2021 PRIVATE CLUB GUIDE • THE LATEST IN GOLF GEAR
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Elevating the Game.
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TWO ICONIC COURSES.
ONE LEGENDARY DESTINATION.
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CONTENTS | April 2021 DEPARTMENTS
77 6 Forethoughts
Looking for a Storybook Ending By Anthony Cotton
8 The CGA
Putting on a clinic with multiple options for women.
17 The Gallery
Centennial celebration at the Broadmoor; Mario Dino tracking; Piping hot cup o' golf; New players in Denver fairway fashion
92 Blind Shot
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
PLAYER’S CORNER 25 Gear Guide
Heightened specificity means lots of amazing clubs this year. By Ted Johnson PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE JELLERSON
78
34 Play Away
Acing the double diamond at the Club at Crested Butte. By Andy Bigford
SIDE BETS
FEATURES
39 Fareways
“Mastering” Pimento Cheese By John Lehndorff
76
42 Nice Drives
After generating buzz for years, the future
Ravenna Reborn From Tee To Green, The Club at Ravenna has authored an amazing comeback. By Daniel B. Glover
is almost here for electric vehicles. By Isaac Bouchard
78
Reading the Green Fans should take a good look now at Colorado Rockies' shortstop Trevor Story— you may not see him for long. By Anthony Cotton
84
Rounds in the Corners The intersection of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona defines a region rich in ancient ruins—and the royal and ancient game. By Jon Rizzi
ON THE COVER All-Star Trevor Story. Photograph by Matt Dirksen / Courtesy of Colorado Rockies
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
SPECIAL SECTION 49 PRIVATE CLUB GUIDE
Find Your Happy Place
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Forethoughts
LOVETHEIMPACT The sound, the feel, the flight, the carry. Getting the most out of your equipment will make a solid impact on your game. The fitters at GOLFTEC use an advanced fitting system powered by TECFIT. Ensuring an optimum shaft and club head combination that you will love. Love The Journey
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PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMIE SCHWABEROW/CLARKSON CREATIVE
Looking for a Storybook Ending ACCORDING TO manager Bud Black, there’s a debate raging through the Colorado Rockies’ clubhouse this spring. It has nothing to do with whom the team’s fifth starter should be, or whether long-time phenom Brendan Rodgers is ready to take over at second base—it’s not even...heavy sigh...what was the best play Nolan Arenado ever made while wearing the purple pinstripes. Nope, this one, as is so often the case when it comes to matters of civil discourse, is about golf—right up there with Arnie or Jack and Tiger or Phil. Who’s the best golfer on the Colorado Rockies? In one corner, you’ve got Kyle Freeland, the Denver native (and former Colorado AvidGolfer cover boy) who is part of an ongoing baseball legacy of pitchers—see Smoltz, John, who qualified for the U.S. Senior Open a few years back—who are equally adept at twirling a 5-iron after a well-struck shot as a 12-6 curveball. In the other, there’s Trevor Story, who, had he not decided to become an all-star shortstop, might have tried emulating a fellow Texan, Ben Hogan, and pursued a career in golf. “It’s always Freeland or Story, Story or Freeland—that’s it,” says Black. “Let me put it this way: I’d love to see that match.” As it turns out, the two titans squared off recently at the Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, going toe-to-toe into the setting sun following a full day of work at the Rockies’ spring training facility. While the day’s winner was clearly teammate Ryan McMahon’s skill as a hustler, Story found himself in a familiar position—answering questions about his future. On page 78, he shares how he’s dealing with the pressures that come with becoming the new face of the franchise—for however long that may last. Arizona, as folks from around these here parts are well aware, is part of the Four Corners, the geographical configuration that merges that state with Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. With his typically-unfailing wit, Jon Rizzi calls it the “most famous quadripoint in the United States.” On page 84, Colorado AvidGolfer’s Founding Editor hits the road on a quest to find the best golf in each and every corner...I suspect his scores weren’t as depressed as the one’s that accompanied Dean Smith’s famous slowdown offense. Then again, when it comes to equipment, well, let’s just say that Rizzi may be more familiar with mashies and niblicks than Maverick drivers and Vokey wedges. If you’re also in a position where you could possibly use an upgrade, you’re in luck—on page 25 you’ll find our annual Gear Guide, which not only gives you the lowdown on the latest products out on the market, but why—or why not— they’ll become your new best friend. And now that you’re all geared up, both in terms of your equipment and newfound confidence, perhaps you want to go all in and take your golf experience to the next level. Or maybe, in the wake of the golf boom that Colorado rode in 2020, you found yourself stuck on far too many waiting lists last season. In either case, the answer might be joining a club. On page 49, we present our annual Private Club Guide. These days, there are a myriad of options, whether in terms of amenities, or price, that will appeal to any avid golfer. And who knows? One day you may find yourself walking up to the first tee and meeting your playing partners for the day—Kyle Freeland and Trevor Story. — ANTHONY COTTON
SCHEDULE A LESSON
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
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The CGA SERVING ALL COLORADO GOLFERS
Putting on a Clinic
PHOTOGRAPH BY E.J. CARR
The Colorado Golf Association offers multiple options for women.
PERFECTLY ALIGNED: After seeing women join in the record number of rounds played in 2020, the CGA wants to create even more opportunities this year via practice and playing clinics across the state.
CGA WOMEN’S CLINICS CGA Women’s Clinics are social golf events that include 3 hours of instruction focusing on the mechanics and fundamentals of full swing, chipping and putting. A CGA rules official will give an overview of the rules and explain how you can use them to your advantage. EVENT Adobe Creek GC, Grand Junction City Park GC, Denver
DATE
REGISTRATION DEADLINE
PRICE
April 23
Member $70, Non-Member $90
April 30
Member $70, Non-Member $90
May 1 May 8 May 15
May 7
Member $70, Non-Member $90
Saddleback GC, Firestone
May 22
May 14
Member $70, Non-Member $90
CommonGround GC, Aurora
May 30
May 22
Member $70, Non-Member $90
EagleVail GC, Avon
June 12
June 4
Member $70, Non-Member $90
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
WOMEN’S PLAYING CLINICS Playing clinics are for golfers of intermediate skill level who are comfortable playing from tee to green. Participants will play 9-holes and encounter four to five instructors during your round. Instructors cover course management, provide tips on the mental side of the game and answer any questions you may have. Swing mechanics will not be covered. More dates TBA. DATE
REGISTRATION DEADLINE
PRICE
Chipeta GC, Grand Junction
July 18
July 9
Member $55; Non-Member $70
Kennedy GC Par-3, Denver
July 31
July 23
Member $55; Non-Member $70
EVENT
Cherokee Ridge GC, Colorado Springs
AS EVERYONE KNOWS, 2020 was a record year for rounds at Colorado golf courses, up 19.9% over 2019 according to Golf Datatech. With so many new and returning faces to the game the CGA wants to keep golfers interested and engaged. At the CGA in 2020, we had nearly 16,000 women who were members of local clubs and leagues. Many of those members have friends who are interested in taking up the game, but don’t know where to start. To meet this need, the CGA has an amazing program for both members and non-members to take the next step with their game. CGA Women’s Practice Clinics and Playing Clinics provide golfers with high-quality group instruction from LPGA and/or PGA golf professionals in a friendly and welcoming environment. Our Women’s clinics also provide the opportunity to receive welcome gifts, make new friends, enjoy lunch and learn—all while having fun. We are excited to announce our 2021 lineup and invite women around the state to consider joining us for these events. If you or someone you know is picking up a club for the first time or want to take their game to the next level, our women’s instructional events are for you. Registration is now open and CGA members receive discounted pricing. Sign up or learn more at coloradogolf.org.
8
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Plus, your membership includes these additional benefits: A FREE GOLF VACATION
Stay two nights at the CasaBlanca Resort in Mesquite, Nevada and play two rounds at the Palms or CasaBlanca courses. This wonderful golf vacation is free for a limited time. Included with any membership purchase of $79.95 and above. While supplies last.
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Receive 25% off your total check or 2-for-1 entrées at more than 70 locations! These offers are unlimited and come with 2 memberships so that you and a friend can both enjoy. Preferred Clientele Club offers can be used at restaurants such as Wash Park Grille, Nonna’s Italian Bistro, Dickey’s, Delectable Egg and more.
Exclusive deals on golf instruction and gear at the PGA TOUR Superstore, GOLFTEC and more!
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Proud Sponsor of Great Drives Golf Passport Member Conditions: 2021 Member Privileges. All rates include a cart unless offer specifies differently. Visit coloradoavidgolfer.com/golf-passport for complete details regarding rates, available tee times, number of rounds and reservation policy. Tee time requests are on a space available basis to Golf Passport members and participating courses’ rain check policies will apply. Unless otherwise stated, the golf offers are good from January 1, 2021 – December, 31 2021, excluding holidays, special events, tournaments or closure to environmental or economic conditions. Mountain seasons may vary slightly. The Golf Passport is limited to one per person and is non-transferable. Prices do not include sales tax. Some courses may require a credit card to secure a tee time prior to play. If a tee time is cancelled, the golf course may charge for its discounted fee. Colorado AvidGolfer reserves the right to make reasonable modifications to the Golf Passport, effective upon notice by e-mail or first class mail to the Golf Passport member. A Golf Passport member may reject any such modification by responding in writing to Colorado AvidGolfer and returning the Golf Passport within ten (10) days. The Golf Passport member will receive a prorated refund. However, no refund will be given if the Golf Passport Member received the Complimentary Two Night Stay at CasaBlanca Resort and Two Rounds of Golf at CasaBlanca or Palms Golf Club. The Golf Passport member agrees that he or she is not entitled to any additional compensation. Colorado AvidGolfer disclaims all liability for damage or loss or property or injury to any person occurring while using the Golf Passport. If ordered online, please allow up to 10 days for delivery of your Golf Passport. Golf Passport membership includes a digital subscription to Colorado AvidGolfer with the option to opt-in to the mailing subscription for an additional fee. Members will also be subscribed to the Colorado AvidGolfer weekly newsletter list and can unsubscribe at any time.
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ONE Of cOlOr adO’s bEst cOursEs — tHE rIdGE
Located just south of Denver, The Ridge at Castle Pines North is an award-winning example of Tom Weiskopf’s fluent, wellproportioned layout that presents players with roomy fairways, sculpted bunkers and large, rolling greens. The Ridge is recognized by various golf publications as one of Colorado’s top golf courses. More specifically, The Ridge has been voted as the top Denver region golf course, as well as the top golf course in Colorado multiple times by Colorado AvidGolfer .
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P l aY t H E r I d G E . c O M
The Gallery
NEWS | NOTES | NAMES
An Open Invitation
PHOTOGRAPH BY MIC CLICK/COURTESY OF THE BROADMOOR
A WINNING TEAM: Dow Finsterwald (center) won the 1958 PGA Championship and was head pro at the Broadmoor for almost 30 years. He’s pictured with Steve Irwin and Richard Bradsby, winners of the Broadmoor Invitation in 2016 and 2019.
“Sure I want to win, but that’s not why I’ve played in it six times,” says Trent MacEachran, a Chicago executive who lived in Denver until three years ago. “It’s unlike any other tournament I’ve ever competed in. It’s world-class from start to finish. They have your name on placards on the range, like the U.S. Open; starters wear jackets and ties; your name appears on the leaderboard they use for the USGA championships. For those of us who never made it on any professional tour, it’s pretty cool.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY BOB MCINTYRE/COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, PIKES PEAK LIBRARY DISTRICT
IN A PERFECT bit of symmetry, 100 golfers will gather in Colorado Springs July 25-29 to compete in the 100th Anniversary edition of The Broadmoor Invitation. They’ll come for more than the golf. Originally known as the Broadmoor Amateur, the event has changed more than its name since J.H. Potter of Colorado Springs defeated Frank Godchaux of New Orleans in the inaugural competition. For its first 70 years, The Broadmoor sent invitations (hence the eventual appellation) to the country’s best collegiate and nonprofessional golfers to compete in the five-day match play. Notable winners included Duffy Waldorf, U.S. Amateur victors Charlie Coe and Bob Dickson, and seven future PGA Tour champions. Lawson Little won it in 1932, as did Hale Irwin in 1967. Those two and three subsequent Invitation runnersup—Lanny Wadkins, Mark O’Meara and Fred Couples—are now in the World Golf Hall of Fame. From 1992 and 1994, The Broadmoor switched to a two-man best-ball match-play format before discontinuing the event. In 2014, however, PGA Director of Golf Russ Miller resurrected the tournament and recast it. It initially remained a two-man best-ball match play, but whereas that format could result in a team playing as few as one or two rounds, a new flighted arrangement guaranteed four rounds in four days (plus a Sunday practice round). Then, in 2018, since many matches weren’t going 18 holes (thus depriving some teams from competing on the entire East and West courses), Miller switched the format to two-man best-ball stroke play, allowing players to select from one of three yardages: 7,100 (Champions); 6,800 (Traditions); and 6,200 (Legends). All play is from scratch—no handicaps.
HALE TO THE CHIEF: Hale Irwin won the Broadmoor Invitation in 1967. Then a five-day match play event, other notable winners include Charlie Coe and Duffy Waldorf, while Fred Couples, Lanny Wadkins and Mark O’Meara each garnered runner-up finishes.
coloradoavidgolfer.com
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Another major change from days of yore: Unlike the cash-strapped collegians who had often played The Invitation without staying at The Broadmoor, the 21st Century competitors and their significant others also lodge at the resort, taking full advantage of its myriad Five-Star, Five-Diamond amenities. “We put a huge emphasis on making sure the spouses have activities very unique to the hotel and the area while their husbands are playing golf,” Miller says. Among this year’s highlights: cooking classes with Broadmoor chefs, hikes to Cheyenne Canyon and Cloud Camp, insider tours, a cellphone photography lesson and wine tasting. “The wives are great spokespeople for the tournament,” confirms Oklahoman Ed Wells. He and his wife, Betty, have gone to four of the last six Invitations with three other couples. “The women look forward to it as much as the men do. They love the lunches, the spa, the pool. This is not your normal member-guest tournament.” A distinction, he adds, is “They take great care not to overschedule you.” This year’s Invitation kicks off with a Sundayevening fireside chat with Hale Irwin. Both players and spouses receive luxurious gifts, and this year, every golfer in the field will also get fitted by Callaway SVP/Odyssey GM Sean Toulon for an Odyssey Triple Track putter to help handle those tricky Broadmoor greens. The on-course competition is stiff, but participants no longer require an official invite. For each player and spouse/guest, the all-inclusive price for this unparalleled five-night, five-round experience is $4,450. broadmoor.com April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
The Gallery
Stan Fenn & Doug Perry
EVERY SATURDAY 7-9 a.m.
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
MARIO DINO has always loved sports, but, truth be told, sports haven’t always loved him back. After suffering a stroke in his mother’s womb, Dino was born with a form of cerebral palsy that restricts movements on the left side of his body; at times that proved to be a challenge when it came to things like navigating athletics. “I’d always have to make exceptions for myself,” he says. “Like, if I went to a basketball camp, I’d have to go up to the coaches and say, ‘Hey, I can’t dribble with my left hand, so I can’t do this,’ stuff like crossover dribbles.” But Dino says that was never Mario Dino the case with golf, which allowed him, he continues, “to just go out and play my own game.” And that game has been more than solid. A senior at Mullen High School in Denver, Dino has been the No. 1 player on the boys’ golf team each of his four seasons. Last fall, after qualifying for the fourth time, Dino finished second in the Class 4A state tournament, helping to lead the Mustangs to a runner-up finish as a team. All this after not being sure, as an incoming freshman, whether he was good enough to play. “My Dad (Mike) took me aside and said ‘You don’t have to make varsity as a freshman; you can work your way up to that,” Dino says. “I was just looking to shoot a good score during tryouts and seeing what happened after that. But after tryouts I was already in the third spot and from there, the rest is history.”
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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MARIO DINO
Listen online or on your radio
Dino Tracks His Way to Golf Success
Because of his palsy, Dino says there are times he gets frustrated when he needs to make small, precise movements with his left hand, adding that part of his physical therapy involves crossing the vertical midline of his body to help improve the connection between the left and right sides of his brain. But Dino has always been able to grip a golf club firmly, and the act of making a swing naturally mimics the same motions that he works on in therapy. Dino's mother feels her child and the game instinctively found each other because of his disease. Picking up a club before he was three, Dino would go to driving ranges with an uncle and his grandfather and fell in love with golf almost immediately. In a scholarship application, Dino wrote, “Even though I have spent countless hours in physical and occupational therapy, golf has been the best thing for my confidence and physical development.” After spending his spring and summer playing in a number of junior tournaments, both locally and across the country, Dino is looking forward to a new challenge—playing collegiate golf. At press time, he had narrowed his choices to three California schools which have expressed an interest in him joining their teams: Cal State University Monterey Bay, Chapman University and Occidental College. “The hardest team to make and be on the travel squad right away would be CSU Monterey Bay, but part of me really wants to go there because it would make me strive to work harder to improve my game,” he says. coloradoavidgolfer.com
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The Gallery
Piping Hot FOR THE SIXTH straight year, Colorado golfers can start their weekends with a piping hot “Morning Cup of Golf” at 7:00 AM every Saturday. Hosted by veteran PGA pros Stan Fenn and Doug Perry, the twohour program airs from Loveland on 600 AM KCOL and on the iHeartRadio app. In addition to a solid lineup of regular segments—including “Around the Greens” with Colorado AvidGolfer, “Rules of Golf” with the Colorado Golf Association, and interviews with personalities from the Colorado PGA and the PGA and LPGA Tours—Fenn and Perry have brewed up some new, more interactive features. Fenn, who runs the Golf Academy of Northern Colorado at Harmony Club in Timnath, now provides a weekly tutorial, and fitness expert Brad Ott of Rebound Sports and Physical Therapy (and father of Colorado State University star A.J. Ott) is providing physiological analyses to improve your health and your game. The show’s popular “Inside the Leather” segment— where listeners pick the winners and scores of the coming week’s PGA Tour event—has a different look now that people can legally gamble on golf tournaments. “We still have the Junior Golf Corner and Lip-Out of the Week, which always concerns something awkward a golfer said or did,” Fenn says. “And we’re looking forward to covering the Korn Ferry Tour’s TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes on July 10 and 11.” 600kcol.iheart.com
2021 TOURNAMENT SERIES LINEUP
June 14th, 7:30 am $110/player, Scramble
August 9th, 10:00 am $125/player, Shamble PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF KCOL
Stan Fenn and Doug Perry
Golf by Numbers
September 1st, 1:30 pm $125/player, Scramble
Golf Datatech and Yano Research Institute, two of the game’s leading independent research companies, recently combined to release the World Golf Report 2021.
Top 5 World Golf Markets:
1
United States
2 Japan
3
South Korea
5
4
United Kingdom
Canada On the up and up: Sweden was the fastest growing country, up over 50%. coloradoavidgolfer.com
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Registration fee includes: 18 Holes of Golf, Cart, Range Balls, One Dozen Callaway Golf Balls Amazing Meals & Awards Ceremony Beer Tastings and On-Course Fun Incredible Gift Bag Opportunities to WIN great Prizes & more!
REGISTER TODAY & GET $25 OFF! coloradoavidgolfer.com/ tournament-series April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
The Gallery
New Players in Fairway Fashion
BIRDIE JUICE: Denver-based Moonshine Golf was launched by three friends who love the game and the outdoors—as well as the idea of sharing a drink or two afterwards.
GOLFERS LOOKING for fresh apparel and accessories are finding them from a couple of Colorado companies who have entered the business hoping to appeal to a new generation of players. Moonshine Golf, based in Denver, was launched by three friends who grew up playing the sport together and bonded over their love of the outdoors. Moonshine clothing is designed to go from the course to a hiking trail or fishing hole, then to a favorite brew pub at the end of the day. “We are passionate golfers and have had this idea, but the timing wasn’t right until last summer,” says Andrew Mikowski, one of the founders, of the “laid back golf brand with a country vibe.” He says he and his partners acknowledge “There’s no shortage of golf apparel brands, but we found it shocking that there wasn’t the type of laid-back clothing for people who love the outdoors and want to be able to wear the same thing for different activities.” The brand debuted at the virtual PGA show in January and is finding customers in pro shops at both public and private golf courses as well as through online sales of its polos, woven shirts, T-shirts, hoodies and hats. The company name, Mikowski says, comes from the idea of moonshine “representing fun, playing in tournaments, camping.” He adds that when he played with friend and company co-founder Justin Fowler growing up, they’d stay on the course as long as they could on a given day, even if it meant “we were literally playing by moonlight.” The third co-founder, Rick Boccard, specializes in the tech side of the business. moonshinegolf.com
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ANOTHER VENTURE with a trio of partners who want to make golf more relevant is Pins & Aces Golf Co., an accessories company headquartered in Arvada. The idea for the business came from co-founder Nick Mertz’s experience. “I was disappointed with the headcover that came with a new driver I got and wanted to get a new one. The ones I found were terrible; some were as much as $150, but boring. There was no real design aspect to them,” he said. Having been in the apparel business previously with Alex Bard, they teamed up—along with Mertz’s brother-in-law Jon Major—and started making and selling headcovers a couple of years back. They now have a full assortment of headcovers themed to states, presidents, and with such motifs as flamingos and graffiti. “We sort of made them for ourselves in the beginning, then we put up an online store and it exploded,” Mertz says. They also offer golf bags with their logo—a spade outline with a golf pin flag inside—and sell ball markers, towels and gloves. They’ve been licensed by the NCAA to start offering university logo’d covers and earlier this year announced plans to offer made-in-the USA products. A category they’ve recently expanded into is colorful printed polo shirts and pullovers for men and women. “If you would have told us a few years ago that we’d be wearing crazy patterned shirts and listening to music on the course, we would have laughed at you,” but that’s what has happened, says Bard, general manager and partner. And another product they’re adding to the mix this spring? A portable speaker. pinsandaces.com
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April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
PRESENTED BY
2021
Gear Guide Heightened specificity means lots of amazing clubs. By Ted Johnson WE HAVE MOVED past the days when a driver we saw during a PGA TOUR broadcast could, with a different shaft and an adjustment on the hosel, fit you and I. Today, club manufacturers are learning more through data gathered not only from golf’s elite, but high-handicap amateurs and all player types in between. The result is more options to fit players, and thus a marketplace flooded with high quality choices. The products listed in this year’s Gear Guide open the door to a better golf experience. Amazing products that, with some time spent on a launch monitor, can be fitted to maximize performance for your swing and most common playing conditions. Don’t be intimidated by Callaway offering two wedge designs—with a combined 31 options and six sole grinds. Irons now have multi-material heads
coloradoavidgolfer.com
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and interior weighting that rival the technology we’ve come to associate with drivers. The same goes for fairway woods and hybrids. The one club we all use most—the putter can, in some models, have any head, head weight and neck you can imagine. It’s all aimed at getting the right clubs for you. So, venture in with great curiosity. The goal here is to provide some motivation to take the time and learn about new designs that could, through a fitting session, reveal what club or clubs matches your swing and, in turn, increase your knowledge of your game. The result will be more joy, satisfaction and smiles at the end of the round.
April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
Drivers TITLEIST TSi3
TOUR EDGE EXOTICS C721
$550
$400
Why You’ll Love it: Titanium alloy ATI 425 in clubface
Why You’ll Love it: Lots of high-tech design for the money
Why You Should Buy It: Light, flexible, durable and robust—lots of pop in new hot face
Why You Should Buy It: Various face thicknesses throughout face release more energy
Insider’s Insight: Not as unforgiving as previous Titleist clubs
Insider’s Insight: Bigger sweet spot = stability, distance
CALLAWAY EPIC MAX LSN $530 Why You’ll Love it: Improved “Jailbreak” tech in face Why You Should Buy It: Super stable crown and sole allow face flex for added distance Insider’s Insight: Take your time to dial it in
COBRA RADSPEED XB
TAYLORMADE SIM
$450
$530
Why You’ll Love it: Off-center mis-hits still fly
Why You’ll Love it: More stable than earlier models
Why You Should Buy It: XB model has more rear weight, boosting sweet spot & stability
Why You Should Buy It: Titanium in face; carbon fiber crown & sole = ample sweet spot
Insider’s Insight: Radspeed suited for better players
Insider’s Insight: SIM2 Max for mid-launch; MX-D fights slices
PXG 0811X GEN4 $549 Why You’ll Love it: Unique titanium alloys in head, face Why You Should Buy It: Aluminum particles in carbon fiber head creates overall rigidity Insider’s Insight: Personalized weighting makes this powerful & forgiving COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
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Fairway Woods & Hybrids
PRESENTED BY
PXG 0211 $325 Why You’ll Love it: Likeable shape creates confidence Why You Should Buy It: Aside from the driver-like flex in face, you’ll love the sole Insider’s Insight: Clean hits from fairway, rough & elsewhere
TAYLORMADE SIM
TOUR EDGE C721
$300
$225
Why You’ll Love it: Larger head = fairway forgiveness
Why You’ll Love it: Perennial on this list for a reason
Why You Should Buy It: Allows more backweighting for stable face, high ball flight
Why You Should Buy It: Forgiving off fairway & tee thanks to hot wraparound cup face
Insider’s Insight: Look how many are in pro players’ bags
Insider’s Insight: Again, Tour Edge gives more bang for your money
SRIXON ZX $230 Why You’ll Love it: Thinner face for more energy Why You Should Buy It: Unique face design supports thin sweet spot for more rebound Insider’s Insight: You want more distance? Look here
PING G425
WILSON D9
$270
$200
Why You’ll Love it: Market best for off-center hits
Why You’ll Love it: Contrarian face design = wow factor
Why You Should Buy It: Hybrid is backweighted, & lower lofts have different face variances
Why You Should Buy It: Thicker face in middle of sweet spot supported by thinner tenets
Insider’s Insight: You won’t hook the shorter clubs
Insider’s Insight: Middle hits will scream, decent forgiveness
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
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Denver
e-tron® quattro Sportback Electric’s gone Audi.
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Irons
PRESENTED BY
TITLEIST CNCPT CP-02
PXG 211
$500 PER
$195 PER
Why You’ll Love it: Skunkworks models defy tradition
Why You’ll Love it: Luxury in gameimprovement irons
Why You Should Buy It: Hollow-cavity heads & tungsten & exotic “Super Metal” face inserts
Why You Should Buy It: Hollow body filled with polymer decreases in short irons Insider’s Insight: Lofts are 3 degrees stronger, so adjust
Insider’s Insight: Want to impress your club? These will turn heads
CALLAWAY X FORGED CB $200 PER Why You’ll Love it: Easy-to-hit highperformance club Why You Should Buy It: Unique weighting in each clubhead = perfect but different to you Insider’s Insight: Comes in three swingweights, so get fitted
MIZUNO JPX 921 FORGED
WILSON LAUNCH PAD
$175 PER
$100
Why You’ll Love it: High-tech design with Mizuno look
Why You’ll Love it: Get-started irons for better contact
Why You Should Buy It: Face is 16-percent thinner means more distance & forgiveness
Why You Should Buy It: Wide soles help reduce “chunks” so frustrating to newcomers
Insider’s Insight: Best club for aspiring midhandicappers
Insider’s Insight: Hybrid-like heads induce confidence & enjoyment
COBRA KING TOUR COPPER $200 PER Why You’ll Love it: Mind-blowing finish & performance Why You Should Buy It: Multi-Injection Molding in face; tungsten weight in toe = soft but solid Insider’s Insight: Precision & forgiveness makes for winning cavity-back set COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
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coloradoavidgolfer.com
Go to Pyramid-Putters.com to see the short demo video with Blair O’Neal.
IT’S LIKE AUTO-CORRECT FOR YOUR PUTTER Pyramid grooves steer mishits back online.
What if there was a way for you to immediately sink more putts? A way that allowed you to hit the “sweet spot” of the putter every time… Doubling and even tripling your ability to putt? Well, that’s the exactly what our club designers have done using the “Gear Effect”. SWEET SPOT MILLING No Skidding or Bouncing... When you hit the center of the face on THE PYRAMID PUTTER, the horizontal grooves give the ball top spin. This means your ball will not skid or bounce off line... and this keeps it tracking toward the hole. This also helps with speed control because a consistent roll gives you a consistent speed.
TOE MILLING No More Pushed Putt s... Hit a putt with a ‘typical’ putter and you will usually push the putt. But the special toe milling on THE PYRAMID PUTTER keeps the ball tracking on the intended line.
HEEL MILLING No More Pulled Putt s... Hit the ball on the heel of the traditional putter and you will pull the putt. However, the milling on THE PYRAMID PUTTER keeps putts hit toward the heel moving straight.
Go to Pyramid-Putters.com to see the short
demo video with Blair O’Neal.
