Colorado AvidGolfer Fall 2024

EVERYTHING YOU NEED. EVERYWHERE YOU GO.

We’re here to meet all your banking needs. Whether it’s business banking, wealth management, mortgages, or more, we’ve got you covered. With over 120 years of proudly serving our community, we combine local expertise with the strength of a $19 billion bank. This year alone, we have funded over $400 million in commercial and residential loans in Colorado. Let us help you achieve your financial goals!

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Thank You!

CONGRATULATIONS 2024 WINNERS BAXTER FAIN & STEVE HARLAN

On behalf of the entire team at Colorado AvidGolfer, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to you for your generous support and participation in the 2024 Schomp BMW Cup at The Golf Club at Ravenna. The event was a tremendous success, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the involvement of our tremendous sponsors and the enthusiastic participation of all the players. Your contribution not only helped us host an enjoyable event but also made a significant impact on the PGA Reach Colorado Foundation.

To date, we have helped raise nearly $338,000!

L-R: Baxter Fain, Allen Walters (Colorado AvidGolfer), Steve Harlan

WHERE TO PLAY WHEN YOU TRAVEL WITH YOUR TEAM!

30// CHASING SATURDAYS

Traveling with the Buffs, the Rams or other Colorado college teams brings you close to fantastic golf. By Jay McKinney

33// SUNDAYS ARE FOR FOOTBALL

Bring your sticks when you go on the road with the Broncos and play excellent courses. By Tom Mackin

FEATURES

black desert// 26

The Utah resort hosted its first PGA Tour event and is building a name as a pristine cold-weather golf destination. By Jim Bebbington

SIDE BETS

21// FAREWAYS

Old Elk Distillery in Fort Collins is gaining a national reputation. By John Lehndorff

Great courses await in

DEPARTMENTS

8// FORETHOUGHTS

The BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club showed off Colorado golf in all its glory. By Jim Bebbington

10// THE CGA

People of the CGA – Mary Woulfe By Kayla Kerns

12// THE GALLERY

Valley Country Club is the latest to join Troon, and gets an upgrade with a new pool facility; Amelia Rose Earhart on living through turbulence; The Dye family golf design legacy continues in Denver; Kaye Wins Colorado Senior Open.

PLAYER’S CORNER

18// WILL THE STARS ALIGN AGAIN?

With the success of the BMW Championship, what are the prospects for the pros to return to Colorado? By Jim Bebbington

24// not a simulation

Virtual Tee helps fuel indoor simulator growth. By Jim Bebbington

55// BLINDSHOT

It has been a whirlwind year for rookie professional golfer Davis Bryant, capped off by three wins in state-level tournaments, including the Colorado Open. By Jim Bebbington

ON THE COVER

Welcome to Black Desert Resort. Spanning 600 acres of scenic desert landscape, this newly built luxury resort offers more than just great golf. Photo Credit: Brian Oar

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COMMUNITY VISION

Each homesite offers exquisite views of the Front Range,and exclusive privacy within a 1,110 acre gated reserve of ponderosa pines, gambel oak, rolling plains and wildflower meadows. With 745 acres of protected open space, each family enjoys a balance of community and privacy in the only portion of Tweet Kimball’s legendary 4,500-acre Cherokee Ranch entrusted for residential development. Owners will have exclusive access to a 2 acre private stocked fishing pond, golf amenities including a chipping and putting green and indoor simulators, and extensive trail system. The Keep is minutes from restaurants, shopping, Castle Pines Golf Club, Country Club at Castle Pines, and many other Colorado recreational activities.

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Colorado AvidGolfer (ISSN 1548-4335) is published eight times a year by Baker-Colorado Publishing, LLC, and printed by Publication Printers Corp. 9350 E. Arapahoe Road #210, Greenwood Village, CO 80112. Colorado AvidGolfer is available at more than 250 locations, or you can order your personal subscription by calling 720-493-1729. Subscriptions are available at the rate of $17.95 per year. Copyright © 2023 by Baker-Colorado Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Postmaster: Send address changes to Colorado AvidGolfer, 9350 E. Arapahoe Road #210, Greenwood Village, CO 80112. The magazine welcomes editorial submissions but assumes no responsibility for the safekeeping or return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork or other material.

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FORETHOUGHTS

THE BEST SEAT IN TOWN

This August the best golfers in the world came to Colorado and it seemed like every golfer in the state at some point that week made their way to Castle Pines Golf Club to take a peek.

The Colorado AvidGolfer team was no different. Year-round we chronicle the games, the people, the places and the news that make Colorado golf vibrant. We know our readers wanted to hear and see what was happening out there. It had been a decade since the region hosted a PGA Tour event, and with Wyndham Clark, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and eventual champion Keegan Bradley in town the event became a spectacle.

We were there when Rory started warming up on the driving range on Tuesday, launching drives over the netting 250 yards away and into the front yard of the house across the street. Range workers had to ask him to aim a little lower, please. Later in the week as he finished up another warm-up he took aim again with his driver and hit his ball through the small ‘250’ flag at the back of the range. That is accuracy.

We were there when Peyton Manning held court on the first tee before his pro-am round on Wednesday. With buddy and 2023 Colorado AvidGolfer coverboy Brandon Stokely as his caddy, Manning topped his drive and walked down the first fairway to chants from the gallery of ‘One of us! One of us!’

Throughout the week Chris DeConna, the art director for Colorado AvidGolfer, led our team in capturing the right images to help readers see the best through our feeds on social media and our website. We shot thousands of photos.

Michael Colander, our director of golf operations, went on camera throughout the week for videos to help our social media followers keep up. Brendan O’Keeffe, our digital content strategist, kept readers informed through X.com and our website. And on Sunday we were joined by a pro’s pro, Christian Marcy-Vega. He brought his professional photo skills to bear to capture some of the agony and thrills of the final Sunday.

