Colorado Golf Course Reviews
Overview
Bear Dance Golf Course is located in Larkspur just south of Castle Rock. For some people this doesn’t make for an easy place to get to since both distance and driving time from north of Denver can deter people from paying a visit to this course. Also, it’s primary competition (when it comes to price range) is Castle Pines North
Overview
Positioned about 25-30 minutes west of Vail, sits yet another Pete Dye designed 18 hole championship golf course. The semi-private Cotton Ranch Club Golf Course, located in the town of Gypsum, boasts “the longest golf season in the Vail valley”. The natural beauty found in and directly around the course is enhanced even further by the generous views of two mountain ranges (Red Table, and New York) and one prominent Castle Peak.
Overview
Fossil Trace Golf Course, situated in Golden Colorado is a Jim Engh designed championship level playing facility. It is positioned next to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains offering perhaps one of the most unique playing experiences in the state. The experience isn’t simply unique for the views as plenty of courses in Colorado offer breathtaking scenery, but the combination of the course layout and deep history that surrounds the player make for a truly one of a kind round. An example of this experience would be the 64 million year old trace fossils of palm fronds and triceratops footprints located adjacent to #12 green.
Overview
Fox Hollow Golf Course is located in Lakewood just a few miles east of C-470 off of Morrison Road. Nestled close to the foothills this course offered the architecht Denis Griffiths a variety of options for making holes both traditional yet interesting. Since opening in 1993, this course is typically rated as one of the best facilities to play at year in and year out. Having played it numerous times, the first thing that stands out is the overall condition of the course. It’s typically outstanding. The greens are in excellent shape all season, and the fairways even during the driest parts of the year are extremely well cared for. There are 3 distinctly different 9’s on this course and while the consensus seems to favor Canyon/Meadows, the Links 9 offers the variety that most traditional 18 hole courses lack. You can play Fox Hollow 3 different ways, but depending on how you start off, the total can reach 9! However, if you’re playing here for the first time, call ahead as you might prefer to play Canyon/Meadows over the Links.
Overview
Green Valley Ranch is home to the Colorado Open Championships. This includes the HealthONE Colorado Open, HealthONE Colorado Women’s Open and HealthONE Colorado Senior Open. As you might imagine, these tournaments are meant to challenge the players who enter them at all levels of their golfing abilities.
Overview
Lafayette might seem like an out-of-the-way city for someone living in and around the Denver metro area. However, it’s actually only about 25-30 minutes northwest of the downtown area. While the number of people as well as the overall size of the town have changed like most small towns have in the past few years, Lafayette can still boast
Overview
Located in Monument, King’s Deer Golf Club boasts of a “true” links style experience. It offers some excellent views of Pike’s Peak and the course definitely has a different feel about it. Tall native grass surrounds most of the playing area, and the course does have it’s fair share of water. For being such an exposed course, it still maintains it’s unique character throughout each hole even when they parallel one another. For the most part, the scenery seems to be better on the front than the back due to the wonderful views of Pike’s Peak. Although, the back offers possibly the most dramatic elevation change, it only appears on the 10th hole. Other than number one and number ten, this course definitely has a flat “feel”. This course does call for accuracy with undulating fairways and fairway bunkers. Almost every green is well guarded by traps. If the wind isn’t up, the course is relatively unguarded as the overall distance of 6711 yards from the tips is not a tall order. What is deceiving about the yardage though and makes this course tough to push over are the long par 3’s. Don’t be misled by number two, they will get tougher!
Overview
Normally the course review starts out with the location and some general background information about the facility. For this review however, we’ll take you to the Par 4 9th hole. No, it’s not the most scenic on the course, and it’s not rated as the most difficult (#3 handicap) but it does lend itself nicely to describing the overall nature of this 18 hole championship design.
Overview
Lone Tree Golf Club is an Arnold Palmer-designed 18-hole golf course. The course and accompanying hotel is owned and operated by South Suburban Parks and Recreation. Initially the course opened in 1985 as a private club, however, in 1991 South Suburban Parks and Recreation purchased Lone Tree and converted it to a public facility. The course is a very well maintained and challenging layout which wanders through the somewhat varying terrain of the area.
Overview
Mariana Butte Golf Course has been rated as a 4 1/2 star course by Golf Digest, and is located less than an hour away from Downtown Denver in Loveland. The layout of Mariana takes you through a mixture of small hills and what feels like open meadows as it sits just next to the foothills. The Big Thompson river made most famous by the flood of 1976 flows beautifully through portions of the course as well often assisting in framing out some very spectacular tee shots.
