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BULKHEAD REVISITED: Davis Love’s design team will make some changes to Glenmoor’s classic Pete Dye design.

Glenmoor Will Get Some Love

WITH FINICKY, well-guarded greens, snug fairways and hazards bulkheaded by 3.7 miles of wall ties, Glenmoor Country Club’s par-71 Pete Dyedesigned layout packs a load of challenge into less than 100 acres. Increasingly, however, the challenges of the 36-year-old course have been age-related. Its 6,787-yard length doesn’t necessarily stand up to the bombs launched by today’s golfers, and the playability for beginners and higher handicap players needs improvement. The wood wall ties bulkheading the hazards require constant replacement. Inconsistency plagues the bunkers and the greens, and, critically, the turf suffers from high-salinity water and poor drainage, which two years of dry weather and heavy play have exacerbated. In early 2021 the member-owned club in Cherry Hills Village turned to Love Golf Design— comprised of World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III, brother Mark Love and lead architect Scot Sherman—to propose an upgrade to the course that would set it up for the next 35 years without fundamentally changing the original Dye design. LGD’s plan, supported by a fireside chat with Davis and members the day after the U.S. Ryder Cup victory at Whistling Straits, called for $8 million in improvements. On December 9, the membership signed off on the renovation with a 76 percent approval rating. The course will close August 1 for a minimum of 10 months. But why Love Golf Design? Yes, Davis Love III did win five PGA TOUR events at Dye’s Harbour Town Golf Links. But it’s more than that. Love regarded Dye as “a dear friend and a mentor and somebody I could call for advice as an architect. He meant a lot to me and my family.” Love’s heralded designs at Diamante in Cabo and 16 other courses bear that out, as have his company’s Donald Ross restoration at Brunswick Country Club, reconstruction of Sea Pines Resort’s Ocean Course, renovations of two courses at Sea Island Resort and a redo of the original course at The Valley Club in Sun Valley, Idaho. In Idaho, a Valley Club member mentioned to Love that his home club in Colorado was considering a renovation to its Pete Dye layout, and would Love like to see it? Not only did the project interest Love; Sherman, his lead architect since 2014, enjoyed a long working relationship with Dye. The two first met during the construction of Dye’s Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, and in the 1990s Sherman worked for three years in Denver with Pete, his brother Roy Dye, and son Perry Dye on numerous projects. On a job in Hawaii, he consulted often with Dye’s grow-in director, Dennis Vogt, who was also Glenmoor’s head superintendent—and has held that position for the last 30 years. “It was a happy coincidence,” LGD Co- Founder/President Mark Love says of the shared history. “We were looking for a real pro with Dye experience,” Glenmoor General Manager Ryan Morris explains of the decision to go with LGD over others bidding the job. It also spoke volumes that Sherman was brought in before the 2021 PGA Championship to preserve the original Dye design at Kiawah while accommodating for evolution and the needs that come with resort and major championship play. He and the Loves will have to walk a similar tightrope at Glenmoor, where maintaining Dye’s

Davis Love III

vision and the course’s high slope/ rating (141/72.2 for men; 155/77.0 for women) needs to be balanced with family-friendliness and playability. During the 10-month course closure, the club will have gained access to a cleaner water source. To leverage that, LDG’s team will rebuild every putting surface as a “Calfornia green” with a 14-inch sand base. The greens will expand to their original sizes—creating new pinning areas—and new sod and irrigation will surround them all. They’ll also replace deteriorating wall ties, redo every bunker for consistency of play and shift several teeing areas, adding substantial back-tee length to holes like the par-5 12th, par-4 16th and par-3 17th , and creating new angles on holes such as the par-3 11th . No hole will go untouched, including the par-4 sixth and seventh, where the height of the rear teeing areas will sink for more visual intimidation. On seven, they’ll also remove the cattails along the left fairway and widen the neck into the green by 15 yards. The adjacent par-5 12th and par-4 13th will also receive considerable attention, with a directional bunker added between the fairways—both of which will be widened. In the end, Sherman believes the course will measure 6,950 yards. “Pete always said there wasn’t a golf hole he couldn’t make better,” Davis Love remembers. “We want to recapture some things in the vein of what Pete and P.B. did. There were some things that changed over the years that didn’t really have Pete’s style.” He and his team are planning family tees, and they appear to have found additional yardage on a layout circumscribed by real estate and Belleview Avenue. Although some improvements will be made on the limited-flight range, the plan also calls for space for members to practice while the course is unplayable. In the end, the inconvenience will be worth it, according to Club President Kevin Tarrant. “The Glenmoor Country Club has offered a special family-oriented social and golf experience to our members for over 35 years,” he says. “To continue this great culture and environment for another 30plus years, we are excited to partner with the Love Golf Design group to restore and update our outstanding Pete Dye course. Our members are excited to support this initiative.” glenmoorcc.com

It’s Showtime!

NO LONGER KNOWN as Denver Golf Expo and no longer taking place at the now-demolished Denver Mart, the rechristened Colorado Golf Expo will make a fresh start February 25-27 at the Colorado Convention Center on 14th Street in Downtown Denver. “Taking it to the Colorado Convention Center means it’s a golf expo for the entire state,” Expo co-owner Mark Cramer says. “The facility is the premier location for a show in the city—it’s clean, well-maintained, close to hundreds of restaurants, has its own light-rail station, and there’s also parking right there.” More than 100 vendors will set up shop in Hall F—a 100,000square-foot space that’s 15 percent larger than the Denver Mart area. Every exhibitor is looking forward to interacting with the legions of men, women and children who filled Colorado’s tee sheets in record numbers during the pandemic-fueled golf boom of the last two years. They’ll come for the giveaways and deals on everything from tee times to head covers. They’ll come to compete in skills challenges, to try clubs that just debuted at the PGA Merchandise Show, to score a free lesson from a PGA or LPGA Professional and to connect with people from different courses, leagues and associations. Many will also come to buy the 2022 Golf Passport. In addition to the venue, new this year is a chipping challenge at the vast Lenny’s Golf Shop space. Players will chip to a scaled-down version of TPC Sawgrass’s island-green 17th built by SYNLawn specifically for the Expo. No golf event would be complete without a 19th hole, and hundreds of them await right outside the doors of the Convention Center. In the spirit of the game, the Colorado Golf Expo also will feature the Argonaut Turn Rest Stop, where you can sample and purchase products from Great Divide Brewing Company, Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey and The Infinite Monkey Theorem wines. Admission is $11-$15. denvergolfexpo.com

