Green Valley Ranch Golf Course Review

Green Valley Ranch - Review

September 30th, 2007 by mulligan

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. Now if you take your imagination a little further, you just might be seeing yourself struggling on this course if you’re not one of the few who posess that rare ability to consistently play within the limits of your game. Well the good news is that Green Valley Ranch also hosts a world class training facility in the Mike McGetrick Academy - one that looks to expand those limits. This is a nice offering, because after a few rounds here, you just might find yourself believing you need some coaching! This full featured golf course also offers a short iron training “ranch” in it’s relatively new First Tee Program. It’s a 9 hole par 3 course with yardages ranging from 50 to 150, and greens as equally as challenging as it’s full blown Championship 18 hole sister course.

Playability

Normally a difficult course is one that perhaps you haven’t played or is shrouded in mystery with tree lined fairways and severe doglegs which require shaped shots. Perhaps a course with small greens and long holes is considered by some to be difficult. On the other hand, some courses are intimidating when they show you everything from the tee box so that you know just how treachorous your journey is going to be before it ever begins. Green Valley Ranch seems to be exactly that type of course. Starting out at number one, you’re simply standing in front of a wetlands forced carry to what looks like a sliver of green fairway running horizontally to the skyline (it’s photographed above). You can see the bunkers that protect those who dare challenge the course from the start by cutting the “corner” and attempting to make the hole shorter. This hole is a wonderful example of how the Pete Dye inspired design begins to mess with your mind. The hole is only 418 yards from the tips, yet it feels like you need to take driver! Even the pro I played with took driver and after hitting it just about perfect, was left with a half wedge to the undulating green. The pro still made par. The truth is, how many of us have a consistent choked down wedge that we carry 75 yards?

There are numerous holes that will do this to a player. Number 4 is an interesting “decision” making hole as well. It’s driveable by the big hitters at 326 yards but really doesn’t call for it in order to score well. Yet the layout makes it so tempting that few can resist hitting the most difficult club in the bag! Again, the pro I played with attempted driving the hole, hit a wonderful drive, but was left with a tricky distance chip and missed the birdie putt. Really, the entire course is layed out in a manner that truly requires some strategy as well as shot making ability to score well at. Of course this isn’t saying that the average golfer can’t enjoy a round here! In fact the average golfer who treats this course as his or her “home” course will probably find that they may become quite skilled at course management rather quickly which of course will pay big dividends no matter where else they play.

Of course, no review of this club could be complete without mentioning what is affectionaltely called “the monster”. The eighteenth par 5 639 yard closer is a hole that can not be missed by any golfer in the state. A wonderfully designed 3 shot (for about 99% of us) hole that truly requires precision shot making in order to have a chance at birdie will serve as a lasting reminder that we should probably visit the range more often! Having placed drives at 260, 280 and 295 yards on this hole, and not once considering “going for it,” can be a very humbling experience in a round that was full of them!

Conclusion

Green Valley Ranch Golf Club is an excellent public facility showcasing great golf desing with a mixture of opportunities for players of all abilities to get out and not only enjoy the course, but learn the game of golf. The course is not incredibly long from the tips at 7042 yards, but what it might lack in distance it makes up for in design. The greens are undulating yet subtlties make every putt seem like a challenge. Trees are positioned like bunkers and both play a role in protecting approach shots and providing just the right amount of intimidation to make each shot interesting. Overall it’s a great course to test yourself on a few times a year to see just how well you’re progressing, or to show you where your game is in need of practice!

How others rate this course:
1 Star 2 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars 5 Stars 6 Stars (1 votes, average: 5 out of 6)
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