Pyramid-Putters.com • 1 (833) 456-1185
Wedges
PRESENTED BY
COBRA KING SB $150 Why You’ll Love it: More bite into the ball for control Why You Should Buy It: Unique, wavering groove design & sharper edges = short-shot spin Insider’s Insight: Another way club designers get max performance
TITLEIST VOKEY DESIGN SM8
MIZUNO T20
$160
Why You’ll Love it: Micro grooves and regular grooves
$150
Why You’ll Love it: Makes all wedge shots easier
Why You Should Buy It: Feel is so notable, but grooved-up face channels away moisture
Why You Should Buy It: Longer hosel, tungsten in toe means face squares at impact
Insider’s Insight: You’ll notice better shots out of rough and dew
Insider’s Insight: Most popular wedge line on PGA TOUR
PING GLIDE 3.0 $150 Why You’ll Love it: Performance club so easy to hit Why You Should Buy It: Has same sole design as famed Eye2 models + elastomer insert Insider’s Insight: Gives lower launch angles but with higher spin
CALLAWAY MD5
PXG SUGAR DADDY
$160
$650
Why You’ll Love it: Unique groove angles on high lofts
Why You’ll Love it: Ten titanium weights stabilize head
Why You Should Buy It: Oblique angle of grooves on 56-degrees adds more edge contact
Why You Should Buy It: When fitted, weights & soles to match will bring new short-game faith
Insider’s Insight: Sharper grooves + more edges = lots & lots of spin
Insider’s Insight: Expensive, yes; many feel their short-game is worth the price
For all of your must-have, 2021 golf accessories, visit coloradoavidgolfer.com. COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
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Putters & Balls CARBON BANDIT RINGO
BETTINARDI QUEEN B 12
$460
$400
Why You’ll Love it: Solid, unique feel at impact
Why You’ll Love it: Honeycomb face delights fingertips
Why You Should Buy It: Brass in heel pushes center of gravity (Cg) to the middle for stability
Why You Should Buy It: Wide flange glides through stroke for optimum feedback
Insider’s Insight: You won’t find the toe closing fast
ODYSSEY 2-BALL TEN
Insider’s Insight: Rose color finish is classy but also reduces glare
$300 Why You’ll Love it: Alignment marks bring confidence Why You Should Buy It: Insert face induces faster roll, more sound, all with super stability Insider’s Insight: Harkens back to famous 2-Ball putter but better
CLEVELAND HUNTINGTON BEACH SOFT
CLEVELAND FRONTLINE
$160
Why You’ll Love it: Sleek mallet with deadly consistency
$200
Why You’ll Love it: Great performance at good price Why You Should Buy It: Milling thicker in face center, thinner on edges—mis-hits still roll Insider’s Insight: Proof that a club used on every hole doesn’t cost too much
Why You Should Buy It: Forward-facing interior weighting reduces twisting = more accuracy
TITLEIST SCOTTY CAMERON PHANTOM X
Insider’s Insight: S-groove pattern in face insert reduces sidespin
$430 Why You’ll Love it: Elegant mallet by master designer Why You Should Buy It: Blending milled aluminum and steel with customizable weights Insider’s Insight: Cameron’s reputation grows with eye-catching head
TITLEIST PRO V1X
SRIXON Z STAR XV
$48
$43
Why You’ll Love it: Long shots fly; approach shots stop
Why You’ll Love it: Better control and distance in wind
Why You’ll Love it: 4-piece performance & very thin cover
Why You Should Buy It: Caveat: Driver swing speeds over 105 mph will get most performance
Why You Should Buy It: Thinner cover but deeper dimples keeps trajectory flatter
Why You Should Buy It: A neodymium-catalyzed polybutadiene rubber core is a hot, hot engine
Insider’s Insight: Firmer cover + low spin off driver yields more carry distance
Insider’s Insight: Bombers like Cameron Chance use this ball
Insider’s Insight: A different formula to find that distance AND control bond
CALLAWAY CHROME SOFT X
BRIDGESTONE E12 CONTACT
MIZUNO RB TOUR
$48
$25
Why You’ll Love it: Improved ingredients, construction
Why You’ll Love it: Redesigned with Tour player input
Why You’ll Love it: Soft feel on putter, wedges
Why You Should Buy It: Callaway rejiggered manufacturing processes to produce distance, spin Insider’s Insight: Don't be fooled; this is a highcompression ball coloradoavidgolfer.com
WILSON STAFF $45
Why You Should Buy It: Re-engineered 3-piece Surlyn ball has gone high-tech for distance, spin
$35
Why You Should Buy It: 4-piece construction, cone-shaped dimples give flat, straight tee shots Insider’s Insight: The control around the greens is expected from Mizuno
Insider’s Insight: Close your eyes, the feel is great for non-urethane ball
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April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
Player’s Corner PLAY AWAY
Acing the Double Diamond For the Club at Crested Butte, adding world-class skiing to great golf has made membership “a no-brainer.” By Andy Bigford
SPRAWLING MAJESTY: Snuggled against the granite cliffs, with views that include the Elk Mountain Range, the Club at Crested Butte is a visual paradise. Adding skiing to golf has made everything look that much better.
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
The club’s second owner had snapped up for members, which until then were primarily two pieces of prime real estate at the base of retired couples from Texas and other points south the ski area, back when it was still relatively afwho summered in Crested Butte. By the 2012fordable. Plans to redevelop were scuttled by the 13 season, they’d persuaded the owners to turn Great Recession, and the property sat largely idle. a tiny portion of the structure into a “temporary” Then along came Mike Swan, who arrived in spring ski meeting place for members. With a robust 2006, fresh off graduation from Virginia Tech, imresponse, that 800-square-foot nook eventually probably imagining a career as both a golf and grew to the fill entire building, which now houses ski pro. First brought on to handle carts and bags, by 2011 he’d worked himself up to head pro, while still spending his winter “off-seasons” teaching skiing at Crested Butte. Swan would look fondly upon the club’s unused 11,000-squarefoot building, sited 50 yards from the Red Lady Express Lift, as he made his ski rounds. Teaming with club GM Brad Bogard, they envisioned THE ONE AND ONLY: The Club at Crested what a high-end, baseButte is the only golf course in town. area ski club might mean
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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE CLUB AT CRESTED BUTTE
THE ROBERT TRENT JONES JR. course at the Club at Crested Butte, snuggled up against the steep granite cliffs shielding the slopes of the ski area above, is perhaps the “best unknown” mountain course in Colorado. Opened back in 1984, Trent Jones Jr. didn’t force the layout into the mountainside, though the signature 13th plummets roughly 200 feet. The designer, fortuitously, had a free hand sketching the course before the surrounding Skyland neighborhood was built, and his touches include bunkers that emulate melting snow, plenty of water hazards, and mostly unspoiled views of the butte, the Elk Mountain Range and the surrounding valley. But even with the formidable 9,000-square-foot Skyland clubhouse, an aquatics center, tennis courts, fitness facility and trout-stocked ponds, its remote location and short golf season left it to struggle for decades to fill the membership rolls. Through two owners and into the current third, selling out the 395 memberships called for in the bylaws came to be viewed as something of an impossible dream. That is until the club finally decided to fuse itself to the ski slopes looming above it in a way that’s unique in Colorado—and even the country.
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Play Away
WELCOMING THE UNKNOWN: About four hours from Denver, the Club at Crested Butte has long been regarded as one of the mountains’ “best unknown” facilities. The course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., opened in 1984.
touch with PGA professionals across the state in his role as the CEO of the Colorado PGA section, expects Colorado to be shatter that pace in 2021. It’s also brought new challenges: It’s the first time in his long tenure that he witnessed PGA pros huddling to crack down on golfers utilizing software that can be programmed to reserve those precious daily tee times as soon as they become available online. Back on the Western Slope, the pandemic accelerated the Club at Crested Butte’s upward trajectory. With the mass exodus from urban centers, local real estate sales jumped 36 percent,
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE CLUB AT CRESTED BUTTE
a restaurant, lounge, and 265 lockers on three floors, with private parking for 115 cars outside. The four-season operation provides year-long employment for the club’s food and beverage staff, including the chef, and the cart barn employees serve as ski valets. The sudden appeal to families dramatically increased demand, and the club is now at 375 members and nearing its cap in selling $75,000 refundable memberships ($52,000 non-refundable), a price of admission that places it in the upper tier of Colorado clubs. “The reason they are writing the checks is the ski club,” says Swan, who is now the club’s director of golf and ski, and guides club members on mountain tours. “When you combine the two, it becomes a no-brainer.” By appealing to ski families who play golf— but not enough to justify a golf membership—the club created a lucrative new market with no competition. It effectively doubled its “in-season” appeal and value, with golf mid-May through early October and skiing late November into early April. The model is unlikely to be duplicated: Acquiring prime base real estate at a major Colorado destination ski resort typically involves the outlay of tens of millions of dollars. And the Club represents the only golf course in town; the closest is the Dos Rios Country Club 30 miles downvalley in Gunnison, where there is also an airport. Crested Butte does allow limited outside play, but that opportunity has now been winnowed to afternoons between 12:30 and 2 p.m. Many of Colorado’s private courses saw unprecedented increases in rounds played during the COVID-19 summer, often by 50 percent and more, and spiking membership sales, with some raising initiation fees. Despite losses in food and beverage, the cancellation of outside corporate events, and the furloughing of employees during the peak of the pandemic, most clubs are in better shape financially than they’ve been in many years. Golf nationwide also jumped, with public course play up 12 percent and an even larger 20 percent hike at private clubs. All of this is even more remarkable considering that many were closed when the pandemic first arrived in the spring. Eddie Ainsworth, who stays in constant
EPIC APPEAL: Some 20 years ago, Crested Butte proudly positioned itself as “the anti-Vail”—but times have changed. Today, the resort is owned by Vail Resorts and is even part of the mega-popular Epic Pass. The company has invested heavily in upgrades to the ski lifts and infrastructure.
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hitting $400 million; limited housing inventory also led sales of vacant land to increase by 40 percent. Potential buyers also knew that if they became a Club at Crested Butte member, they didn’t need a pricey ski-in, ski-out property. Crested Butte, roughly four hours from Denver, has long been the off-the-beaten-path favorite of both Front Range free-spirit skiers/riders and travelers from the south, with 15 lifts serving 1,547 acres of terrain, a third of it double black diamond. Ironically, the ski area whose marketing campaign 20 years ago positioned it as the “anti-Vail” is now owned by Vail Resorts, and is part of the mega-popular Epic Pass. Locals reacted with fear and loathing to the purchase, but so far Vail has upgraded ancient lifts and infrastructure while leaving the character alone. The ski area is turning the corner toward a sustainable balance, drawing more skiers—but not too many. The town’s residents and many of the visitors aren’t just alpine skiers; in fact, they are as likely to spend time on the 50k of groomed trails maintained by the Crested Butte Nordic Center, which bills itself as the “Nordic Ski Capital of Colorado,” or in the abundant nearby backcountry. The biking, hiking and fishing during summers is arguably just as good. Topping it all off is the funky vibe of Crested Butte, settled in the 1880s as a mining supply hamlet and today lined with colorful Victorian storefronts. Its distinction as the “last real mountain town,” coupled with the “best unknown” golf club and the powdery slopes above, creates an appeal that’s difficult to beat. Andy Bigford, a Colorado AvidGolfer contributor, is the former editor-in-chief of SKI magazine. coloradoavidgolfer.com
Side Bets FAREWAYS
“Mastering” Pimento Cheese How to craft a winning version of golf’s iconic green-jacketed sandwich. By John Lehndorff I’M EMBARRASSED to say that until recently I was a pimento cheese virgin. Despite a 30-yearplus career as a dining critic and writer, I had somehow missed out on this Southern favorite. I could blame a sheltered Yankee youth in Massachusetts and a life in Colorado, but I actually was aware that pimento cheese existed. I just figured it was like queso or a Christmas cheese ball. I went looking for pimento cheese because it is at the heart of golf’s most famous (and least expensive lunch). In a sport that cherishes traditions and rituals, the Pimento Cheese Sandwich sold at the Masters Tournament is an absolute icon. What I also discovered is that pimento cheese is everywhere and on the shelf in almost every Colorado supermarket.
This spread is a curious cousin to tuna salad, egg salad and chicken salad. Shredded cheddar, mayo and sweet pimento peppers and cream cheese are combined with seasonings and can range from totally bland to fiery. HOW PIMENTO CHEESE ARRIVED AT THE MASTERS Alongside greens, biscuits, cornbread and grits, pimento cheese is a sacred part of Southern cuisine. However, if you go down the pimento cheese rabbit hole, you run into conflicting history, golf myths and recipe controversies. For one thing, the cherished “pate of the South” was actually invented by Yankees. The story goes that in the early 20th century New York cream cheese became popular and
canned sweet “pimiento” peppers arrived from Spain. (We dropped the “i” and started calling them “pimentos.” Cooks started combining the ingredients into simple, satisfying affordable tea sandwiches which became hugely popular in the South. The exact date is hazy but sometime in the mid-1950s, the cheese salad sandwich was first served to feed the crowds during the week of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. The cherished pimento cheese sandwich— simply pimento spread and mayo on squishy white bread with no toppings—still sells for $1.50. It’s jacketed in a green bag. The idea is that if the bag blows away it’ll blend in with the green grass and not distract the golfers.
PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVEN NOWLAND/RICH CLARKSON & ASSOCIATES
AN HONORED TRADITION: Whether it’s been Arnie, Jack, Tiger or Phil donning the green jacket, a pimento cheese sandwich at the Masters only costs $1.50.
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April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
Fareways BEATING THE SPREAD: WHO SELLS THE BEST PIMENTO SPREAD? Until I sat down and tasted multiple varieties of pimento cheese spread, I imagined they all would taste about the same. I was incorrect. Here are the pimento cheese spreads available at local supermarkets, from the best to the worst. MARCZYK’S FINE FOODS DISCO JIM’S PIMENTO CHEESE SPREAD: Using finely ground topnotch sharp cheddar, fire-roasted red pimento peppers, mayonnaise and spices, this spread has the biggest flavor of the bunch: spicier, fuller, dense spread. Highly recommended. Available at Marczyk’s Fine Foods locations: marczykfinefoods.com TRADER JOE’S PIMENTO CHEESE DIP: Labeled a dip, Trader Joe’s version is a little heavier on the mayo so it’s actually spreadable but it has a great grownup flavor with lots of sharp cheddar and roasted pimento peppers. Recommended. Available at Trader Joe’s. KROGER PRIVATE SELECTION PIMENTO CHEESE: The house brand at King Soopers is a surprising pleasure with chunkier aged cheddar, lots of pimento, good spicing and a nice balance between the mayo and cream cheese. This is the good-tasting affordable choice. Recommended. Available at King Soopers. PALMETTO CHEESE SPREAD: Southerners tell me this product from South Carolina’s Lowcountry is as close to the Masters spread as you’ll find outside Augusta. I find it to be pretty bland with thickly grated cheese, mayo and a bare hint of heat. Recommended for traditionalists: Available at King Soopers and other supermarkets. PRICE’S PIMENTO CHEESE SPREAD: This is the Velveeta of pimento cheeses and profoundly bland. The spread is laced with high fructose corn syrup so it’s incredibly sweet. Not recommended. Available at Walmart. SPICE IT UP: If you find yourself without a precious access pass to Augusta National, any number of local outlets can save the pimento cheese sammie day.
While the sandwich has become as symbolic of The Masters as the golf course’s pink and white azaleas, the “authentic” recipe has often changed. What is known is that a South Carolina man, Nick Rangos, made pimento cheese for the sandwiches at Augusta for more than four decades. Let go unceremoniously in the early 2000s, Rangos refused to share his recipe until the day he died. Attendees complained about the taste, they tweaked the recipe in Augusta and served it for the next fifteen years. Then, a change of caterers at the Masters in 2013 caused more howls from traditionalists. MASTERING PIMENTO CHEESE AT HOME To experience the pimento cheese sandwich at home (since few Colorado eateries serve it), you’ll need a prepared spread or make one yourself. (See sidebar for reviews of prepared pimento cheese spreads.) Luckily, making your own is ridiculously easy and allows you to personalize the flavor. For instance, you can substitute roasted Pueblo green chilies for the pimentos. For the cheese I use locals such as Rocking Horse White Cheddar (Salida) and Haystack Mountain Smoked Cheddar (Longmont). Do not use packaged pre-shredded cheeses because their anti-clumping coating changes the texture. Grate your own using the wider openings in a box grater. The better the bread, the better your Masters sandwich will taste. Local bakeries produce exceptional white bread loaves such as the shokupan loaf at Tokyo Premium Bakery in Denver. Denser, thicker slices hold up better because pimento spread is thick and hard to spread. I didn’t love this sandwich until one day I pan-grilled it in a covered pan with butter until the bread got crunchy. The spread melted and created a crispy cheese delight. For a good brunch, add bacon and tomato slices and top the sandwich with an over-easy egg. I don’t know if my version of pimento cheese spread is authentic, but it’s darn tasty. A Coloradan since 1976, John Lehndorff is the former Dining Critic of the Rocky Mountain News and Food Editor of the Boulder Daily Camera. He hosts Radio Nibbles on KGNU.
Pimento Cheese Spread • 3 cups extra sharp aged white cheddar, freshly shredded • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature • ½ cup mayonnaise • 1 4-ounce jar pimentos diced, drained
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
Instructions: Place ingredients in a bowl and mix gently with a spatula. Don’t blend into a paste! Keep refrigerated and use within a week. Makes about eight servings. Great in sandwiches and also baked as a dip for warm soft pretzels.
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder • ¼ cup finely chopped sweet onions • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Optional ingredients: Sour cream, minced chives, Worcestershire sauce, smoked Hungarian paprika, Dijon mustard, finely chopped dill pickles
• Salt, pepper, hot sauce, to taste
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Side Bets NICE DRIVES
Ford Mustang
State of the (Electric) Art After generating buzz for years, the future is almost here for electric vehicles. By Isaac Bouchard
TAKING A CHARGE: Ford’s new Mustang Mach-E has drawn comparisons to the current king of electric vehicles, the Tesla Model Y. Considered more reliable than conventional cars, and with other companies jumping in to the craze, it’s expected that by the end of the century, up to 65 percent of all cars, trucks and SUVs will be electric.
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YOU’D BE FORGIVEN for not knowing that pure electric vehicles (EVs) made up only two percent of new car, truck and SUV sales last year. In the short term, the amount of news they generate is completely out of proportion to their sales numbers. But that will change dramatically over the next few years, and the majority of industry experts believe that they will account for 35-65% by the end of this decade. That is akin to going from horses to cars a century ago. Powering that monumental shift are several factors. Amongst them: • Europe and the United Kingdom are on track to making the ownership of both new and used vehicles powered by internal combustion engines (ICE) flat out illegal, or at least so cost prohibitive that they will be scrapped. In countries like France, owners of even a zippy, affordable car like the VW GTI will end up paying the equivalent of $3,000-$5,000 per year in extra taxes on it, rising every year till it is impossible to justify keeping it on the road. • Many other cities and states around the world will ban the use of ICEs over the next five years. This is as much about cutting air pollution, which contributes to higher death rates from respiratory issues for urbanites and people living in the surrounding countryside. coloradoavidgolfer.com
Ford F150
2021 FORD MUSTANG MACH-E ELECTRIC VEHICLE EPA Ratings/Range: 270 miles 0-60mph: 4.8sec Price as tested: $56,200* Before $7,500 federal tax credit and up to $2,500 CO tax discount
*
Ford F150
• Battery tech is improving at a rapid pace; but they get great fuel economy. The next step the price per kilowatt/hour (kWh) is declining up is a plugin hybrid (PHEV) which can go 20-40 rapidly enough that it is expected that EVs will miles without the gasoline engine kicking in, and cost the same as ICE-powered vehicles of the are usually more powerful and faster than gassame size, power, “real world” range and feature only versions of the same vehicle. The Audi Q5 content within five to seven years. Solid-state 55e is a great example, almost as fast as the SQ5 batteries (SSBs) are right around the corner from but able to average mid-30s mpg. • Many legacy companies are committing to companies like Toyota/Panasonic, Samsung/ Hyundai and Colorado’s own Solid Power, who not producing any more ICEs: Jaguar in 2025, is working with several car companies to be a Volvo by 2030 and even General Motors by 2035. supplier. They’re more reliable, easier to package, Tesla, which has a 70-plus percent market share safer in a crash and their range is less affected by now, will be a dominant but minority player by the temperature. end of the decade; of all the other EV startups • EVs are inherently more reliable and need grabbing headlines, only a few will survive, probaless maintenance than conventional cars. They bly Rivian and Lucid Motors. Over 50 new EVs are have 30-40 percent fewer moving parts, they due stateside in just the next two years, while over don’t need oil changes and their brakes last longer 100 new offerings will hit the world stage. since they use “regeneration” to harvest energy As battery tech matures this will make sense. when slowing down instead of relying solely on If you can have 500-plus horsepower, 1,000 friction from pads rubbing against rotors. miles of range, ultrafast recharging in minutes, • The near-term effects of climate change less maintenance and better reliability, why would are becoming more readily apparent to the general you pour dino-juice into your ride? Some of us will population, with stronger storms and more erratmiss the sound of performance engines or shifting ic weather being amongst the most obvious. This for ourselves, but we too are a dying breed. While has led to increased interest in vehicles that don’t we have a few more years left to indulge, long have as big a carbon footprint. A caveat is that this term roaring exhausts and stick shifts are as dead footprint also includes the manufacture of said veas the buggy whips. Here’s a sampling of some of hicles and that the source they get the electricity the latest offerings in different categories. they run on from (coal, natural gas or renewables). • Car companies are committing to “electrification” of all their vehicles over the next few years, but that doesn’t mean they will all be pure EVs. Many will be mild hybrids, with a tiny battery and electric motor sandwiched between the engine and transmission to cover turbo lag, smooth out automatic stop-start systems and make them quicker off the line. Companies from Jeep to Mercedes are doing this now. Others will be conventional hybrids like the Ford Mustang Toyota Prius; you never plug them in
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The first mainstream competitor to the Tesla Model Y, Ford’s EV is quick (0-60 in between 3.5 and 5.1 seconds depending on model), roomy, and it looks less like a refugee from the depths of the ocean than Elon’s crossover. Inside there’s a blend of trad controls and a massive, 15.5in vertical touchscreen. The Mach-E is very quiet and rides well—unlike the Model Y—but it doesn’t quite engage the driver like you’d expect of something bearing the Mustang name. Like a Tesla, it gets over-the-air updates and real-time status on the 13,500 independent charging stations that are part of Ford’s network. The fastest of these, using DC fast chargers, will (theoretically) add over 50 miles of range in 10 minutes, and charge the standard 68.0-kWh (kilowatt hour) battery from 10 to 80 percent in 45 minutes. EPA range is 211 miles for the normal AWD model; the optional 88.0-kWh extended-range version should go 270 miles. A Tesla Model Y can still be had with more range, but this Mach-E is amongst the first real head-to-head alternatives.
2021 FORD F150 POWERBOOST MILD HYBRID EPA Ratings/Range: 24/24/24mpg 0-60mph: 5.1sec Price as tested: N/A The best-selling vehicle in the world just underwent a complete redesign, and while there is a pure EV version coming, it’s the hybrid F150 that is most intriguing right now. It sandwiches a 44hp/221lb-ft electric motor between the twin turbo 3.5L V6 and the 10sp transmission. Total output goes to 430hp/570lb-ft and EPA ratings increase to 24/24/24mpg. Its 1.5kWh battery never needs to be plugged in. Its 5.3sec 0-60mph sprint is almost a second faster than the non-hybrid, and you can also use the truck as a 7.2kW mobile generator for camping, worksite tasks, or keeping the heat on, if you live in Texas. The PowerBoost option costs $1,900 more, and seems a good value, as thus equipped, the F150 tows better than the F150 diesel yet gets a real world 2-4mpg bump in fuel economy. April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
Nice Drives 2021 KIA SORENTO HYBRID EX HYBRID EPA Ratings/Range: 39/35/27mpg 0-60mph: 7.9sec Price as tested: $38,205 The latest Sorento is also of a new generation, and slots in between compact crossovers like the Toyota RAV4 and midsize or larger ones like the Highlander or Kia’s own Telluride. It comes in myriad versions, of which the hybrid is the most intriguing—for now. It uses a 177hp 1.6-liter turbo and a 1.5kWh battery and electric motor to not only net ratings of 37mpg average, but (according to its large, high resolution instrument displays) the Sorento Hybrid actually achieves it. The Kia is also powerful, with a 60hp/194lb-ft hit of torque punting it off the line; 60mph should take less than eight seconds. Responsiveness is best in sport mode; in the others there can be some odd pauses in delivery. The battery and electric motor also allow the Sorento to glide along on electrons at highway speeds, or when the computers decide the time is right. About the only downside is that this version is front wheel drive, which will limit its appeal in the Rockies. If the lack of AWD is a problem, there is this…
2021 TOYOTA RAV4 PRIME PLUGIN HYBRID EPA Ratings/Range: 94mpge/38mpg gas 0-60mph: 5.1sec Price as tested: $49,461* Before $7,500 federal tax credit and up to $2,500 CO tax discount
*
Toyota shows the blend of attributes that make a plugin so enticing: the RAV4 Prime accelerates like a bat out of hell, will run up to 42 miles on electricity, yet has effectively unlimited range, since, when there is no time or place to charge, it can keep cruising along on good old fossil fuel. The Prime has all the inherent goodness of the normal
Kia Sorento
RAV4 hybrid in terms of all season, all weather practicality, and spices it up with midsized 18.1kWh battery pack and two electric motors (one for each axle); all in there are 302 ponies in the stable, making this the second fastest Toyota you can buy. Its 0-60mph sprint of 5.4 seconds means only the Supra is quicker. Its mixed average fuel economy is 38mpg, and its smaller battery means you can fully charge it in 12 hours using a good old-fashioned 120-volt outlet if 240 isn’t available at home. The latter is pretty much a necessity for pure EVs, since their bigger batteries would mean days and days of charging on the lower voltage. The Prime’s downside is weight—it is almost 575 heavier than the normal hybrid. This has detrimental effects on ride and handling, and is probably the biggest knock on plugins in general. In the Prime’s case, there’s also the fact that Toyota is building so few, that dealers are selling them for $5-7,000 over MSRP. Otherwise, after the federal $7,500 tax credit and state incentives, the Prime would cost less than loaded RAV4 hybrid, making it a really logical choice. But if they can up production capacity to meet demand, the Prime shows how terrific such a “bridge” technology like this can be, until EV cost reaches parity with good old gasoline vehicles. Finally, if all this is too much, there are some great new gasoline rides out there, like this one:
Toyota RAV4
2021 ACURA TLX A-SPEC EPA Ratings/Range: 21/29/24mpg 0-60mph: 5.9sec Price as tested: $47,275* Estimated $6250 federal tax credit and up to $1,500 CO tax discount
*
Acura’s return to its roots as the first premium, sporty Japanese brand continues with the all-new TLX. Calling from the same playbook that has made the RDX crossover such a hit, it is well built, has very sporty handling, and looks dramatic, with an extra long hood and stance wide enough to recall old Pontiac advertisement. Its Super Handling AWD system and control-arm front suspension imbue it with superb dynamics; it turns in adroitly and tracks true. Its current 272hp/280lb-ft, 4-cylinder engine is only adequate for this class (0-60 takes 5.9 seconds); a BMW 330i or Audi A4 will smoke it. The forthcoming 355hp Type S model will undoubtedly perform better. Yet the TLX undercuts its German rivals by a substantial margin, and based on historical precedent, is likely to be a very good long-term play in reliability. Looks like Mr. Peabody set the Wayback Machine just right.
Acura TLX
Automotive Editor Isaac Bouchard owns Denver-based Bespoke Autos (isaac@bespokeautos.com; 303-475-1462). Read more of his automotive writing, reviews and recommendations on coloradoavidgolfer.com and bespokeautos.com. COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
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The Country Club at Castle Pines
Privately Speaking, Golf is Booming Too WHEN ALL IS said and done—after all the spa treatments, the swimming parties and wine tastings—doesn’t it come down to golf? That was certainly the case in 2020; in a year in which the number of rounds played on public courses reached record heights, members at private clubs across Colorado increasingly made the decision to make 18 (or 9) holes part of their experience as well. “We had a record number of rounds played in 2020, almost double the year before,” said Ryan Naab of the Fox Hill Club in Longmont. “People seemed to be looking for any avenue to get out and interact last year and our club was the perfect solution.” Just as the novel coronavirus didn’t discriminate in spreading its misery around the globe, like their public counterparts, golfers at private clubs found solace and a means of escape in the game. While a number of clubs were forced to take precautionary measures, including prohibiting outside play, creating separate dining areas to insure COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
social distancing, or even moving tee times up to be able to accommodate more players, the overall effect was largely positive. “The same things that made golf feel out-of-step with the pace of modern society a few years ago have made it feel in step today,” said Tom Ferrell of Colorado Golf Club. “Some changes—a decrease in business travel, the loosening of proscribed office time and an emphasis on outdoor activities that friends and family can enjoy safely—mean that the game and club business will grow over the next several years.” Indeed, now that the calendar has turned to a new year, and with it the hope that the pandemic will be arrested, facilities are anticipating finding their new, better normal in quick order. For some places, that can be as simple as adding golf simulators or hovercraft-like golf boards to the mix as a way of upping the fun. For others, like The Country Club at Castle Pines, that means moving forward with a multimillion dollar
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expansion program. After the horror that was 2020, all will surely be welcomed.
Snowmass Club
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Comfort in the Extreme THE LINCOLN FAMILY OF LUXURY SUVS
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Sweet Rides to the Nice Drives The painter Norman Rockwell was famous for his depictions of American life, but chances are his renditions of neighbors gathering at day’s end didn’t include tricked out golf carts. And it’s equally doubtful that the artist’s palette included eye-popping colors like Blue Onyx, Storm Surge and Blazing Comeback. Those are just three of the hues available from Colorado Golf & Turf, the custom vehicles that are reinventing the golf cart. While the company is still a
leader in producing the standard, white buggy that golfers attach their clubs to before their weekend round, Colorado Golf & Turf has hit upon a new market, creating colorful, street-ready rides that are not only perfect for riding on the golf course, but for getting to and from the links as well. Not to mention cruising around the neighborhood. “One of the comments that we often COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
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get is how people are interacting because of these,” says Abbie Randel, director of commercial and consumer sales. “You meet people that you would never see if you were just driving somewhere in your car; with these people notice and wave you over because they want to ask questions about them and you end up having these great conversations.” While some of the more traditional country clubs don’t allow the carts, more and more facilities, like Ravenna, Columbine, Harmony Club and Pinehurst are embracing the unique look. Besides the colors, standard equipment on the vehicles include upgraded wheels, headlights, taillights and turn signals, and can be customized to include features like premium seats and stereos—even garage door openers. With Club Car Connect, a personalized GPS system, drivers can monitor diagnostics like mileage and battery life—and also get their yardages to the pin should they actually find themselves on a golf course. Contact Colorado Golf & Turf for more information. coloradoavidgolfer.com
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YOU R S T YLE . YOU R P E RS ON ALIT Y. YOU R ADV E NT UR E .
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T HE ANY TIM E CADDY
A hands-free, autonomous caddie that offers GPS yardage, carries bags, coolers, and other accessories
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DON’T MISS World-class Cuisine–In the artful hands of the Flying Horse culinary team of The Steakhouse at Flying Horse, dining is transformed into a masterpiece of culinary elegance.
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Our Experience Discover the unbridled majesty of Flying Horse, Colorado Springs’ only northern resort lifestyle golf course community. Enjoy the Athletic Club, with swimming pools, clay tennis courts, state-of-the-art exercise equipment and group fitness programs, or visit the Spa–our rejuvenating therapies and curative treatments are so indulgent, so relaxing, so deliciously refreshing, we promise you’ll leave an entirely new person—inside and out. Spa services include: massage therapies, body treatments, facial therapies, nail care, hair services, and makeup services.
Within the famed and award-winning Flying Horse community and country club, The Lodge at Flying Horse is one of Colorado’s most desirable boutique resort and meeting destinations. The hotel opened in 2015 and features a “Rocky Mountain Tuscan” style and essence, offering a rich, warm, sophisticated and elegant experience with posh, yet comfortable, furnishings and finishes. The Lodge perfectly complements the stunning resort facilities and club amenities. When you’re ready to discover everything Colorado has to offer, we invite you to book your stay with us.
The Golf
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Play like never before. Signature Members and guests of The Lodge have the opportunity to play two 18hole championship golf courses. The Weiskopf course is located adjacent to the Clubhouse and Lodge and the Flying Horse North Golf Course is located in the trees of the Black Forest. Golfers who want to take time to improve their golf game will enjoy access to yearround golf instruction at the Flying Horse Golf Academy, located on-site.
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Book a 2-night stay at The Lodge using promo code GOGOLF to enjoy unlimited golf plus food & beverage credit during your stay.
Flying Horse offers the ultimate Colorado golf experience with luxuriously appointed guest rooms, a European-inspired clubhouse and athletic club & spa, world-class dining, and Southern Colorado's only Golf Channel Academy golf instruction facility. Lodge Reservations: 844-768-2684 - LodgeAtFlyingHorse.com Membership Opportunities: 719-487-2660 - FlyingHorseClub.com Golf Academy Lessons: 719-201-0240 - FlyingHorseGolfAcademy.com 1 8 8 0
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Our Experience Garden of the Gods Resort and Club and STRATA Integrated Wellness and Spa are the hidden gems of Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region, showcasing the best views in Colorado. Featuring 116 lodge hotel rooms, cottages, and casitas; including 1-3-bedroom suites. Most rooms include private patios offering our guests and members a truly extraordinary experience at this world-class resort and Integrated Wellness Spa. Exclusive Memberships come with a medley of inspiring activities and amenities including the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum and United States Air Force Academy.
Choose membership tailored to just the right fit for your lifestyle and liking. Golf, culinary, sports, young professional, national, business, or corporate with dining privileges and distinguished military memberships. Set against a spectacular backdrop of towering spires, balancing rocks and lush mountain valleys, discover the true challenge of Kissing Camels Golf Club, our 27-hole course is just one of every luxury you can experience here–from the tennis, fitness, concierge services, spa and salon, health and wellness, beautiful resort accommodations to world-class cuisine and engaging events.
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WEBSITE gardenofthegodsresort.com MEMBERSHIP CONTACT
Experience both the serenity and challenge of our famed Kissing Camels Golf Course. With immaculately groomed fairways, bunkered greens and towering pines, our 27-hole Kissing Camels Golf Course was designed by renowned architects J. Press Maxwell and Mark Rathert. And, don’t forget to stop by the Kissing Camels Grill & Bar!
Tracey Kalata (719) 520-4980 tkalata@gardenofthegodsresort.com COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
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P L AY H A R D /
rest easy
Discov er the Be n efits of Me mb ership More than ever, life is not meant to be rushed. It is something to savor. To sip. To enjoy. We invite you to claim your home-away-from-home with a Garden of the Gods Club Membership. Choose a membership category fit just for you. Enjoy world-class activities, amenities, social calendar of events and parties, luxury accommodations, and countless other exclusive benefits including STRATA Integrative Wellness and Spa. Become part of our social community and leave no sense unturned. That’s why we built Garden of the Gods Resort and Club surrounded by natural wonders in a one-of-a-kind setting.
An intimate club experience with abundant space for distancing with spectacular red rock views when dining indoors or outdoors.
OUR MEMBERSHIP TEAM IS HERE FOR YOU. PLEASE CONTACT TRACEY KALATA AT 719-520-4980 OR TKALATA@GARDENOFTHEGODSRESORT.COM
3320
Mesa Road
Colorado Springs
CO
80904
|
gardenofthegodsresort.com
Clubbing Up
PRESENTED BY
Special Advertising Section
The Club at Cordillera
DON’T MISS Whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter, The Club at Cordillera is a year-round club with daily activities for everyone in the family, from our Kids Camp to backcountry CAT skiing.
Edwards
Our Experience Members of The Club at Cordillera are Vail Valley proud. Like the pioneers who came before us, we have resiliently staked a claim to a down-to-earth, mountain lifestyle built upon the foundation of personal connections, time spent outdoors, stewardship and culture. Members believe lives are best lived while enjoying the rewards of membership provided by The Club at Cordillera—a private slice of heaven that provides ample opportunity to relax, connect and savor Mother Nature’s majesty. It is a personal, four-season playground, and it feeds passion for an outdoor life
invigorated by crisp mountain air, aweinspiring scenery, aspen tree lines, fresh alpine snow and summer blossoms. Our spirit is grounded in the variety of our communities—each uniquely situated at its own elevation and positioned to provide the ultimate member and mountain living experience. The Club at Cordillera Membership includes all four of our wonderful golf courses: the Valley Course, a Tom Fazio design; the Mountain Course, a Hale Irwin design; the Short Course, a Dave Pelz design; and the Summit Course, a signature Jack Nicklaus design.
The Golf
WEBSITE cordillera-vail.com MEMBERSHIP CONTACT Allyson Mason (970) 926-4687 amason@troon.com COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
Along with 63 holes of golf, members enjoy the Clubhouses and dining at each location. Social events include three private swimming pools, two fitness facilities, pickleball, the Cordillera Fly-Fishing Club on private river waters, hiking trails, biking group, member wine mixers, live entertainment, mahjong, bridge, yoga and much more—including daily member refresher clinics with Tim Mahoney.
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HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED CORDILLERA? COME SEE FOR YOURSELF WHAT THE EXCITEMENT IS ALL ABOUT
DO YOU LOVE TO... SKI IN THE MORNING AND TEE IT UP THAT SAME AFTERNOON? GOLF ON TOP OF THE WORLD? FLY FISH OR HIKE OR CROSS COUNTRY SKI? YOU CAN DO IT ALL HERE... LET CORDILLERA BE YOUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME We've staked a claim to a down-to-earth mountain lifestyle built upon personal connections, time spent outdoors, stewardship, and culture. With three 18-hole championship golf courses and a 9-hole short course, our personal four season playground is a private slice of heaven. And, as a Cordillera Golf Member, you have direct access to over 100 Troon Prive private golf clubs worldwide for only a cart fee, as well as over 150 Troon managed courses at a preferred rate. WE CONTINUE TO OFFER FULL GOLF, YOUNG PROFESSIONAL, NATIONAL AND OUR POPULAR FAMILY LIFETIME LEGACY MEMBERSHIPS
We invite you to schedule a visit with Membership Director Allyson Mason to see how we're changing the way private clubs are experienced.
970.926.4687 CORDILLERA-VAIL.COM
GOLF . TENNIS . SWIMMING . FITNESS . NORDIC SKIING . HIKING . FLY FISHING . EXPLORING
PRESENTED BY
Special Advertising Section
Clubbing Up
Snowmass Club
DON’T MISS Full Renovation completed of Black Saddle Bar & Grille, Three Peaks Bar & Grille and the Main Lobby Full Renovation of our 20,000 square feet Spa & Fitness facility slated for completion in June 2021. Best of Aspen 2020–Best Burger Best of Aspen 2020–Best Patio at Black Saddle Bar & Grille
Aspen Snowmass
Our Experience Nestled among the spectacular cascading sierras of the Colorado Rocky Mountains lies a vibrant upscale mountain escape that offers an unparalleled year-round experience alive with outdoor adventure and indoor leisure. For travelers and Colorado locals looking for more than what is typically offered at luxury resorts in the area, the Snowmass Club is the perfect solution. Located just minutes from the gorgeous town of Aspen, the Snowmass Club provides easy access to America’s most famous mountain town plus an all-inclusive country club experience that mingles the comforts of home with an exclusive club lifestyle that
defines luxury and service. The Snowmass Club is an active yearround membership experience. Members enjoy a vibrant and refined mountain lifestyle where the traditional seamlessly blends with the new, offering delightful experiences that embrace the stunning natural environment. When not on the course, work out in the expansive Spa & Fitness Center, play a game of tennis on indoor or outdoor courts, relax poolside with year-round aquatics or dine at Three Peaks or Black Saddle Bar & Grille with spectacular views of Mt. Daly and the surrounding Elk Mountain Range—all while making health and wellness a priority.
The Golf
WEBSITE snowmassclub.com MEMBERSHIP CONTACT Michelle James 970 923 0930 mjames@snowmassclub.com COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
The Snowmass Club Golf Course treats its players to stunning views of Mt. Daly and the Snowmass Ski Area at an elevation of 8,000 feet. Playing to a length of 6,959 yards from the back tees and a par of 72, the course features many stadium style greens, dramatic bunkers and elevated tee boxes. Golfers especially enjoy the dramatic par-5 9th hole, which features a drop of over 120 feet from the tee to the fairway and the 2nd hole brings magnificent unobstructed views of Mt. Daly. With five sets of tees, novices and pros alike are guaranteed an adventure.
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BETTER TOGETHER
A relaxed & contemporary private members club, with a complete year-round mountain lifestyle. SNOWMASS CLUB
.
.
.
.
GOLF RACQUET FITNESS AQUATICS SPA ASPEN SNOWMASS
Call Today & Your First Round Is On Us! SNOWMASSCLUB.COM | 970.923.0930
ravennagolf.com Member inquiries: George Kahrhoff 303-481-0224 gkahrhoff@ravennagolf.com
For those with discerning taste, an appreciation for the outdoors, and a passion for golf.
Colorado PGA REACH Colorado PGA Professionals make a positive difference in the lives of others through the game of golf, with programs for the youth in your community.
1 Colorado PGA Golf in Schools - An introductory program at no cost to students or schools, PGA Professionals have been bringing the program to schools since 2008.
4 PGA Jr. League - Teams are captained by PGA and LPGA Professionals in this fun, social and inclusive opportunity for boys and girls age 17 and under.
2 3 Youth on Course - This program provides juniors the opportunity to play golf at participating facilities for no more than $5. In 2020, 30 facilities participated with over 4,000 rounds of golf played.
Drive Chip & Putt - This free youth golf development initiative welcomes boys and girls ages 7-15. Local qualifying skills competitions are hosted by PGA Professionals.
5 JGAC - For ages 6-18, the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado has 3 membership levels to choose from to introduce and promote the game of golf. All JGAC members have access to Youth on Course benefits.
Colorado PGA REACH is the 501(c)(3) charitable foundation of the Colorado PGA. To learn more about the YOUTH PILLAR of Colorado PGA REACH and programs for juniors, visit us online at coloradopga.com or call 303-996-1597.
Transformation Is Where ...
A WORLD CLASS TRANSFORMATION HAS BEGUN The Country Club at Castle Pines, a private, member owned Club perched at 6700 feet in The Village at Castle Pines, Colorado has broken ground on an extensive multimilliondollar transformation project that will bring stylish new dining, social and patio features to the iconic clubhouse and will maximize their dramatic landscape found nowhere else at a Country Club in Denver. The reinvention will include an expanded, upscale casual dining area, a new indoor/outdoor bar, an intimate fine dining room with wine experience and an expanded patio with views of Pikes Peak, Devil’s Head and the Front Range. Members and their guests will enjoy a modernly rustic but elegant indoor/outdoor mountain experience that just cannot be duplicated in any other Club. The Country Club is also adding dramatic new amenities including a cliffside pool, fitness center, and multiple racket sport amenities to its growing list of award-winning offerings. The pool plans include an infinity edge, heated pool with hot tub and fire pits that directly overlook the mountains and sit 400 feet above the 18th green. Members soon will enjoy dining and drinks from a new poolside warming hut that will feature a fitness center with yoga deck and a cliffside restaurant and bar offering service in your cabana or at your deck chair.
THE CRAGS Perched at nearly 6,700 feet and built on a series of rocky crags on the western cliff behind the Clubhouse, The Crags is destined to be one of the best 18-hole putting courses in the country. It’s a massive, one-acre course built with the same attention to detail as the Club’s world-class championship greens. The Crags is the first new amenity added since the approval of the Club’s $17 million expansion project that will soon boast a clubhouse renovation, cliffside infinity edge pool, fitness center and a full complement of racket sports. The putting course is fully outfitted with lighting, music and fire pits so Golf Member families and their guests can enjoy an endless supply of fun, friendly competition and a few beverages while drinking in the unrivaled mountain views all around them. The Country Club at Castle Pines 6400 Country Club Drive Castle Rock, Colorado 80108 To inquire about an invitation to membership, contact: Mark Lewicki 303.660.6807 mlewicki@ccatcastlepines.com www.ccatcastlepines.com
Vision,
Landscape and Life Converge.
Clubbing Up
PRESENTED BY
Special Advertising Section
Perry Park Country Club
DON’T MISS Monthly specialty Wine, Beer and Whiskey dinners have become our members’ favorite events. Our Executive Chef pairs each 3-5 course meal with imported wines, local craft beers or specialty whiskeys.
Larkspur
Our Experience Perry Park Country Club members have enjoyed what most golfers are looking for... an escape from the normal. Perry Park highlights its majestic views and truly unique Colorado golfing experience with a world class team. Members are particularly proud of the sunset view over Lake Wauconda from the new outdoor patio. The Manor House (est. 1891) is a great place to reflect on your golfing experience with a cold beer or a great wine selection. Chef Justin Schwarz creates a new menu
each quarter, so members never tire of their selection. Golfers lose track of time in the timeless beauty of the rock formations. Occasionally you may have to wait on the wildlife to play through, but that is just part of the Perry Park Experience. The leadership team publishes a monthly newsletter to keep members informed of their upcoming favorite events. Bingo, Trivia, Live Music and monthly Wine Dinners are just a few club favorites you can experience at Perry Park Country Club.
The Golf
WEBSITE perryparkcc.com MEMBERSHIP CONTACT Andrew Bustamante 303-681-3305 ext. 4 abustamante@perryparkcc.com COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
Perry Park Country Club is one of the few clubs with an amazing view AND truly amazing golf. Accurate tee shots are required to fit into tree-lined fairways. The greens break towards Lake Wauconda. The most difficult part of the round? Remembering you are playing golf!
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Experience Membership! Sign up for a "Member for a Day Experience" this summer! One of our membership specialists will give you a customized membership experience. This experience includes a customized tour, a dining experience, and 18 holes of unbelievable golf!
Perry Park Country Club is gearing up for another fantastic golf season. At the end of the 2020 season, our team finished a few on-course improvements that we will be able to enjoy this year. These included an improved tee box on hole #18 and a refreshed pond that challenges par 3 #12. New ladies' leagues and after-work leagues that were established last year will surely be bigger and better than ever!