Getting the Inside Edge

AS GOLF’S pandemic-inspired demand outstrips tee-time supply, the game is moving indoors. The popularity of Topgolf and improvements in golf-simulator technology have spawned a rise in indoor golf facilities around Denver, but these three examples show that not all are created equal.

G.C. LOUNGE

Golf competes with food at this sleek, “sporty but not sports-barish” facility that opened before Christmas in Denver’s City Park West neighborhood. Simple touchscreens navigate the Trackman systems in the four bays, three of which require online reservations; the fourth handles walkins. All cost $60 an hour to rent (with $40 for each additional hour). Members of your group can watch each other take turns playing myriad courses and target-style games while imbibing cocktails and eating first-rate fare at very fair prices. Executive Chef Toby Prout’s upscale menu features meaty crab cakes, a lamb meatloaf that’s infinitely better than the one at Bandon Dunes and mouthwatering short ribs. Turkey, ham and spicy bacon—all smoked or cured inhouse—elevate the club sandwich, as does the bacon, pineapple and sriracha atop the G.C. Hot Dog. “We don’t serve wings,” owner David Burbage says. “Too messy on the grips.” G.C. Lounge accommodates 148 inside and 50 on its patio. 1210 E. 17th Ave., thegclounge.com; 303-954-8530

GREAT GRUB: GC Lounge’s Beef Skewers and Lump Crab Cakes

SOUTH BROADWAY COUNTRY CLUB

The spirits of golf and its many elixirs comingle at South Broadway Country Club’s two by-appointment-only Denver chapters. “We’re usually booked more a month out for lessons and for TrackMan/simulator rentals,” owner Kelly Huff says, noting SBCC’s third “chapter” will open this spring in Fort Collins. “We don’t have a kitchen, but we have a bar and people can order in food. It’s the kind of place the avid golfer would appreciate.” The 35-year-old Georgia golf instructor opened the South Broadway chapter for “non-members only” in 2016. It and the Tennyson chapter both feature two state-of-the-art TrackMan units— one available for practice or simulated rounds on more than 125

INSTAGRAM.COM/ SOUTHBROADWAYCC

courses ($50/hour); the other for lessons with Huff or a colleague. 2265 South Broadway and 4200 Tennyson St.; southbroadwaycc.com

OPTIMUM GOLF

At its Park Hill and RiNo locations, Optimum Golf eschews food and bar service for golf practice and instruction. Run by two PGA professionals—previous CAGGY winner Brad Alston and director of operations Kyle McGee—and staffed by certified coaches, Optimum offers a total of 11 simulator bays outfitted with either Foresight GC2 or Uneekor EYE XO units, an adjustable-slope putting green, retail area and private coaching sessions. You can book tee times or lessons online, purchase an annual membership or monthly subscription. 5059 E. 38th Ave. and 3565 Walnut St., theoptimumgolf.com

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Risk-Management Rewards

2022 WILL BE A big year for Moody’s Insurance. This February, the family-owned business celebrates its 50th year of providing risk management from its offices in Denver, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction. The company’s involvement in these communities takes many forms. It supports numerous worthy causes—including Flight for Life, CASA and Food Bank of the Rockies—and helps sponsor its partners’ charity golf tournaments. However, its biggest commitment comes during the Moody Insurance Golf Tournament to Benefit Judi’s House—the 15th edition of which takes place July 25 at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen. At the 250-person double-shotgun event, the company will celebrate another milestone. It will eclipse the $1 million mark in net donations for Judi’s House, the community-based bereavement center founded by Brian and Brook Griese to help heal children and families grieving a death. “I personally know five families who have gone through the program,” Chief Operating Officer Troy Moody says. “They do amazing work.” Moody has taken staff members on tours of Judi’s House, a home at 1741 Gaylord Street in Denver, where the charity’s JAG Institute (taking the initials of Judi Ann Griese, the mother Brian lost at age 12) is also being built across the street. “I look at it as a wellness program for our staff,” Moody explains. “The kids there were so excited, and when our people could see the impact of the center and why we support it, many volunteered.” Although the Moodys, like the Grieses, are Cherry Hills members, the tournament takes place at Hiwan, which happens to be where Troy caddied in the Colorado Open while growing up in Genesee. Hiwan is also a client. “Brian always attends, and all of our carriers step up,” Moody says with excitement. “One has sponsored a simulator, and we had potato-gun golf cannons on some tee boxes until they were no longer allowed.” No matter. The morning flight, a 144-player shamble format, has already sold out, while a few spots remain in the afternoon scramble. moodyins.com

Golf by Numbers

NECESSARY) .05%

According to the Colorado Golf Association, that’s the wee increase in 18- and 9-hole scores posted in 2020 (2,119,427) and 2021 (2,120,572).

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The time, in months, Greeley’s Boomerang Golf Links projects to have only its front nine open while the Rick Phelps-redesigned back nine grows in.

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GOLF AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE