Arrowhead Golf Course - Review

March 27th, 2009 by mulligan

Overview

Claiming to be the “most photographed” course in America, one visit to Arrowhead Golf Course, and you’ll soon see why. Without even leaving the parking lot you’ll witness awe-inspiring views of the pre-historic red sandstone pillars that simply tower over the course that intertwines it’s way throughout the landscape. If you’re from Colorado and you play golf, you’ve no doubt at least heard of Arrowhead, and if you haven’t played there yet, you’ll want to. Consistently winning awards for things like “best courses to play” or “most scenic”, this facility definitely stands out as both of those and is worthy for at least one round a year.

The setting is without question very unique. It’s unlike just about any other course in the state in terms of raw beauty on just about every hole. But does that necessarily make for a great golf experience? As a seasoned golfer I’m sure we’ve all seen beauty on courses, but sometimes we’re left with a bit of a “Disneyland Effect” where the senses are overloaded or perhaps holes are forced into the landscape where the architect had to make it work. With that being said, Robert Trent Jones Jr. is a designer that seems to be able to work his magic without sacrificing a true golf experience with just about any landscape. With his Arrowhead Golf Course design, I think he provided us a very unique blend of golf and scenery which does justice to both the beauty of Colorado as well as the game of golf!

Playability

The course is seated within the confines of the sandstone pillars and the adjacent flatirons of the Rocky Mountains. Having been created in 1972 it definitely has more of a “throwback” feel to it, with short bending fairways and medium sized greens on most holes. It isn’t particularly long at around 6,500 yards for the average player, however it will require some decent accuracy from each tee box in order to score well. If this is your first visit to the course, you may find yourself distracted quite often by the beauty that surrounds you, so I’m not sure you won’t worry too much about the scorecard! As an example, on the elevated par 3 number 9, I had to wait for a herd of 6 deer to cross in front of the tee box - and of course I wasn’t complaining!

The greens as you might expect for a course this old are in pretty good shape. They run true and the speeds are very consistent. Being a course that seems to host an endless amount of corporate sponsored tournaments with golfers of all abilities, I figured that most divots wouldn’t have been repaired, but this wasn’t the case - and I played it last in late summer. I also thought that with the natural undulation and elevation changes prominent throughout the area that I’d see some severely sloped greens (more like Bear Dance), but for the most part the greens felt just about average in terms of difficulty. Expect downhill puts to run fast in the drier months. The bunkers were not your typical “Colorado Dirt” either, but I expected this from a facility that charges as much as it does for a round. Fairways are, as mentioned, tight! There are often optical illusions that make the big hitters think they can fly a ball over the sandstone, but for the most part, you’ll want to take what the course gives you. If you happen to be having a tough day off the tee, I’m not going to lie, you more than likely won’t be finding many of your shots. However, if you’re brave and do go looking, you’ll more than likely be rewarded by finding Corporate Logo stamped Prov 1’s in “hit once or twice” condition! While there is water on the course, it’s mainly put in places that don’t really seem to be in play (with the exceptions being 18, 14 and maybe 4).

This isn’t your everyday “practice facility”. While the driving range serves it’s purpose for getting you warmed up not only for your game, but the surrounding scenery, you won’t find yourself hitting off the grass. It’s matted year round, and the range is somewhat small. Hole 10 comes in direct contact with it in fact, so be careful if you can and try to hit your drive left on that one! There is a putting green as well, but that’s about it.

Conclusion

It goes without saying that Arrowhead must be experienced. It also goes without saying that it’s not a cheap place to play! If you get so lucky to have a sponsored event there, do not miss it! Also Avid Golfer’s Passport offers some decent prices throughout the year (or at least it did for 2008) so you can take advantage of that. Overall it’s fun to play if only for the “different” factor. From a pure golf standpoint, it’s a decent course that wouldn’t be rated as fun if it were constructed anywhere else, but that can be said about a lot of courses, and so far, I haven’t seen anything that looks or feels like Arrowhead.

How Others Rate This Course

(1 votes, average: 6 out of 6)

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Location

Web Site: Arrowhead Golf Course
Phone: 303.973.9614

Posted in Course Reviews | 2 User Reviews