New memberships are available in the following categories:
Full Golf Membership Junior Golf Membership Corporate Golf Membership Apply for the waitlist:
Professional Golf Membership (after 2pm) $250 deposit & application required $216 per month
Call our Membership Team and join today! Andrew Bustamante Director of Membership Perry Park Country Club 303-681-3305 ext. 4 abustamante@perryparkcc.com
UNPARALLELED SERENITY
ADVENTURE AWAITS Golf Memberships Social Memberships Open to the Public Homes for Sale or Rent Lots for Sale Stay & Play Packages 16 Guest Rooms Corporate & Couples Retreats Dining, Bar & Social Spaces Fishing, Hiking, Tennis & Fitness Located less than 2 Hours North of Denver & Avoid I70 3350 Fox Acres Drive East Red Feather Lakes, CO 80545
www.golfclubatfoxacres.com
970.881.2574
dkennedy@golfclubatfoxacres.com
PRESENTED BY
2021 PRIVATE CLUB DIRECTORY ADDRESS, PHONE and WEBSITE
INITIATION *
DUES **
WAITING LIST
MEMBER CAP
FACILITIES
COURSE ARCHITECT
CONTACT
0545 Bald Eagle Way, Carbondale 970-704-1905; clubcorp.com
$27.500
$1,100/mo.
No
350
Swimming, tennis,spa, fitness center, ClubCorp reciprocity
Nicklaus Design (1997)
Chris Devens
1 Ballyneal Lane, Holyoke 970-854-5900; ballyneal.com
$35,000)
$4,500/yr.
Invitation Only
250
Bird hunting, bocce ball, shooting, lodging, dining, spa, 12-hole and putting courses
Tom Doak (2006)
Dave Hensley
Bear Creek Golf Club
12201 Morrison Rd., Denver 303-667-4626; bearcreekgolfclub.net
$40,000
$400$800/mo.
No
350
Dining
Arnold Palmer, Ed Seay (1985)
Rich Goins
Black Bear Golf Club
11300 Canterberry Pkwy., Parker 720-330-7087; blackbear-club.com
$7,000
$450/mo.
No
N/A
Dining, privileges at Blackstone and all ClubCorp facilities
Jeff Brauer (1996)
Tiffanie Trenck
Blackstone Country Club
7777 Country Club Dr., Aurora 720-330-7087; blackstone-club.com
$12,000
$650/mo.
Yes
N/A
Swimming, tennis, fitness, dining, privileges at Black Bear and all ClubCorp facilities
Jay Morrish (2006)
Tiffanie Trenck
Bookcliff Country Club
2730 G Rd., Grand Junction 970-243-3323; bookcliffcc.com
$2,500
$450/mo.
No
520
Swimming, tennis, exercise center, spa, dining, Troon Privé membership
Dick Phelps (1958)
George Bigley
Boulder Country Club
350 Clubhouse Rd., Boulder 303-530-4600; bouldercc.org
$50,000
$664/mo.
Yes
485
Swimming, tennis, fitness, dining, wellness center, youth summer camp, par 3
Press Maxwell (1965)
Sarah Freismuth
Broadmoor Golf Club
One Lake Circle, Colorado Springs 719-577-5790; broadmoorgolfclub.org
$80,000
$680/mo.
Yes
N/A
All resort privileges, private members’ lounge
East: D. Ross (1918) West: R. T. Jones (1964)
Shauna Sartori
Castle Pines Golf Club
1000 Hummingbird Dr., Castle Rock 303-688-6000; castlepinesgolfclub.club
$135,000
$20,000/yr.
Invitation only
N/A
Fitness center, dining
Jack Nicklaus (1981)
N/A
The Country Club at Castle Pines
6400 Country Club Dr., Castle Pines Village 303-688-7400; ccatcastlepines.com
$39,000
$745/mo.
No
395
Dining, 20-acre golf practice range; Adding pools, fitness, tennis, pickleball, paddle tennis
Nicklaus Signature Design (1985)
Mark Lewicki
Catamount Ranch & Club
33400 B Catamount Dr., Steamboat Springs 970-871-9300; catamountranchclub.com
$45,000
$12,500/yr.
Yes (Social)
375
Swimming, tennis, private lake, water sports, fitness, skiing
Tom Weiskopf (2000)
Nicole Piret
Cherry Creek Country Club
2405 South Yosemite St., Denver 303-597-0300; cherrycreekcountryclub.com
$45,000$70,000
$560$840/mo.
No
445
Swimming, tennis, spa, full fitness facility
Jack Nicklaus/ Jack Nicklaus II (2002)
Karen Hart
Cherry Hills Country Club
4125 S. University Blvd., Cherry Hills Village 303-350-5200; chcc.com
$135,000
$1,185/mo.
Invitation only
N/A
Swimming , tennis, dining, indoor golf practice
William Flynn (1922); Renaissance Golf (2009)
B.J. Johnson
Colorado Golf Club
8000 Preservation Trail, Parker 303-840-5400; coloradogolfclub.com
$55,000/ $85,000
$925/mo.
By Invitation
375
9-hole short course, dining, resort-style pool, fitness, trails, AboutGolf simulators and indoor bays
Ben Crenshaw/ Bill Coore (2006)
Tom Ferrell
Colorado Springs Country Club
3333 Templeton Gap Rd., Colorado Springs 719-634-8851; cscountryclub.com
$15,000
$535/mo.
No
375
Swimming, tennis, dining, fitness, pickleball, kids’ playroom
Dick Phelps (1957)
Kevin Sanger
Columbine Country Club
17 Fairway Lane, Columbine Valley 303-794-2674; columbinecc.com
$80,000
$750/mo.
No
620
Swimming, tennis, par-3, fitness, new clubhouse with indoor simulators, indoor/outdoor dining, spa
Henry Hughes (1956)
Leah Caillier
The Club at Cordillera
655 Clubhouse Dr., Edwards 970-926-4687; cordillera-vail.com
$40,000$85,000
$13,600/yr.
No
1,085
Swimming, tennis, Nordic center, dining, hiking, fly-fishing, skiing, Troon Privé privileges
Valley: T. Fazio (1997) Mountain: H. Irwin (1994) Summit: J Nicklaus (2001)
Allyson Mason
1000 Cornerstone Trail, Montrose 970-249-1922; cornerstoneclub.com
$15,000
$12,000/yr
No
Hiking, fly-fishing, horseback riding, snowshoeing, 4-wheeling, mountain biking, shooting
Greg Norman (2007); Matt Dusenberry (2018)
Tom Craft
Country Club of Colorado
125 E. Clubhouse Dr., Colorado Springs 719-538-4080; ccofcolorado.com
$15,000
$585/mo.
No
360
Swimming, dining, tennis, fitness, sailing, spa, beach, lake, watersports, pickleball
Pete Dye (1973)
Danielle Tuttle
Country Club of the Rockies
676 Sawatch Dr., Edwards 970-926-3080; countrycluboftherockies.com
$95,000
$11,960/yr.
No
350
Call for facilities
Jack Nicklaus (1984)
Pentti Tofferi
Denver Country Club
1700 E. First Ave., Denver 303-733-2441; denvercc.net
$105,000
$834/mo.
Invitation only
600
Swimming, tennis, ice rink, fitness, paddle tennis
James Foulis (1902); Bill Coore (1985); Gil Hanse (2009)
Molly Elm
28521 U.S. Highway 6 & 24, Wolcott 970-926-4400; eaglesprings.org
$7,000
$15,900/yr.
Invitation only
250
None
Jay Morrish/ Tom Weiskopf (1995)
Mike Steiner
37661 Weld County Rd. 39, Eaton 970-454-2106; eatoncc.net
$1,000
$197/mo.
No
450
Dining
Frank Baumgardner (1968)
Misty Welsh
The Club at Flying Horse
1880 Weiskopf Point, Colorado Springs 719-487-2660; flyinghorseclub.com
$25,000 (one course) / $35,000 (two courses)
$620$700/mo.
No
450
Swimming, tennis, fitness, spa, indoor golf facility, lodging, dining
Tom Weiskopf (2005) Flying Horse North: Phil Smith (2020)
Branden Phillips/ Erica Cox
Fort Collins Country Club
1920 Country Club Rd., Fort Collins 970-482-1336; fortcollinscc.com
$7,000
$510/mo.
No
500
Swimming, dining, fitness, indoor and outdoor tennis, privileges at ClubCorp
Henry Hughes (1960); Pete Dye (2001)
Heidi Elser
The Fox Hill Club
1400 State Hwy 119, Longmont 303-651-7600; thefoxhillclub.com
$6,000
$470/mo.
No
450
Dining, swimming, tennis, fitness
Frank Hummel (1972)
Pat Miller
CLUB Aspen Glen Club Ballyneal Golf Club
Cornerstone Club
Eagle Springs Golf Club Eaton Country Club
EDITOR’S NOTE: This information is accurate to the best of our knowledge. Contact the club directly to confirm.
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
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2021 PRIVATE CLUB DIRECTORY
PRESENTED BY
ADDRESS PHONE and WEBSITE
INITIATION *
DUES **
WAITING LIST
MEMBER CAP
FACILITIES
COURSE ARCHITECT
CONTACT
1094 Frost Creek Dr., Eagle 970-455-3072; frostcreek.com
$30,000/ $35,000
$5,790/ $8,690/yr.
No
425
Swimming, tennis, fitness, fishing, spa, paddleboard, archery, yurts, Nordic skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing, Jeep access, hiking and biking trails
Tom Weiskopf (2007)
Kakie Holland
Garden of the Gods Resort and Club
3320 Mesa Rd., Colorado Springs 719-520-4980; gardenofthegodsclub.com
$28,000
$630/mo.
No
N/A
Kissing Camels Golf Club, lodging, dining, STRATA Integrated Wellness and Spa (Wellness Center, Spa & Salon), fitness, swimming, tennis
Press Maxwell (1961) Mark Rathert (1997)
Tracey Kalata
Glacier
600 Glacier Club Dr., Durango 970-382-7800; theglacierclub.com
$17,500/ $70,000
$582$895/mo.
No
800
Swimming, tennis, fitness, spa
Arthur Hills (1974)/ Irwin-Schoeder (2017)
Ken Stone/ Kimberly Lohre
Glenmoor Country Club
110 Glenmoor Dr., Cherry Hills Village 970-353-0528; greeleycc.org
$80,000
$740mo.
No
475
Swimming, tennis, fitness, dining, massage, kids activity room
Pete Dye (1985)
Teri Kubik
Greeley Country Club
4500 W. 10th St., Greeley 970-353-0528; greeleycc.org
$8,500
$599/mo.
No
500
Swimming, tennis, racquetball, dining, pickleball, golf simulators, access to Fort Collins & Fox Hill CCs
Press Maxwell/ Tom Bendelow (1932)
Claire Carter
Harmony Club
4175 Club Dr., Timnath 970-224-4622; harmonyclub.info
$14,000
$425/mo.
Yes
N/A
Indoor heated golf facility, pool, tennis, fitness, pickleball
Jim Engh (2007)
Jason Ward
Hiwan Golf Club
30671 Clubhouse Ln., Evergreen 303-674-3366; hiwan.com
$25,000
$555/mo.
No
N/A
Dining, swimming, tennis, fitness center, fishing, yoga and Pilates
Press Maxwell (1962)
Judy Ikola
200 Inverness Dr., Englewood 303-397-7878; invernesshotel.com
$1,250
$430/mo.
No
390
Swimming, tennis, renovated fitness, locker and dining facilities
Press Maxwell (1974)
Dave Steinmetz
4400 Lake Valley Dr., Niwot 303-444-2114; lakevalley.com
$9,000$12,000
$389-$452 / mo.
No
478
Dining, practice facilities, private swim and fishing lake
Press Maxwell (1964)
Rob Mount
6800 W. 10th Ave., Lakewood 303-233-4614; lakewoodcountryclub.net
$52,500
$790 /mo.
Yes
450
Swimming, fitness, golf simulator
Tom Bendelow/ Donald Ross (1908) Gill Hanse (2018)
Carol Kaiser
Maroon Creek Club
10 Club Circle Rd., Aspen 970-920-1533; mccaspen.com
$250,000
$30,000/yr.
Invitation only
350
Swimming, tennis, fitness, spa, dining
Tom Fazio (1995)
David Chadbourne
Meridian Golf Club
9742 S. Meridian Blvd., Englewood 303-799-8402; meridiangolfclub.com
$9,000
$539/mo.
No
475
Dining
Jack Nicklaus (1984)
Tim Murphy
Perry Park Country Club
7047 Perry Park Blvd., Larkspur 303-681-3305; perryparkcc.com
$4,500
$525/mo.
No
300
Dining, golf, professional membership
Dick Phelps (1969)
Andrew Bustamante
Pinehurst Country Club
6255 W. Quincy Ave., Denver 303-996-5499; muchmorethangolf.com
$40,000
$730/mo.
No
450
Swimming, indoor/outdoor tennis, dining, fitness, golf simulators
Press Maxwell (1960)
Tiffany Messer
The Pinery Country Club
6900 N. Pinery Pkwy., Parker 303-841-5157; thepinerycc.com
$10,000
$535/mo.
No
N/A
Swimming, fitness, 27 holes with golf practice facilities, indoor/outdoor tennis
David Bingham (1972)
Jeff Mathews
5225 Raintree Dr., Parker 303-607-5700; theclubatpradera.com
$8,000
$567/mo.
No
450
Tennis, fitness
Jim Engh (2005)
Jeff Mathews
5416 Vardon Way, Fort Collins 970-226-8555; ptarmigancc.com
$5,000
$425/mo.
No
425
Swimming, dining, tennis
Jack Nicklaus (1988)
Ryan Flack
3200 8th Ave., Pueblo 719-543-4844; pueblocountryclub.com
$500
$430/mo.
No
850
Swimming, tennis, dining, special events
Henry Hughes (1903)
Buck Streich
The Ranch Country Club
11887 Tejon St., Westminster 303-460-9700; theranchcc.com
$7,000
$495/mo.
No
425
Indoor golf facility, indoor and outdoor tennis, swimming family pools, fitness, dining, indoor and outdoor kids play area
Dick Phelps (1974)
Bryan Cotton
The Golf Club at Ravenna
11118 Caretaker Rd., Littleton 720-956-1600; ravennagolf.com
$45,000
$695
No
395
Dining, pool, fitness center
Jay Morrish (2006)
George Kahrhoff
Red Rocks Country Club
16235 W. Belleview Ave., Morrison 303-352-2030; redrockscountryclub.org
$30,000
$507/mo.
Yes
430
Dining, swimming, fishing, hiking, golf simulator
Stanley Harwood (1976)/ Kevin Atkinson (2017)
Bobby Norman
Red Sky Golf Club
1099 Red Sky Rd., Wolcott 970-754-8400; redskygolfclub.com
$140,000
$9,937/yr.
No
425
Swimming, tennis, hiking, dining, cycling, skiing, year-round events
Tom Fazio (2002)/ Greg Norman (2003)
Shawnna Frank
Roaring Fork Club
100 Arbaney Ranch Rd., Basalt 970-927-9000; roaringforkclub.com
$50,000$150,000
$11,500$23,000/yr.
Invitation only
500
Swimming, tennis, fly-fishing, dining, fitness
Jack Nicklaus (1999)
Sam Broome
15707 W. 26th Ave., Golden 303-279-3334; theclubatrollinghills.org
$49,000
$831/mo.
No
425
Swimming, indoor/outdoor tennis, fitness, HD golf simulator, dining
Press Maxwell/ Dick Phelps (1967)
Marta Kostelny
Snowmass Club
0239 Snowmass Club Cir., Snowmass Village 970-923-5600; snowmassclub.com
$50,000
$895/mo.
No
375
Athletic club, swimming, spa, indoor/outdoor tennis, fitness, cross-country skiing, dining
Jim Engh (2003)
Joanna Mallory
Sonnenalp Club
1265 Berry Creek Rd., Edwards 970-477-5376; sonnenalpclub.com
$45,000
$609/mo.
No
345
Swimming, tennis, spa, fitness, dining, indoor/outdoor practice facilities
Jay Morrish/ Bob Cupp (1982)
Diane Kerchof
Valley Country Club
14601 Country Club Dr., Centennial 720-630-2463; valleycountryclub.org
$15,000
$680/mo.
No
470
Swimming, lighted tennis, fitness, dining, children’s activity center
William Bell (1960)
Steve O’Brien
The Country Club at Woodmoor
18945 Pebble Beach Way, Monument 719-884-7241; ccwoodmoor.com
$5.000
$383/mo.
No
1,300
Swimming, indoor tennis, fitness, cross-country skiing, childcare
Press Maxwell (1969)
Ashley Wimberly
CLUB
Frost Creek Club
The Club at Inverness Lake Valley Golf Club Lakewood Country Club
The Club at Pradera Ptarmigan Country Club Pueblo Country Club
The Club at Rolling Hills
* Initiations reflect full golf memberships for individuals. When given, ranges can account for incentives, promotions, refundability or multiple levels (equity/non-equity, associate, junior, individual, family, etc.). Clubs often make financing available. ** Dues reflect full golf. They do not account for food and beverage minimums, service fees, capital assessments or other surcharges. Ranges reflect levels of membership.
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April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
Ravenna
Reborn
From TEE TO GREEN, The Club at Ravenna has authored an amazing comeback. by DANIEL B. GLOVER
RAVISHING RAVENNA: Promising a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle found outside its gates, the Club at Ravenna features stunning views, a great golf course and an unmatched experience.
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“When we started, I just wanted to live here; I bought into the vision of what Ravenna was and
what it was going to become.”
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE CLUB AT RAVENNA
FROM TURF TO SURF: An after-golf dining experience at Ravenna can include any number of enticing options from Executive Chef David Lazarus, including seared Georges Bank sea scallops with spring vegetables, confetti rice and citrus beurre blanc.
BEAUTIFUL LIFE: Expected to be completed in 2022, a 24,000-square foot clubhouse is under construction at Ravenna. Featuring an old-world design, the building will be a striking companion to La Bella Vita; the first-class resort area includes a fitness center, event and entertainment area, pool, kitchen, fire pit, sunset terrace and locker rooms.
COMEBACK KING As recently as 2014, the Club at Ravenna had less than 50 members, and the number of rounds played topped out at about 6,000—when comparing that to the 2019 totals, 275 members and 15,000 rounds played—it’s easy to see why the Littleton-based facility is regarded as one of the best comeback stories in Colorado golf. “It’s just a place to enjoy the sights and the sounds,” says Kevin Collins, Ravenna’s managing partner and the man credited with extricating the club from the morass of bankruptcy and receivership that plagued its early days. “Once people drive through the gates, there’s great physical beauty with the red rocks, and it’s a serene place where you can escape the hustle and bustle of the city.” Whether it’s making improvements to the golf course, or hiring a world-class chef to revamp the club’s menu, Ravenna is trying to leave no stone unturned. “We’re really a small, boutique club; everything we do, we look at it from the standpoint of helping the member experience,” Collins says. MOVERS AND SHAKERS Truth be told, at one point, one practically needed to be a PGA TOUR-quality player to navigate the golf course at Ravenna. The Jay Morrish-designed layout featured almost 180,000 square feet of bunkers—most courses have less than half that amount. To make things more accessible for the coloradoavidgolfer.com
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everyday player, about 80,000 square feet of sand was removed; in addition, the size of the third green was expanded, while the ninth and 18th greens were completely rebuilt. A new short game area has been created, while the practice putting green has been expanded by one-third. Out on the course, the star of the show might be the 16th hole, a par-3 that can play as long as 240 yards. Surrounded by breath-taking scenery of the Front Range, with a drop of more than 50 feet from the back tees over a ravine, Collins calls it “an almost idyllic setting.” LIFE IS GOOD Collins calls Ravenna’s clubhouse, slated to open in 2022, “the final piece of the puzzle.” Part of a $19 million upgrade, the 24,000-square-foot building will include event and entertainment space and an expansive wine cellar. There’s also La Bella Vita (“The Beautiful Life”), which includes a spectacular fitness center and state-of-the-art pool among its plentiful amenities. That phrase perhaps perfectly encapsulates the journey the club has made over the last few years. “From the beginning we were focused on, ‘How do we move the development from a great idea to an actual place where people want to live and play golf and participate in the golf club experience,’” Collins says. “For us, the clubhouse is the pinnacle for Ravenna; it’s going to be the community center for the entire development.” April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
Reading
the Green
He’s now the face of the Colorado Rockies, but with a big-money contract, free agency and a possible trade on the horizon, fans should take a good look at TREVOR STORY—you may not see him for long. By ANTHONY COTTON | Photographs by STEVE JELLERSON
TREVOR STORY is looking for...well...a new story. Standing on the tee box at Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Colorado Rockies’ shortstop, scheduled to become a free agent after the 2021 season, and subsequently, the subject of endless trade rumors, is breaking down his thought process with teammates Kyle Freeland and Ryan McMahon. “I just finished ‘Power’ (a Showtime drama centered around a Fortune 500 businessman leading a double life as the head of a New York City drug empire),” Story says. “Should it be something old school? I’m thinking, maybe ‘The Sopranos’... “What should I do next?” This is indeed a question with implications that, ominously, portend into areas far greater than television programming. For most of his five years with the team, Story has been a mustsee on any binge-watcher’s list—two all-star game appearances and a pair of Silver Slugger awards, recognizing the best hitting player at each position. Each of those years were spent playing alongside Nolan Arenado; long regarded as one of the top-five players in Major League Baseball, the duo comprised what many considered to be the best combo in baseball. Now, on a breezy day and fighting a whippy hook with his driver, Story finds himself in a familiar position—answering questions about the future. Arenado, himself an avid golfer, has taken his sticks, both golf and baseball, to St. Louis, traded away during the off-season. His departure has effectively elevated Story to become the face of the franchise, but that appellation doesn’t necessarily carry Mount Rushmore-like permanence. The 2021 season will be the last under Story’s current contract, leaving him, and the Rockies, with some decisions to make. The team could try to sign Story to an extension, one that would certainly carry a price tag that
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LOVE STORY: Some of Trevor Story’s favorite memories of golf include going out to the course as a youth in Texas and learning the game alongside his father, Kenny.
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TUNNEL VISION: Rather than get caught up in what-ifs regarding his future, Story says he prefers to focus on the joy of getting to play baseball every day.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MATT DIRKSEN/COURTESY OF COLORADO ROCKIES
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would reach into the hundreds of millions. Or, sensing a reluctance from Story to resign, Colorado could deal him to another team sometime between now and the midseason trade deadline. For his part, Story has to weigh how committed the Rockies, who just traded away Arenado after signing his own $260 million contract extension just two years earlier, are to winning. Or, Story could decide he wants to test the free-agent market, where there would likely be multiple teams bidding on his services, possibly driving up the price of a new contract to levels that would make the Rockies’ ownership blanch. It’s rare that a day passes that Story isn’t asked about the situation, certainly not when he’s facing the media at the Rockies’ spring training facility in Scottsdale. So it’s understandable that, when he makes an attempt to get away from the topic, Story tries to set the odds in his favor. Initially slated to play at Talking Stick Golf Club, hard against Salt River Fields, where the Rockies are prepping for 2021, Story calls an audible, admitting a little uneasiness with the idea of running into well-wishing, but inquisitive, Coloradans who may be doing a late February Golf/Spring Training Baseball doubleheader getaway from the Centennial State. “I don’t know, maybe it’s a little bit better to be somewhere less approachable,” he says.
his shortstop if he’s traded or walks away, merely says “Story’s gotta do what he needs to and what’s best for him.” If Story has made a decision, it certainly hasn’t been for mass consumption—unless one counts Crash Davis’ tutorials on using cliches to Nuke LaLoosh in the movie “Bull Durham” as in the public realm. “There’s not much I can do about any of it; everything is out of my control, other than me going out there and giving my best for my teammates,” he said. “I know that it is pretty clichéd, but that’s what I have to focus on.” Which is why being outside on a golf course, getting away from it all amidst green grass, nature and sunshine—to further the clichés—is such a welcome commodity. That is, unless you happen to be paired with two guys determined to inject as much misery as possible into the proceedings. If Story, who carries a close to scratch handicap, isn’t the Rockies’ best golfer, then it’s Freeland—and if McMahon isn’t quite at his playing partners’ level, he makes up for it with his hustling skills, coming up with a playing format for the day that maximizes not only the number of strokes he’ll receive but increases his chances of coming away with the win. Then there’s the trash talking that starts on the practice range, moves to the putting green—and certainly doesn’t let up when Story three putts from 30 for an opening hole bogey. When he yanks one off
“By nature I’m more of a quiet guy, but I think the older I get the more experienced and comfortable I am; I feel confident in speaking up or saying something if something needs to be said.” A PLACE IN THE SUN Reflecting on the off-season, with the Arenado trade and its long-term impact on the franchise, as well as his pending free agent status, Story says he went through a roller coaster of “crazy emotions.” Rockies manager Bud Black says he’s counseled Story to ignore all the noise; Freeland, whose own success could be impacted by the absence of first, Arenado, and perhaps coloradoavidgolfer.com
the tee into the brush on No. 2, the group finds about five balls, none of which are his. When Freeland, himself the subject of a cover story for this magazine, starts laying it on about the pressure of having to perform, Story dips his head. “I’m not very comfortable with this,” he whispers. Story has been playing the game since he was a kid growing up in Irving, Texas.
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His first memories of the game are going out to the range and learning the fundamentals alongside his dad, Kenny. “I just remember trying to hit the ball as far as I could; and of course that didn’t happen, it was really just a lot of lefts and rights,” he said. “I was always interested in the game, playing with my Dad...it was baseball, golf, football and basketball for me, but I knew from the first few times that I played that I would love golf forever, and that’s been the case so far—each time I play, I love it more and more.” Freeland is part of a long-standing baseball legacy of pitchers who excel at golf. For a long time, it was frowned upon for position players like Story to play the game, lest the golf swing mess up a hitter’s baseball swing. Black, a former pitcher who still knows his way around a golf course, says he’s never bought into that theory. “They’re two different types of swings; there’s some comparables with timing and rhythm, but one doesn’t mess up the other,” Black said. “If Dustin Johnson showed up at a baseball field and had a bat in his hand for a couple of days and was swinging off a pitching machine, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t mess up his golf game, and I don’t think playing golf is going to mess up Ryan McMahon or Trevor Story hitting a baseball.” At one point during the round, Story said he was being too “handsy” with his swing, reminiscent, he said, of his technique when he’s in the batter’s box. Like Black, Story doesn’t see a conflict between the sports—in fact, he says he takes a similar approach in both. “I try to go ‘Less is More’; every time I try to really smash a golf ball, it doesn’t really work out, but when I try to be smoother, you know, work at 75 percent, then that’s when I feel I’m at my best,” he said. “That’s where it’s very similar to baseball—‘Less is More’—I use that 75 percent cue there too. “That’s the effort level I try to play at; I’ll pretty much never swing the bat as hard as I possibly can—I can generate more bat speed by doing that, but I’m not as accurate or in control, and I can (not swing at) tough pitches if I need to. When I’m working at 75 percent, I’m a little more smooth, and in the grand scheme of things, I think I’m still really close to my maximum speed when I’m thinking that way.” Story says that’s even the case when he comes up to bat with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, with the Rockies down by three runs. April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
for MLB Network to say what they said, but I’m sure each of them would say they were No. 1.” There is one area where Story considers himself a clear-cut favorite. Throughout spring training and the run-up to the season, he’s rocked an assortment of stylish cleats. “He’s got a top-level shoe game,” Black says. “That’s why they call him ‘Sneaker Head’ in the clubhouse.” In an interview on MLB Network Radio, Story was asked where he stood among the quintet in that category. “Dude, I have to put myself No. 1—that’s the one thing I’m not going to be so humble about, because I feel I can design and create something with the best of them,” he said. “I know Lindor’s right there, his new shoes are pretty sick, but I think the way I created mine this year is pretty tough to beat.”
IT’S A LONG DRIVE: In golf—and baseball—Story takes a “Less is More” approach. “Every time I try to really smash a golf ball, it doesn’t really work out.”
“I never think of it as trying to hit a home run, I just think of trying to just square the baseball; I have a natural lift to my swing, so if I square it with my natural swing, it’s going to be in the air, and if I hit it the right way, it’s going to be a home run.” IT’S GOTTA BE THE SHOES Story has hit 134 home runs since the start of the 2016 season; in that same time span, New York Mets’ shortstop Francisco Lindor has slugged 126, while Javier Baez of the Chicago Cubs has 108, Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros has 85 and Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager has 84. Each of that quintet, regarded as among the most talented players in the game and potential franchise centerpieces, are all free agents after this season. Throughout the off-season, there was an ongoing debate about the group—who was the best; how many, if any, would resign with their teams; what the marketplace COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
would look like a year from now, with Major League Baseball and the players’ union slated to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. Most observers feel Story, who led the National League in stolen bases in last year’s abbreviated season, is the most wellrounded player. Indeed, when MLB Network compiled its annual list of the top 10 players at each position, it ranked Story No. 1 for the second consecutive year. The discussion, with its assorted twists and turns—signings, potential trades—is sure to continue throughout the season. And while it may be a distraction from his one-day-at-atime mantra, Story admits there’s also something compelling about the comparisons. “I look at it through the lens of gratitude,” he said. “It’s a special group, and I think we all push each other in one way or another, whether we know it or not. It’s cool to be a part of those guys; I appreciate their games, I love watching them. It was special
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NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE Of course fancy spikes, like boots, are made for walking, whether it’s around the bases after a long home run, or to a new city. By the time Story hits the links again before the 2022 season, the number of things that may have changed in his life—he and his wife, Mallie, are interested in starting a family, and you can buy a lot of house (not to mention baseball bats and golf clubs) with a new, multimillion dollar contract—are mindboggling. But right now, Story isn’t thinking much about contracts, or free agency. On a day when he, to borrow a phrase, didn’t have his A-game (indeed it was McMahon who went deep—into his teammates’ wallets), Story is more concerned with shrugging off a “brutal” round. Walking out to his car in the gathering darkness, Story will wake up the following day to baseball, focusing he says, on the most mundane of tasks—how he grips a bat and uses his hands while practicing in a batting cage; grabbing a tablet and watching film of that night’s opposing pitcher—anything that can put him in the here and now. “It’s certainly easy to look ahead and speculate on what could or couldn’t happen, but again, I look at it with gratitude, that I just get to play baseball,” he said. “The preparation, all the little things I do and the work I put in to get ready to play every single day. “I just get lost in that...I really, really do.” Anthony Cotton is the editor of Colorado AvidGolfer. coloradoavidgolfer.com
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Rounds
in the
Corners
The intersection of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona defines a region rich in ancient ruins—and the royal and ancient game. By JON RIZZI Micah Rudosky at Conquistador Golf Course
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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CONQUISTADOR GOLF COURSE
CONQUERING SPIRIT: Big money between high-rollers from Telluride and Durango has been known to change hands at Conquistador Golf Course. Tiny, fall-off greensites place an emphasis on a great short game.
