Mariana Butte Golf Course Review

Mariana Butte - Course Review

October 27th, 2007 by mulligan

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.

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This course while not incredibly long at 6,604 yards from the back tees uses both variety and terrain to aid it’s defense. Although I’ve yet to play it when the wind is up, I can say that I wouldn’t want to encounter it on a day where it’s stiff. But then again, I don’t like to play in the wind, so that’s not saying much!

Playability

Overall the course feels “fun” to play. At a 10 handicap, I scored 82, and 84 and really don’t recall having a shot take a bad bounce. The most enjoyable part of the course for me were the elevated tee boxes for #11 and #16. Normally I dislike elevated tee boxes because finding the right club to hit can be somewhat of a challenge. That challenge is typically most prevalent on a par 3, however #11 is just such an amazing looking hole that I really didn’t seem to mind. Both of these boxes play with the Big Thompson river in clear view. Trees are constantly in play on this course which also can cause you to think a bit before going at their par 5’s. The 5’s on this course are relatively short - the longest is 561, but the two on the front are 517 and 527 making it interesting for even the shorter hitters.

When I played the course it was in excellent condition (both at early and mid-summer) with the greens rolling about as true as any course I’ve played. They also offer divot repair tools - something I’d like to see at all municipal courses - and I think it had something to do with the true lack of divots on the greens. Speaking of the greens, wow, what a mix. It feels like the variety never ends. What you will find is that for the most part the greens seem to “switch” from almost flat to just under severe break. So from hole to hole, you really won’t know what you’re going to be faced with until you play this course a few times and learn the flag positions. #7 can be particularly tricky. I literally tapped about a 15 foot putt that I had left above the hill to watch it trickle for what felt like an hour down to the hole and in. Make no mistake, a downhiller in the middle of summer will run FAST!

Another surprise for me was the amount of water on this course that comes into play. I counted 8 of the holes where it was potential to hit into water. If you’re looking for some intimidation, this course offers a nice change if you’re used to playing in the city where most stray shots stay dry. The sand on the course is your typical Colorado municipal sand, so don’t expect soft bunker play.

Conclusion

Overall, Mariana Butte is a very fun course to play because of it’s mixture of breathtaking scenery, short shot making/placement design, and overall course condition. It’s more than worth the drive from Denver and the surrounding areas to experience a course with this “feel” to it. The fees are another reason to make it out to Loveland. A flat rate of $40 (2007) on either the weekdays or weekends make this an incredible value as it’s a fairly easy course to walk. Finally as if you needed another reason to visit, as a potential ego booster, the shorter par 5’s offer you the opportunity to keep your score low, just don’t be too disappointed if you happen to par them!