You can see our work on our Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok feeds, as well as in our article begin-

ning on page 16 about what happens now that the cheers have gone silent. The best part of the week was getting a close-up view of some of the tremendous talent – and real-world struggles – that professional golfers have.

Denver’s own Wyndham Clark on Friday drove on No. 17 – a short par 5 – and cried in exasperation as his shot sliced deep into the trees. He found his ball at the bottom of a steep hill, behind two sets of trees – five tree trunks just a few feet from his ball, then another cluster 30 feet up the slope. The gallery squeezed tight along both sides of the path of the shot he was about to take. After a lot of preparation, he smacked a laser through both sets of trees. The gallery – hundreds of people –howled in triumph. Mind you – we had absolutely nothing to contribute to Clark’s incredible shot. But it was clear we all felt as though we had been through something amazing. As Clark climbed up out of the forest people were laughing, high-fiving, and long after he had gone were still looking at each other with the expression on their faces of ‘Can you believe what we just saw.”

Many of the people we met were amazing. Kelli Carlisle, a Michigan resident, made her annual trip with a group of friends to work the BMW Championship. Every year they go where the tournament goes, and she was the hole captain for the marshals keeping the peace on hole No. 9. This was all the more impressive because Carlisle had her right foot in a walking cast; she had had some surgery earlier this summer and hoped the healing process would have been completed by the tournament. No such luck.

She and other volunteers talked about how they arrived each morning sometimes at 5:30 a.m. to help set up the day. They chatted with patrons all day, gave directions, helped people get the best views that they could, and shushed people when necessary when a player nearby was getting ready to hit. “We love it,” she said. So did we. And clearly, so did thousands of Colorado golf fans. Here’s to hoping the pros come back again soon.

Jim Bebbington// jim@coloradoavidgolfer.com

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THE CGA

PEOPLE OF THE CGA : MARY WOULFE

GROWING THE GAME IN RURAL COLORADO

ByKaylaKerns

Mary Woulfe has lived in Aspen since 1982 and has coached Aspen High School golf since 2002. She has taught skiing for the ski schools of Aspen full-time for more than 30 years. She plays at Aspen Golf Club and is the business manager at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

KK: Where did you grow up?

MW: I grew up in a small town on the west side of Chicago, River Forest. I played tennis at the River Forest Tennis Club.

KK: What do you do for work?

MW: I try to create transformational experiences through sport for youth and create the next generation of good civic citizens. After 30-40 years of working with sport, starting with my internship at the Olympic Training Center while I was getting my MBA in Sports Administration at DU, I am a generalist, not a specialist.

KK: What is your role on the CGA Board?

MW: I am on the finance committee and the DEI committee. I wanted to be on the DEI committee mainly to bring a perspective from rural parts of the state. Places like Cortez, Meeker, Gypsum, Montrose, Sterling, and Alamosa all produce golfers of diverse backgrounds. Players from indigenous backgrounds and our growing Hispanic populations in Western Colorado are a part of CGA membership. What can we do to continue to grow the game with access to CGA resources for these players?

PGA Professional Tom Buzbee was the head professional at Cotton Ranch Golf Club. He successfully reached out to young Hispanics and en -

couraged them to learn. He gave them and their parents free clinics, clubs, and lessons. When a council without avid golfers was to decide about a golf course purchase by the township, the high school girls’ team showed up to the meeting with all the medals, talked of scholarships, and what the game had brought to their lives. The Town of Gypsum acquired the course and changed its name to Gypsum Creek Golf Club. Tom said there wasn’t a dry eye when the council considered this purchase. That story has empowered me to think about how we can help people in rural areas of diverse backgrounds, particularly in underserved communities, gain access to the game. When you see those kids trying to get to where they want to go with the game of golf, you want to support it.

KK: As a mentor to youth in sports, what are some of the things you have learned?

MW: Golf teaches us values and life skills.

1) Know the rules, play fair (Justice)

2) Use restraint to know your limits (Temperance)

3) Make good decisions (Prudence)

4) Never give up (Courage)

The R&A book used to have a quote, “Play fair, but to play fair, you need to know the rules.” Play fair in life, and if you can learn the rules of human decency, you can be a good citizen. These are four underpinnings of the game that we need in society. The other day, I listened to Ed Mate and Brad Wiesley’s ‘Spirit of The Game’ podcast, in which they discussed how the rules of golf can help you. It made me think about how great this sport is and how I want to stay involved. Follow the rules; they may help, not hurt you.

As a young ski instructor, I worked for Vic Braden, an International Tennis Hall of Fame member, a well-known tennis teacher, and PhD in sports psychology. He brought his knowledge from tennis to create more student-centered ski teaching. “Focus on each athlete’s learning system.”

Vic brought Gayle Godwin, the former UCLA Women’s Tennis Coach, to Aspen for the research project. Vic’s favorite tagline, “Laugh and Win,” was complemented by the many times Gayle would quote her colleague, the great UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden.

My favorite:

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation because your character is what you re -

ally are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

KK: How did you fall into golf?

MW: I had an uncle who was a member of the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois. His name was R. Edward McGreevy. My uncle Eddy, as I called him, had his little rules of life by golf. At his club, Eddy introduced me to this guy named Chick Evans. Turns out the neighbor boy went to college on an Evans Scholarship.

My uncle would get up every morning and play 18 holes of golf before work. He always said things like, “If you want your putts to drop, play early,” and “Five hours is too long to spend on a golf course with people you don’t like.” That was his ‘have good etiquette’ statement about us, not about other people. “And maybe golf should be played in under four hours, not five. Walk to the hole and back; one or two putts take much less time than three. Don’t rush but play fast.”

KK: What is your favorite golf memory?