Apparently, some golfers in the Four Corners like to engage in a challenge peculiar to their region. “It’s called the Four Corners Foursome,” Wayne, a member of my ad hoc group at Piñon Hills Golf Club in Farmington, New Mexico, informed me over a beer after our 18 holes. “You play nine holes in Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico in the same day.” A Farmington native, Wayne knew I was on day three of a similar—albeit infinitely less manic—Four Corners rota, one that would also cover those four states, comprise five courses, last six days and consist of three times as many holes of golf. This gauntlet of Wayne’s intrigued me. But having already played three memorable courses in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico—each separated from the other by an hour’s drive—I couldn’t imagine confining any of those experiences to just nine holes. Ironically, I concluded, no day would last quite long enough to include Arizona coloradoavidgolfer.com
as the fourth corner. That’s right: From the most famous quadripoint in the United States, the closest course in one of the most famous states for golf requires at least three hours behind the wheel. I figured if I’d wanted to spend a day chasing 72 holes in four different states, I could head to the East Coast, where entire states occupy less land than most Southwest counties. Besides, to appreciate golf in the land once inhabited by Ancestral Puebloans and their present-day descendants, you need to take your time and check out as much as you can—not rush through to check some box. Even six days can seem like a beautiful blur. CORTEZ THE THRILLER A glorious drive south through the lush San Juan National Forest—past Telluride, Mount Sneffels and Mount Wilson—drops
85
you into Cortez. Located west of Mount Hesperus and the La Plata Range and north of the Ute Mountains, Cortez’s relatively flat topography suggests “high desert” more than “mountain foothills.” The Navajo made a seasonal camp here. Believing the Aztecs had originally occupied the area, the city’s settlers in 1886 named it for the Spanish conquistador who in 1519 famously conquered Montezuma II’s Aztec empire. The vanquished emperor’s legacy survives on Cortez’s leafy Montezuma Avenue and in the name of the surrounding county. The enemies now find themselves united in the city’s Montezuma-Cortez School District. Turns out those original dwellers weren’t Aztecs but forebears of the present-day Utes, Navajo and Hopi—whose federally protected settlements at Mesa Verde, Hovenweep and Canyon of the Ancients ring Cortez. These April 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JON RIZZI (LEFT); COURTESY OF PHIL’S WORLD
IN RUINS: Hovensweep National Monument in Cortez, includes six villages built between 1200 and 1300 A.D.
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
PHIL ’ER UP: Phil Vigil, a local mountain biker, personally began carving out a renowned 26.8-mile trail system just east of Cortez in the 1980s. Folks in the area refer to it as Phil’s World.
trees and grabby rough making it imperative to keep your ball in the flattish fairways and on the right tier of the bentgrass greens. The club’s PGA Professional Micah Rudosky says the course, which costs $41 to walk on weekends, looks and plays its best in May and June, “after the irrigation ditches flow, the spring winds die down and everything starts popping.” Micah succeeded his father, Roland, as the club’s PGA Professional in 1997. Turning 50 last year, he earned a spot in this May’s Senior PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Oklahoma, which happens to have a Press Maxwell layout. Off the course, a wide variety of restaurants line Main Street. Of the many Mexican joints, the fabulous La Casita de
Cortez, carried the day. The Elk Shepherd’s Pie at the Loungin’ Lizard didn’t disappoint either, especially when washed down with a Monkey Wrench Pale Ale from Cortez’s Wild Edge Brewing. Were I to make the trip again, I might add Durango. Hillcrest, a Frank Hummell layout, and the Ken Dye-designed Dalton Ranch both present challenges to match their fabulous views, and a stay at The Lodge at Tamarron gets you on the original Arthur Hills layout at Glacier Club, now known as the Valley Course. A UTAH HIDEOUT A completely different—and dare I say, more prototypically “Colorado”—experience awaited 60 miles northwest of Conquistador in
HIDDEN GEM: At just over 6,600 yards, strategy is key at Utah’s Hideout Golf Club.
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE HIDEOUT GOLF CLUB
and other fascinating, bucket list-worthy ruins and cliff dwellings date back thousands of years and justifiably attract scholars and tourists by the thousands. Another equally popular, but more modern, draw awaits atop a mesa just four miles east of Cortez. Phil’s World isn’t named for a certain lefthanded golfer, but for the late Phil Vigil, a local mountain biker who began carving out the renowned 26.8-mile (and growing) single-track and slickrock trail system in the late 1980s. Conquistador Golf Course could be called Press’s World—not for the bets made during tournaments that bring in the highrollers from Telluride and Durango, but for J. Press Maxwell, the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame architect whose nine-hole layout known as Cortez Golf Course opened in 1963. As he’d done with his layouts at Hiwan, Rolling Hills, Pinehurst and others, Maxwell protected par with puny, fiddly, multitiered greens bordered by tiny fall-off greensites that place a premium on your short game. By 1979, the club’s professional, Bill Stroud, working from Maxwell’s plans, completed the construction of a second nine, and the city then renamed the 18-hole muni Conquistador. Advancements in club and ball technology have forced Conquistador to stretch to 7,195 yards, and the cottonwoods, elms, pines and Navajo willows have matured into strategy-shaping giants. Water factors into eight holes, including the mirrorimage par-5 first and 10th (where it lurks near the greens) and the 1-handicap par-5 fourth, a 568-yard hard-left dogleg with a stream bisecting the fairway and adding risk to cutting the corner. Thanks to a dry summer, the course played hard and firm last August, with the
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NATIONAL TREASURE: With striking rock formations and a cost of less than $50 for weekend play, Piñon Hills has long enjoyed a national reputation as one of the best public courses in the United States.
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF PIÑON HILLS GOLF COURSE
Monticello (pronounced “Monti-sello”). Aptly named, The Hideout Golf Club tucks into the verdant piedmont of the Abajo (aka Blue) Mountains, more than 7,000 feet above sea level, making it Utah’s highest golf course. The clubhouse, which shares space with a community center, perches above a layout that spent almost 40 years as a nine-holer near a degraded uranium mill. Thanks to grant money from the U.S. Department of Energy, at the turn of the millennium the land underwent a massive overhaul by the original architect, Arthur Jack Snyder, and his partner, Forrest Richardson. The Phoenixbased architects moved 200,000 cubic yards of earth to construct an environmentally friendly layout with seesawing elevation changes that capitalized on the property’s natural glens, ridges, draws, creek beds and views of the magnificent Abajos. At 6,654 yards from the tips, The Hideout doesn’t demand distance but strategy. More than once, a well-struck tee shot found the wrong side of the fairway, my approach blocked by trees or flirting with hazards. The short par 4s on holes 5, 12 and 15 define risk-reward, and by setting the green rather than the tee at the course’s highest point, the uphill par-4 16th provides
PACKING A PUNCH: Playing at just 343 yards from the tips, you might be tempted to take the 14th hole at Piñon Hills for granted, but the water hazard abutting the green often gets the last laugh.
a welcome break from the tee-high, greenlow approach. Each hole provides a delightfully hermetic experience, made more special by the abundance of fauna and the absence of any real estate. With few players and superb conditions, The Hideout remains a sequestered steal at $30, plus $16 for a highly recommended cart. The lushness of The Hideout counterpointed the baked landscape at Hovenweep National Monument, about 60 miles southeast on the way back to Cortez. Home to
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10,000-year-old settlements straddling the Utah-Colorado border, Hovenweep crisscrosses mesa tops and canyon rims. A shuttered Visitor Center proved no deterrent to three hours of sundrenched appreciation of the brickwork and architectural ingenuity of the area’s early hunters and gatherers. TWO IN NEW MEXICO Whereas The Hideout is a “hidden gem,” for three decades, Piñon Hills Golf Course has enjoyed a national reputation as one of America’s best public golf courses. For less coloradoavidgolfer.com
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF LAKE POWELL NATIONAL GOLF COURSE
EASY DOES IT: There are worse ways to relax after golf than chilling in Lake Powell.
than $50 on weekends, the well-maintained, 7,198-yard Ken Dye-designed municipal layout provides a thrilling round—both visually and strategically—as it traverses striking rock formations in a hardscrabble landscape that’s as undulant as the tilde in piñon. You’ll love the picturesque par-3 sixth, which requires you to carry a ravine and features nine tee locations, including a set suspended high above the others. The front nine climaxes with consecutive penal par 5s. Piñon Hills’ back nine keeps a foot on the gas. Get too aggressive on either the short par-5 13th or short par-4 14th, and you’ll find yourself dropping a ball next to the water abutting the greens. Two brawny holes close the round—the heavily bunkered, uphill par-5 17th and the into-the-wind par-4 18th. Piñon Hills was a treat, one made even more enjoyable by the locals who welcomed me to fill out their foursome rather than play through and linger over beers. They recommended visiting Farmington’s revitalized downtown—a hub of arts, shopping, restaurants and culture at the confluence of the San Juan, Animas River and La Plata rivers— but COVID restrictions and the prospect of an early-morning tee time at Riverview Golf Course in nearby Kirtland confined my options. I do, however, heartily recommend the cross-cultural pairing of Tonkotsu ramen and ’Merica Pale Ale at the Three Rivers Brewery Block. At Riverview, situated 10 miles northwest of Farmington near the San Juan River, another unlikely pairing awaited: a flat, treelined parkland front nine dating to 1937 and a Piñon Hills-esque back nine designed by Baxter Spann 60 years later. COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
It’d be unfair to say the former merely serves as a warmup for the latter, as it doesn’t really prepare you for a second nine that winds and climbs and descends through high-desert terrain (and nothing would have prepared me for the huge pronghorn buck grazing on the 11th fairway, just 10 yards from my ball). The 15th, a 180-yard par 3 over scrub, features bunkers buttressed by railroad ties. While unconventional, Riverview’s split personality makes it memorable. So do the views of the iconic Ship Rock monadnock from most holes, and you can’t beat the $28 price to walk it on weekends. A cart will run you $15.50. PAGING ARIZONA The 217 miles between Riverview and Lake Powell National Golf Course cut through the 17.5-million-acre Navajo Nation, the largest land area in the United States retained by an indigenous tribe. The Nation got hit hard by COVID-19, leading to the temporary closure of the Four Corners Monument and countless disappointed tourists who’d come to be photographed on their hands and knees at the famous quadrangle. The Navajo have thus far eschewed the casino-golf course parlay that other tribes have made, though a rough-hewn, grassless “Rez Golf ” course across the sage and rabbitgrass outside the Arizona town of Steamboat has received some national media attention for its ingenuity. Unfortunately, time didn’t allow for a three-hour detour to test my putting skills on “the browns.” The greens awaited at Lake Powell in Page.
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And so did plenty of vacationers towing watercraft. Unlike any of the three previous destinations, Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area thrive on tourism. In addition to electricity and irrigation, the dammed waters of the Colorado River bring boaters, jet-skiers and other aquatic enthusiasts to the reservoir defined by ruddy sandstone cliffs and canyons. Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas provides a front-row seat to the activity. After a satisfying meal and sleep there, I headed to Lake Powell National. Designed by Bill Phillips, the course opened in 1995 in the sandstone mesas above its namesake reservoir. It features views of Lake Powell, the Glen Canyon Dam and Vermillion Cliffs—and no shortage of gorgeous golf holes. After a straightforward opener, a lengthy ride to the second tee followed. I’d just recently covered a considerable amount of ground in my car, so this green-to-tee expanse seemed, well, par for the course. Routing quirks aside, the course provided a stellar experience. Front-nine highlights include the blind, dogleg left third with a rock shelf guarding the green and two tantalizingly short par 4s on holes eight and nine. The back nine ascends into the red rocks. The par-3 15th, which sits atop a precipice 120 feet above the shallow green, is pure eye candy. You’ll need to follow the long drive from the 16th green to the 17th tee with one off your clubface to reach the fairway on this 641-yard penultimate monster. A devilish three-tiered green makes the uphill par-4 18th a great bet-settler. Lake Powell’s well-appointed clubhouse made for a relaxed place to reflect on the delightful and reasonable (a round here, with cart, tops out at $60) range of golf in the Four Corners. It also provided tasty nourishment for the return trip to the Corner I called home. Minutes after setting out, however, I parked at the Horseshoe Bend Overlook, where a 10-minute hike rewards you with a clifftop view of the mighty Colorado making a 270-degree turn as it flows downstream towards the Grand Canyon, Nevada, California and on to Mexico and the Pacific. Somehow, watching this river navigate its eternal, inexorable and lifesustaining journey put a four-state golf trip into humbling perspective. Jon Rizzi is the founding editor of Colorado AvidGolfer. coloradoavidgolfer.com
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PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE JELLERSON
From left: Kyle Freeland, Trevor Story, Ryan McMahon
IF THERE WAS one positive about the abbreviated 2020 baseball season, played for the most part without fans in the stands, it was the fact that the absence of spectators allowed the on-field microphones to pick up sounds that are normally drowned out by said spectators. That included some of the back-and-forth that takes place between players during games. It gave viewers and listeners a little window into one of the great joys of journalists who cover sports on a regular basis—the byplay that often occurs between teammates. Golf telecasts have recently made a concerted effort to capture more of the total tournament experience, going beyond numbly showing shot after shot, but that’s largely been limited to the interaction between players and their caddies. And while that can be fascinating stuff, it doesn’t go far enough—think of young Charlie Woods leaving a “love letter” for Justin Thomas in a bunker during the recent PNC Championship, or more pointedly, the barbs that were flying fast and furiously during the various iterations of “The Match,” with participants like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Peyton
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | April 2021
Manning and Charles Barkley letting us into some of the trash talking that routinely takes place on the course. So it was one sunny late February afternoon at Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. Even before the first shot was struck, Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies was already getting laid out by teammates Kyle Freeland and Ryan McMahon, largely because of the thought of the star shortstop meriting a spot on the cover of this magazine. And for the rest of the day, whether it was after a good shot—and most definitely following poor ones— the trio roasted each other mercilessly. If the experts are to be believed, the Rockies will need a pretty good sense of humor to deal with the 2021 season, and Story, the subject of much conjecture in his free agent season, will certainly be subjected to a great deal of scrutiny throughout the campaign. But unlike the “independent contractors” on the PGA TOUR, Story knows there are people by his side who have his back—even when they’re sticking it with needles. —ANTHONY COTTON
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