Overview
Murphy Creek Golf Course has quickly become one of the top rated public courses in the nation. Completed in 1999 by architect Ken Kavanaugh it is hosting to the 2008 Amateur Public Links Championship. The course offers a long prairie style links layout. With tall native grasses accompanied by shaggy rough and a relatively long 7,584 yards in distance, this course definitely offers a challenge to players of all abilities. While the course has plenty to offer, Murphy Creek can also boast about one of the more interesting clubhouses in the Denver Metro area. It’s grand appearance almost makes you think you’re visiting a farm rather than a clubhouse. It’s pays a nice compliment to reminding people of what golf must have been like (somewhat) during the times of Old Tom Morris.
Overview
Designed by Jim Engh and opened in 1999, Red Hawk Ridge Golf Course has quickly become a course that a great number of people have either played or want to play. Situated in Castle Rock, it is in fact one of only two fully public facilities in the immediate area. It’s surrounded by many well known and more prestigious courses (Castle Pines, The Club at Pradera, and Sanctuary) but has held it’s own in this very robust and thriving golf community.
Overview
Riverdale Dunes was designed by Pete and Perry Dye in 1986. The course is located in Brighton next to the Adams County Fairgrounds, and shares the space with it’s sister course Riverdale Knolls. Now if you’re a native to Colorado and you’ve never played the course or don’t live near it, you might think to yourself “what course in Brighton could possibly be worth playing”.
Overview
Saddle Rock Golf Course is a relatively new track in the southeastern portion of the Denver Metro Area. Situated close to E-470 in Aurora, it was actually completed in 1997 - before most of us had ever thought we’d actually pay to use a road on the Colorado plains! Saddle Rock is described as a “long, high plains, links-style” course, and has been featured as a top ten in Golf Digest’s review of public courses in the United States.
Overview
South Suburban Golf Course is located in Centennial and is operated by the South Suburban Parks and Recreation department. Not an overly long course from the back at 6793 yards, what it lacks in distance it makes up for with some of the faster more undulating greens around. You can consistently expect the greens to be guarded with either mounds of rough or traps. The protected fast greens make scoring on this course consistently difficult and you can expect to have your short game tested throughout your round. The course is relatively flat but on occasion you will find slight to moderate elevation changes. Water isn’t abundant, and really won’t factor into your shot decisions if at all. Trees however will come into view that at times might prove to be somewhat daunting (hole 11 in particular). During the hottest part of the season (July/August) the rough tends to dry out and the greens become increasingly faster.
Overview
The Meadows Golf Club, one of the many Dick Phelps inspired designs in the state was created with the assistance of Brad Benz and Mike Poellot. The course is situated on the west side of Littleton just east of C-470.
Overview
Located in Castle Rock, The Ridge at Castle Pines North is a Troon owned and operated Golf Facility. Now when you hear the name Troon, most people immediately think “expensive”. However what you should think of when you hear Troon is “quality golfing experience”. The Ridge at Castle Pines fulfills that thought completely. Set in the rugged terrain of the foothills, this course offers some amazing views of the Bear Valley area, at times makes you feel like you’re hiking in the woods. There are numerous elevation changes and sloping fairways that will make you stop and think before teeing up on almost every hole. Most Colorado Golfer’s like to compare this course to Bear Dance which is about 15 miles south of Castle Pine’s. While it’s true that both courses offer a great Colorado Golf experience, the key difference between the two courses in my opinion are the greens. The greens at CP are a bit easier to putt on while recently Bear Dance has done some renovating to make it’s greens somewhat more forgiving. The signature hole (17) is a shorter par 3 and is made even better by the closing hole with a tee box that overlooks the green (pictured here). It’s a great way to close out a wonderful round of golf. All in all, this course can be a great deal with a coupon and would be a wonderful course to hold an event on to show how beautiful Colorado is.
Overview
Vista Ridge Golf Club is located about 25 minutes north of Denver. It’s a fairly easy drive as you can take I-25 most of the way. The surrounding area where the course is located as grown quite a bit since the course was built in 2003. Houses are beginning to line the course but overall the houses never really impede on your round. Perhaps most impressive (aside from the course’s quality) are the views you get where you might not expect them. The Front Range of the Rockies stand quite impressive in the early spring rounds with their snow capped peaks. Even in mid summer the views can still be quite majestic on a clear day. While Vista Ridge is no longer a “Troon” owned course, the standards have not diminished at all since the buyout some two seasons ago.
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2003 - 2008