MW: Teeing it up on the first tee at Chicago Golf Club with my uncle Eddy for the first time in my early 40s. When I played, I remember thinking, “Wow, this is real golf.” Try it sometime; as you walk the course, it feels good. Support an Evans Scholar candidate.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY WOULFE/ THE COLORADO GOLF ASSOCIATION

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY WOULFE/ THE COLORADO GOLF ASSOCIATION

Valley CC Kicks Off New Era

2024 was a turning point for Centennial’s Valley Country Club. After a convoluted construction process, the club unveiled its fully updated aquatics amenities. The five-pool complex took more than two years to build, but opened early this past summer and quickly turned into a cornerstone for the club’s members.

The club, which opened in 1956, also agreed with Troon Prive for management services. Troon Prive, Troon’s private club operating division, will manage the club’s operations, agronomy, food and beverage, membership sales and marketing. The club’s aquatics offerings were updated to become a five-pool complex – lap pool, adult pool, gradual entry pool, diving well and slide pool.

“It’s a really good looking area, very resort-like,” said Al Jader, the club’s general manager. In addition the club added a new restaurant building adjacent to the pool complex – The Pavilion – as well as an adjoining fitness complex. The fitness complex is a two-story building with work-out and yoga and classroom space.

Jader said these updates, as well as pickleball and updates to the buildings around the racquet sports area, are intended to keep the club up-to-

date with the tastes of the modern club member. “We’ve seen a lot of younger members coming into the membership; it’s the way of the future,” he said. “These are people in their early to mid30s to mid-40s with their families and kids.”

Now they have DJ events around the pool in the summer to go along with the traditional clubhouse features and the golf course. “I’ve been a GM for 20 years and this club has really become an amazing club – the offerings and the amount of the things we have,” he said. “We love our golf course, but these amenities have doubled the membership experience.” The club has 400 golf members, and 100 social members, Jader said.

For Troon, the agreement was only the latest example of Colorado clubs signing up for its services. Earlier in the summer Raindance National and Pelican Lakes facilities in Windsor hired Troon for management services, putting at least 10 courses in Colorado under Troon management. “They’re such a big company with so many clubs they operate they can give their resources – food and beverage, agronomy - to really give an A-plus experience,” Jader said. “They can bring so much to the table. They are just a wealth of knowledge and resources to assist us.”

PHOTO PROVIDED BY TROON/VALLEY CC

PHOTO PROVIDED BY TROON/VALLEY CC

PHOTO PROVIDED BY TROON/VALLEY CC

Catching Up With: Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart, the former traffic reporter for KUSA 9News, has seen a lot since 2014 when she sought to emulate the aviation accomplishments of the early 20th Century aviatrix whose name she shares, Amelia Earhart.

The modern-day Earhart grew up near Colorado Springs and helped pay for flight lessons and school tuition by working at golf courses around the Springs. She went into TV news work after leaving college, eventually becoming a traffic and weather reporter for KUSA.

In 2014 Earhart left her job at KUSA and embarked on a hugely publicized and funded effort to fly around the world. This was intended to emulate the trip the early 20th Century pilot Amelia Earhart was undertaking when she, her plane and co-pilot disappeared in 1937. Sponsors of the latter-day Earhart’s $2 million trip included Boeing and its subsidiary Jeppesen.

The flight for Denver’s Earhart succeeded and she was credited as being the second-youngest woman to fly around the globe in a single-engine plane. She made the journey with a co-pilot, Shane Jordan. But the publicity around it forced into the open a long-simmering question around Earhart’s life. She says she had been told by her

parents growing up that she was distantly related to the famous aviatrix, a connection she came to embrace. She says it was her name that led her to her interest in aviation.

As her flight approached she continually was asked – ‘how are you related to the other Amelia Earhart.’ In 2004 she says she hired a genealogist to dig into the records, and that woman returned to her with the same conclusion: she was ‘distantly’ related to Earhart but that further research going back to records in Europe would be necessary to find out exactly how. Earhart says now she erred in not digging further.

Denver’s Earhart says she tried to be clear with anyone who asked, based on that information. She said she believed the two were distantly related, but it wasn’t clear how.

But the questions continued. After doing some research of his own, her former co-worker, KUSA anchor Kyle Clark, posted on his social media accounts that he had looked into the matter himself and concluded there was no evidence that the two were related. Another genealogical review concluded the same. “While my family and Amelia’s were living in adjacent (Pennsylvania) counties, we merely shared a last name,” Earhart wrote in

her 2023 book ‘Learn to Love the Turbulence.’ “We were not related.”

When the news came out, before her flight, some took to social media and emails to call her a fraud, claiming she was trying to profit from her famous name. How she came through this period, and what she learned, is now part of Earhart self- published book “Learn to Love The Turbulence.”Her main point: “Life is going to be unexpected and turbulent,” she said over coffee recently.

She has expanded her story into a talk that she delivers at corporate retreats and conventions. Beginning in 2020 she began marketing her story, and now considers herself a full-time public speaker and pilot. She has no plans to return to TV work, she said. “I’ve been growing my keynote speech for 10 years,” she said. “Re-working and re-vamping. I try to make it so that listeners hear ‘Here’s what it means for you.’ I hope it goes for another 10 to 20 years.”

Now living in the DTC area of Denver, she is growing her public-speaking career, painting, and trying to save for her first home and her first plane. “Learn to Love The Turbulence” by Amelia Rose Earhart and co-author Kristin Clark Taylor is available through Amazon.

PHOTO CREDIT: TODD LANGLEY

Continuing the Dye Tradition

The Dye family golf design tradition – most known through the work of legendary golf architect Pete Dye - continues alive and well in Denver.

Pete Dye died in 2020 after a storied career and projects that included Colorado courses Glenmoor Country Club, Riverdale Dunes, Plum Creek, Gypsum Creek and Copper Creek golf courses, and the County Club of Colorado. Pete did some of that work alongside his son Perry, who designed more than 80 courses himself and was the principal designer of Green Valley Ranch Golf Course in Denver.

Cynthia Dye McGarey - Pete’s niece - and her son, Matt McGarey, are continuing the tradition as Dye Designs Group, based in Denver. Cynthia and Matt’s firm this summer completed extensive bunker renovation at The Club at Inverness in Englewood. They also oversaw the construction of four new holes at Copper Creek Golf Course, at Copper Mountain Resort, returning the resort’s course to 18 holes after a new conference center was built on some of the course’s original layout.

Cynthia’s work has taken her all around the world – including projects in Iraq, China, Azerbaijan and South Korea. She began by working on landscaping and design projects for her cousin, Perry’s, projects. Slowly the scope of her

work expanded and when Perry Dye passed in 2021 at age 68 she continued the family legacy.

“My first job working where I routed the golf course and did all the plans and was there every week it was the Paiute Golf Course in Las Vegas,” Cynthia said this summer after completion of the Inverness project. “Before that I worked with Perry at the (Las Vegas courses) Royal Links and Desert Pines.”

She – and a generation later, so did her son Matt – began by digging in the dirt. They landscaped, staked trees and edged bunkers by hand, then moved up to shaping with bulldozers, and grew their skills as the golf course design industry evolved. In the early 2000s, the Dye’s had an office in China, where there was a gold-rush of golf course construction. Then the government clamped down, citing concerns that some of the projects were part of corrupt local land policies. In 2017 the national government closed 111 courses and ordered Communist Party officials to avoid the game altogether.

The Dye’s pulled back, but are now focused on course renovation work as well as new design. This summer’s renovation projects were part of a trend in which courses built in the 1970s and 1980s now need updating. At Inverness, the original bunker layout was the only defense for the course. Now the trees are decades older and

tower over some of the bunkers. “We removed about half of the bunkers,” Cynthia Dye said. Dye Designs worked with Total Turf of Longmont to implement the new designs. They relined and reshaped every bunker in work that was done just in time for the summer season.

“We got what we believe were the best of the best,” said David Steinmetz, the director of golf at Inverness. “Those two (Dye Designs and Total Turf) worked unbelievably well together.”

Cynthia Dye said her firm has put in proposals for more Inverness work as the course continues to modernize.

“We’re trying to come up with a couple more phases,” Steinmetz said. “The next one focusing on trying to get water conservative in the master plan – converting some of the non-playable areas to native grasses.”

Matt says he is ready to keep the family tradition going. “I kind of feel like it’s my calling,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to do this. I’ve tried other kinds of things - maybe in rebellion. But I’ve never been happier. I’m most happy being out there building in the dirt, shaping. It’s what I know best. It’s not something I had to do; my parents advocated for us to do what makes us happy. It’s always come back to golf.”

CYNTHIA DYE MCGAREY AND MATT MCGAREY

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SPECIAL THANKS

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Anschutz Foundation

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Men’s Champion

Davis Bryant

WOMen’s Champion

Juliana Hung

SENIOR Champion

Jonathan Kaye

Kaye Wins Going Away

On the 16th green – just where it is supposed to happen – the 2024 Inspirato Colorado Senior Open tightened up.

Jonathan Kaye, the former CU Buff and PGA Tour pro from Boulder, had held a three-shot lead most of the final day at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club. His playing partners Shane Bertsch, a current Champions Tour pro from Parker, and Steve Holmes, the head coach of the UCLA women’s golf team, were playing well and keeping the pressure on.

After a long round of trading shots, Holmes rolled in a long birdie putt on the 16th green and Kaye failed to counter. Kaye’s lead was down to two with two holes to play – the long and narrow par 3 No. 17 and the famed No. 18, a long par 5 lined on both sides with marsh grass.

On the 17th tee, Holmes hit first. His iron shot was the right club but drifted just enough right to catch a front-right bunker. Kaye’s shot landed short of the green. Then Holmes blasted out, his ball running about 10 feet past the cup; Kaye chipped to about five feet. Kaye sunk his par putt. Holmes’ putt slipped by the cup on the edge, and the drama was all but over. Kaye had a three-shot lead again.

T:9.875"

With his wife Jennifer as his caddy reading putts for him throughout the day, Kaye won largely on

the greens. He putted well with a new putter and sunk a 20-foot putt on 18 for good measure to push his margin to four shots. He won $20,000 with the victory. “I got off to a terrible start to the week – just a bad first shot and I left myself like the longest putt you could have on a very first hole and I made it,” Kays said after his victory. “Things kind of gelled right away with the putter. Making a 60-footer on the first green with the first time you’ve ever used it, and then on the very next hole I left myself a 90-footer, just to test my skills, and I two-putted that. Then I kind of just got rolling; putts were going in.”

Although Kaye lives now in Phoenix half the year, he played flying the Colorado flag. He was born in Denver and played at the University of Colorado and is considered the first Coloradan to win the Colorado Senior Open since Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale in 2013.

Kaye said the win is not going to change his approach. He said he is mostly retired and has little interest in playing more in the Champions Tour because of how difficult the Tour makes it for Monday qualifiers to have a fair shot. Kaye, 54, has played in more than 300 PGA Tour events and won twice, including the 2003 Buick Open. This year he played in one Champions Tour event, making the cut at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in May. He finished tied for 77th place.

PHOTO BY JIM BEBBINGTON

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More Wanting

BMW CHAMPIONSHIP LEAVES COLORADO GOLF WANTING MORE

BY JIM BEBBINGTON

When the tens of thousands of golf fans went home…

After an underdog who barely even qualified for the tournament – Keegan Bradley - won $3 million and changed the course of his career…

After more than 2,000 volunteers and staff went home exhausted to get some sleep…

The 2024 BMW Championship entered Colorado’s golf history.

The tournament, first announced in 2022, was the first PGA Tour stop in Colorado since 2014. All the national tournaments that had visited since then – the regular Korn Ferry stop at TPC Colorado and especially the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club and the Colorado Golf Club in 2023 – had shown this state’s impressive appetite for great golf.

But for four days at the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club– six if you count the two practice rounds – more than 140,000 people poured through the gates. Viewing stands were typically swamped. The winning putt was made in front of thousands of people who surrounded the 18th green.

And they did much more than just watch. They bought $99 polos. They waited 10 minutes and more in line for milkshakes. They trekked 20,000 steps and more a day up and down hilly terrain.

Yes, they came to watch the 50 best golfers in the world – Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm notwithstanding – ply their trade. But in the end, the party, the tournament, the crowds, the vibe – the show – could hardly have turned out better. The results were so good it left – again – the lingering question in many people’s minds: Can Colorado

expect to see them come back more often? The short answer is every year, very unlikely. But more often than once a decade? Most definitely yes.

What’s the pull: In the wake of the BMW Championship, it is clear that the professional tours like coming to Colorado.

“The tournament was so successful we’re looking at coming back to Denver,” said Vince Pellegrino, the senior vice president of tournaments for the Western Golf Association, which puts on the BMW Championship.

The tournament helped the WGA raise more than $7 million for its signature charity, the Evans Scholar program, Pellegrino said.

The original sponsorship opportunities and the most expensive seating packages sold so strongly that by summer 2023 – a year in advance - they realized they had to add more.

Volunteers also poured in - more than 2,000 totalfrom around the country and the state.

One of the things keeping a professional tournament from locating here regularly is not the demand, but the supply. The region’s finest courses have paying members who pay thousands in fees every year for exclusive golfing excellence. They are very reluctant to open their doors to outsiders like this more than once every few years.

The gorgeous fairways and rough at Castle Pines, for instance, were ground in some spots into mud by the thousands of tramping feet. Also, the number of courses in Colorado ready and willing to handle the crowds is limited. Cherry Hills Country Club, Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Castle Pines Golf Club and The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs are the only clubs in recent decades to open their

doors for the largest gatherings. The Broadmoor is hosting the 2025 U.S. Senior Open – which will likely see yet another strong turnout of fans and volunteers. TPC Colorado’s crowds at the Ascendant presented by Blue Korn Ferry stop are enormous for the Korn Ferry. RainDance National Golf Club in Windsor, at 8,000 yards, has the length to host the pros, said Colorado PGA Director Steve Bartkowski.

The Rodeo Dunes complex being built northeast of Denver by the Dream Golf family is expected to open with two courses within the next two years. But planners say they hope to build up to six courses, including one using the highest dunes available at that location to provide a worthy venue for a professional stop.

Woody Paige reported immediately after the conclusion of this summer’s BMW Championship that 2028 would make a nice return date. Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported that Cherry Hills officials are lobbying the USGA to host the 2035 U.S. Open, which would be the 75th anniversary of Arnold Palmer’s iconic U.S. Open win there.

Pellegrino said they will likely announce the location of the 2028 BMW Championship late next year or early 2026.

Keith Schneider, general manager of Castle Pines, stood on the 18th green after Keegan Bradley’s winning putt and considered when this scene could come to Colorado again.

“That’s for the powers that be to get together and discuss how often they’d like to see something,” he said.

“But, you know, we’re going to enjoy the fruits of this one first.”

PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN MARCY-VEGA

PGA: WHAT’S NEXT?

SCOTTIE SCHEFLER/PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN MARCY-VEGA

PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN MARCY-VEGA

NBA GREAT DERRICK WHITE WALKED ROUNDS

BESIDE WYNDHAM CLARK ALL FOUR DAYS/

PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN MARCY-VEGA

PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN MARCY-VEGA

TONY FINAU/ PHOTO BY COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

RORY MCILROY/ PHOTO BY COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

JACK NICKLAUS ATTENDED OPENING DAY/

PHOTO BY COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

PHOTO BY COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

Business Whiskey

DIEHARD BOURBON LOVERS ARE HAUNTED BY STELLAR OLD ELK SPIRITS CRAFTED IN FORT COLLINS BY

JOHN LEHNDORFF

Old Elk has always gone out of its way to stay in the shade.

The Fort Collins distillery has never allowed tours or tastings at its facility. Other Colorado distilleries produce far more whiskey and are much better known than Old Elk within the state.

Only six years ago, Old Elk finally opened a separate tasting room, The Reserve at Old Elk Distillery, in Old Town Fort Collins. However, if you mention Old Elk Distillery to true bourbon fanatics across the nation, you will hear a blissful sort of sigh in response. From its flagship Blended Straight Bourbon Whiskey to its celebrated Port

Cask Finish Straight Bourbon, Old Elk spirits are genuinely coveted. That cozy Northern Colorado tasting room is a bucket list destination for international whiskey devotees because of the rare spirits poured on premises.

The reason for this reverence is pretty simple, according to Old Elk’s CEO, Luis Gonzalez.

“As consumers across the country become more educated about what actually makes bourbon ‘bourbon,’ and whiskey ‘whiskey, they are less interested in where it’s from, and more on how it’s made. In the end, the proof is in the bottle,” Gonzalez says.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY OLD ELK DISTILLERY

Old Elk’s whiskies are famously sip-able, well-rounded and not at all raw, fiery and harsh. Old Elk’s grain blends, choice of barrels and a “slow cut” process that adds spring water to whiskey over the course of weeks all work to balance and defuse the peppery edge of some grain spirits while retaining the subtle flavors, according to Gonzalez.

Old Elk Distillery has quietly made America’s whiskey lovers pay attention with a parade of prize winners over the years.

Most recently, Old Elk Port Cask Finish Straight Bourbon was named one of the “most exciting” whiskeys across the globe in 2023 by the experts at Whisky Advocate magazine. Old Elk’s products have consistently won honors at the nation’s most prestigious competitions including a slew of gold medals at the 2024 World Spirits Competition.

It’s not a surprise that Old Elk’s longtime Master Distiller, Greg Metze, won the Master Distiller/ Master Blender of the Year Award at the 2024 Icons of Whisky event. Metze is the nose behind Old Elk’s highly collected bottlings in its Cask Finish, Master’s Blend and Limited Edition Series.

According to Gonzalez, Old Elk’s top sellers include affordably priced Blended Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Wheated Bourbon, and Wheat Whiskey but some of the most anticipated are the twice-yearly Cigar Cut releases. “It’s a different premium blend each time of our various whiskeys aged again in sherry, port or cognac casks,” he says.

Old Elk’s not-so-secret weapon is Nooku Bourbon Cream Liqueur, a luscious combination of two-year old bourbon and fresh cream with no additives, sugar or preservatives. “Restaurants across the country use it in after-dinner coffees, to make whipped cream or drizzled over a dessert,” he says.

Nooku is what Bailey’s Irish Cream wants to be when it grows up, according to Gonzalez.

WHERE THE HIP TRIP TO SIP

When you visit Old Town Fort Collins, the folks in the bustling stores and eateries seem, well, happy. It helps to know that the area inspired Fort Collins-born artist Harper Goff who designed Disneyland’s famed Main Street.

The neighborhood is a perfect setting for The Reserve at Old Elk, a bar, eatery and patio that exudes a well-established vibe. The ambiance goes down as smoothly as the whiskeys it spotlights.

Because the bar is stocked with every Old Elk offering and staffed by a serious group of whiskey nerds, The Reserve is an ideal destination to order a flight – a sampler of four spirits – and find one to love.

“Having a guide on hand to tell you a little bit about the whiskies can help. They won’t tell you what you’re supposed to taste or smell, because everyone is different, but they can point out some possibilities,” he says.

The Reserve also offers special items only poured on the premises including “ginskey - gin finished in a whisky barrel, as well as infused spirits and cordials like limoncello.

It’s not a surprise that Old Elk’s longtime Master Distiller, Greg Metze, won the Master Distiller/Master Blender of the Year Award at the 2024 Icons of Whisky event.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY OLD ELK DISTILLERY

The Reserve’s bartenders shake cocktails ranging from a Classic Old Fashioned to a Bourbon Margarita rimmed with salted lime foam. The fall-friendly Dreamcatcher mixes Nooku Bourbon Cream with chai spices, bitters, sage and orange oil.

Cocktails and mocktails can be paired with a menu that includes dishes featuring the company’s namesake and spirit animal. Starters range from meat and cheese boards to deviled eggs with bacon jam. The BLTG fills a grilled brioche bun with candied bacon, tomato jam, arugula and goat cheese.

Elk is spotlighted on the Reserve’s menu in several guises. The Swisshito Burger layers an elk patty with shishito peppers, mushrooms, caramelized onions, Swiss cheese and bourbon mayo on a brioche bun.

Comfort comes in the form of elk sausage wrapped in a flaky puff pastry blanket as well as elk sausage crowning the creamy Ranger Mac and Cheese. Smoked salmon tacos, veggie quesadillas, a fried rockfish hoagie, and flatiron steak with blue cheese cream sauce round out the menu.

Some diners simply enjoy a glass of Old Elk spirits while sharing an order of warm bread pudding topped with Walrus’s Ice Cream’s Old Elk Bourbon and caramel ice cream.

ONE CEO’S WHISKEY LEARNING CURVE

There wasn’t any whiskey around the house when Luis Gonzalez was growing up in Baton Rouge in a large Cuban immigrant family.

“When I was old enough, my first drink was probably whiskey and Coke. I can’t tell you what whiskey was in it. I’m not sure it mattered,” he says with a laugh.

Prior to joining Old Elk almost eight years ago, the 38-year-old executive enjoyed a long career in consumer electronics. Gonzalez’ admittedly steep learning curve connects him to the experience of consumers who are new to whiskey appreciation. “When I started here, I only knew two things about whiskey. One: I enjoyed drinking it. Two: I really enjoyed it on game day,” he says. It took tasting with the distillery’s core team to help Gonzalez appreciate what the bourbon buzz is all about.

“It’s like every other competency in your life. It takes practice, right? You have to train your brain and senses to really be able to pick up tasting notes. When I started, all I could smell was alcohol. Now, it’s an exercise we do on a weekly basis to stay sharp.”

WHISKEY FOR NEWBIES: SNIFF, SIP, REPEAT

Whether you are sipping at a tasting room or at home, start with room-temperature spirits in the glass, according to Gonzalez.

“Two things I learned really changed my tasting experience. First, always sniff the whiskey with your mouth open to allow those aromas to come through. Second, always take a really small first sip. Let it coat your mouth and breathe in and out a little bit. Then go in for that little larger sip,” he says, adding a bonus tip: Avoid applying excessive cologne or perfume before you are going to taste.

That said, Gonzalez likes to pop the balloon of pretension and ritual that surrounds whiskey tastings. “People always ask me, ‘how am I supposed to drink Old Elk?’ My answer is: Enjoy it how you like it, whether that means a large cube, mixed with Coke, in a cocktail, or straight up,” he says.

The perception of Colorado whiskey has gradually changed in a world where Tennessee and Kentucky were perceived as the motherland of American spirits.

“Colorado is now on the map as far as whiskey and bourbon is concerned. The state has an incredibly vibrant distilling community and well-educated tasters. There is also a strong foodie environment,” Gonzalez says.

WHERE THE YOUNG ELK ROAM

According to Gonzalez, there is an overemphasis in the whiskey world on processing instead of on people. “There is this misconception in our industry that the barrel does all the work. A barrel may

make good whiskey great, but it will not make bad whiskey good. Staying true and not cutting corners is incredibly important to us,” he says.

He compares the evolutionary process that gradually transforms grain mash into a winning glass with a good round of golf. “If we start the front nine in great shape, we will carry momentum into the back nine and end up with a good score,” he said.

The Old Elk executive plays rounds regularly - but not often enough, at the wealth of golf courses near Fort Collins.

“I play whether I’m good or not. If I have that one great hole, it brings me back for 18 more,” he says. “I’m great at getting on the green in three and then six-putting.”

