replaced with something permanent. They are currently laminated and staples on. With all the traffic that passes through the course, I'm surprised that any remain. Maybe four were missing.

Some holes had benches and here's a first for me, a couple of the benches had a rubber pad in front so your little feet don't make mud pies. My guess is, that when they replaced the old rubber tee pads with concrete, someone had the clever idea to utilize the old pads .

Navigation is helped by next tee signs.

The course is not aimed at beginners or rec players. It's intermediate level challenging. Possibly, 6-7 holes are over 500' (depending on basket placement) and # 18 stretches for 775'. There is some nice elevation to play down, up and over. Nice combination of wooded and open holes.

There were two interesting things on the last three holes. On # 16, the fairway is lined on both sides with small logs. I guess to prevent rollaways. Then in the middle of the # 17 fairway is a what must be a tribute to someone. There is a circle of rocks with a cross inside it. Players have left 25 minis as part of this tribute. Interesting!

Binder Lake seems to be a sailing mecca as I see lots of sailboats for rent. That howling wind that the sailors love raises havoc with my game.

The laminated tee signs just won't up on any public course. I hope some permanent metal signs are in the future plans.

And speaking of permanent signs...As this course has many holes with multiple basket positions, there is no way that information can be conveyed via laminated signage. I hope if and when permanent signs are added, that these signs have the washer system to indicate which position the basket is in on this day.

Course is probably just enough and challenging enough that the casual rec golfers won't be returning. And the Joseph Miller DGC, just over one mile away, is a much more comfortable and less stressful round.

With two competitive and quite different really nice courses just a mile apart, players can enjoy a great days of golfing at the lake. The courses combined should be able to host a rather impressive tournament, too.

The Dam is a really fine course. It lacks severe elevation and doesn't feature that really memorable hole like several at Harmony Bends or # 6 at Dragon Ridge. There are holes that you just have to tell people about. Or in the case of # 6 at Dragon Ridge, a hole you have a love-hate relationship with. I don't find myself dreaming about any one hole at The Dam Course.