Gonzalez often plays at Highland Meadows and Harmony Golf Club, but Loveland’s Mariana Butte may be his favorite course. “It’s so beautiful. Sometimes, you get lucky enough to be delayed on the tee box because there are fourteen elk on the course,” he says.

The Reserve by Old Elk Distillery, 253 Linden St., Fort Collins, oldelk.com

John Lehndorff is the Food Editor of Colorado AvidGolferandtheBoulderWeeklyandhostofRadio Nibbles on KGNU-FM.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY OLD ELK DISTILLERY

Simulation This is Not a

VIRTUAL TEE HELPS LEAD SIM-GOLF GROWTH

BY JIM BEBBINGTON

Around 2020 Mike Boire was in his 12th year running his Colorado Springs flooring company, Colorado Carpet and Flooring. His friend and business partner, Adam Porter, was working in landscape design. Like many people during Covid, they were getting into golf and decided to build a golf simulator in Boire’s offices.

“We put one in,” Boire said. “Then we thought ‘Why don’t we sell these?’ We just kind of stumbled into it.”

Their timing for starting their new business – Virtual Tee - could hardly have been better. First, the Covid-era led thousands of Coloradans to try golf. Then companies like TopGolf and other golf-simulator bars and event spaces introduced more people to the new phenomenon of off-course golf: swing clubs in a hitting bay with friends, drinks and food. Technology companies then did what they so often do – raced each other to provide the best tech at less cost.

Boire and Porter banked on the fact that while it is possible to DIY a hitting bay in your garage, there were going to be plenty of homeowners who wanted help picking the right tech and building out the facilities. Voila! Virtual Tee was born – a company that designs, builds and connects hitting bays in homes and businesses, extra office space, garages, basements, side rooms and outbuildings.

“Adam bought a unit with someone who is a competitor to us now,” Boire said. “His experience with that - spending $60.000, not being able to try out the thing, not having a sales rep locally, not being able to speak with anyone and have them come out – made us think why don’t we do these custom installs that are really nice and built into people’s houses.”

The

off-grass golf industry has been booming. The National Golf Foundation, an industry research and advocacy group, estimates that around 3.6 million people a year used a golf simulator in 2019; in 2023 it said that number had risen to 6.2 million, a 72 percent increase.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY VIRTUAL TEE

From their start in the Colorado Springs area, they have opened up sites in Denver, Arizona, North Carolina and Oregon. Every location has to provide the same service – good personal contact with buyers, and solid relationships to ensure good construction and installation.

“That is our bread and butter right now,” Boire said.

The off-grass golf industry has been booming. The National Golf Foundation, an industry research and advocacy group, estimates that around 3.6 million people a year used a golf simulator in 2019; in 2023 it said that number had risen to 6.2 million, a 72 percent increase.

To get into sim-golf at home, first, you need a tallenough space to swing a golf club.

Then you need the technology – a launch simulator and software to run the numbers and display the courses – as well as a projector, a hitting mat, a screen and flooring.

Prices across the industry vary widely. DIY builders can put their own systems together using $700 launch monitors from Amazon if they want. Virtual Tee frames and finishes rooms, builds on new additions, and then works with the client to get the right technology installed for what they’re looking for.

The screens and projectors can do double duty as jumbo movie screens and game systems.

The growth of simulator golf has long been on the radar of the golf industry. The National Golf Foundation has done research into the number of people who use golf sim units, whether at bars, in leagues, at TopGolf-like facilities or in their own home. The majority – 53 percent – say they don’t even play green-grass golf. They use just the simulators. The NGF points out to its clients that that is what is known as ‘an opportunity.’

They do not yet have data, however, on just the home-unit users. “As you can imagine, there are so many varied set-ups (garage hitting bays with portable swing analytics units vs dedicated rooms with full simulator technology) and so many companies getting into the space – selling full systems, components, advising, etc. -- that this category is not yet something we have reliable data on,” said Erik Matuszewski, the editorial director for the National Golf Foundation.

Boire said they’ve already seen how simulators can expose people to the game who might otherwise never have played. They’ve built one in a rural high school where the school wanted to give the students an option to learn the game, but there were few courses nearby.

“Our guy in North Carolina – he’s 24 and he’s been playing golf for only three years,” Boire said. “He got started on sim golf and three years in and he’s now an 8 handicap. He credits the simulator to expediting his learning. There’s just a lot more oppy for kids with the simulator. It’s not real golf but it’s a really good alternative.”

Their timing for starting their new business could hardly have been better.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY VIRTUAL TEE

Kona Meets Sedona Black Desert:

SOUTHERN UTAH’S NEWEST GOLF RESORT DEBUTS ON PGA TOUR STAGE

BY JIM BEBBINGTON

PHOTO CREDIT: BRIAN OAR//HOLE 1

Black Desert is finally ready to shine.

Northwest of the popular vacation community of St. George, Utah, the Black Desert Resort opens its first hotel rooms to the public in October with its championship golf course also getting its first tryout as a PGA TOUR stop.

The resort has been under construction for more than three years and is the culmination of more than 20 years of effort. The master plan for the full build-out will likely take several years more – with a multi-village hotel, a residential neighborhood, waterpark, and Main Street-style commercial and restaurant district in the works.

GOLF ON CENTER STAGE

The breathtaking Black Desert golf course takes its debut on the world stage the second week of October, as it plays host to the PGA TOUR’s FedEx Cup Fall inaugural Black Desert Championship.

The new PGA TOUR stop is Oct. 9 to 13 this year and will showcase the stunning Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course that opened for play in June 2023.

The PGA TOUR has a five-year commitment to Black Desert. The course also will be one of the few in the world to simultaneously host an LPGA event each year; the women’s Tour begins playing at Black Desert in spring, 2025.

The course is Weiskopf’s 73rd and final design, finished shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer in 2022. He and fellow designer Phil Smith built a par-72 course with wide green fairways that wind and roll through a rare black-lava landscape. The lava flows ended an estimated 20,000 years ago, and the land offered a challenging opportunity to be creative. Parts of the course look like it belongs on the shores of the Big Island of Hawaii. But instead of the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, players find themselves in the midst of towering red cliffs and hills of nearby Zion National Park and Snow Canyon.

“I think it’s going to blow people away,” St. George based photographer Brian Oar said after photographing the course shortly after it opened. “It really is built in the lava and they clearly spared no expense. There are some really incredible golf holes and I expect it to be an unbelievable experience.”

Green fees include complimentary non-alcoholic food and beverage service on the course; forecaddies to help shepherd your round; cart; driving range access, a tee box gift. And in perhaps the

black desert

best perk possible – tee times are spread out over 15-minute increments. “I loved the wide-open fairways,” said Black Desert’s vice president of sales and marketing Kate Brown. “I felt like it was very challenging. It’s stunning. You feel like you’re in the middle of Nirvana. Undulations, water, sand, lava.”

Developer Patrick Manning told one interviewer that the landscape is what sold the PGA TOUR on adding the course to its schedule. “Nothing is going to pop on national television like Black Desert,” he said.

big vision

The scale of Black Desert Resort continues to evolve. Manning began thinking about what could be done on the land 20 years ago. He saw the St. George region becoming a popular vacation and visitor destination – with natural beauty drawing visitors from around the world.

What it did not have yet, he felt, was much to keep people there after they completed their hikes through the fantastic surroundings.

Plans began as a simple ‘Boardwalk’ – a mainstreet ski-village style development that would give visitors a place to shop, eat, listen to live music and stroll.

As the vision came closer to breaking ground he and his team continued to see larger and larger possibilities.The golf course went first. Now, the first hotel will have 791 rooms and be a candidate for national convention traffic as well as destination weddings and other events.

An outdoor amphitheater is in the works for concerts and performances.The family-oriented waterpark will be done in time for summer 2026. The final piece of Phase One – the Boardwalk - is slated for completion by 2028.

A development of homes and condos is on the drawing board as the project is seeking to live up to its motto: Luxury Your Way. Visit. Play It. Own It. Manning, the developer, said the scale of the complex is intended to be part of its draw.

“When it’s all done it’s going to be big – more than 20 restaurants; water park; It’s going to be a massive 600-acre entertainment complex,” he said.

doors open

The resort’s hotel first opens for guests on Oct. 16, with significantly discounted rates through the winter to give visitors a rare chance to be the first to stay at what is intended to become a world-class

destination. “There’s still some construction going on but you’re going to get an amazing rate,” said Brown. “It’s an opportunity for people to come in and be the first to experience the resort. There are seven restaurants, two pools, five Trackman simulators. It’s a great way to be one of the first to experience it when it’s brand new.”

HOW TO GET THERE:

FLIGHTS: Aircraft land at St. George Regional Airport. United Airlines has nonstop service from Denver, and American and Delta Airlines offer connecting service.

Every year fans of Colorado’s football teams - the Broncos, the CU Buffs, the CSU Rams, the Air Force Falcons - travel far and wide to watch and support their teams. If you bring a bag of clubs, you can turn any football trip into a sports weekend, complete with rounds on some great courses around the country. Football and golf - the two sports were made for each other.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The air is crisp, leaves light up the landscape with their changing color, and as the days get shorter with winter approaching, every round of golf is more special than the last during the Fall. By Jay

McKinney

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BANDON DUNES

PHOTO PROVIDEDBY TORREYPINES

PHOTO PROVIDED BY

PHOTO PROVIDED BY SDCC

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

PHOTO CREDIT: ADOBE STOCK/ EDB3_16

BY YALE GOLF

As the seasons change, so do the activities that people dedicate their time to. June and July might be filled with twilight golf rounds that finish when the sun is setting past 8 pm, but by October and November, people are beginning to migrate indoors. It’s a time to cozy up on the couch and watch college football while yelling at the TV in joy or anger. Having a winning team to root for can make winter bearable, but regardless of record, Colorado fans will support their teams through thick and thin. Golfers who want to support their team on the road and keep their swing intact, might want to consider these courses for a vacation centered around golf and a game.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

With his undeniable swagger and contagious confidence, Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes stole the spotlight of college football last year when he announced, “We Coming.” Don’t be afraid to exude that same level of confidence when stepping onto the first tee at these courses in Tucson, Arizona. The Buffs take on the University of Arizona on Oct. 19.

If You Know Someone: The Stone Canyon Club Just north of Tucson in the town of Oro Valley lies a desert oasis. The Stone Canyon Club was designed by Jay Morrish and it is notably the only course within the greater Tucson area to crack Golf Digest’s top 100 courses in the United States. Lying in the shadow of the Tortolita Mountains, the rugged landscape is littered with towering cacti and other desert flora that make errant shots extra intimidating.

If You Don’t Know Someone: Arizona National Golf Club. This public golf course is considered one of the best in the Tucson area and worth every penny. The 6,785-yard track will test golfers of all skill levels, but it is always fair. While playing the course, golfers are treated to the majestic scenery of the Santa Catalina Mountains and Coronado National Forest.

COLORADO STATE

Colorado State University Rams are joining the PAC-12 and will likely be visiting Oregon State University Beavers often. Pack your best rain gear and check out these courses in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

If You Know Someone: Tetherow Resort and Golf Club (semi-private). Tetherow Resort and Golf Club located in Bend is considered the gold standard when it comes to golf in central Oregon. The golf course was designed by David McLay Kidd

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

who has an impressive portfolio of designs that includes Bandon Dunes and the Castle Course in Scotland. However, he fell in love with the town of Bend so much that he decided to move there. With panoramic views of the Cascade Peaks and its rugged natural landscape, Tetherow is truly a special golf course. When designing it, McLay Kidd worked closely with the Audubon Society to preserve the habitat and become an Audubon certified golf course. While Tetherow is semi-private and accessible to play, it always helps to know a member.

If You Don’t Know Someone: Bandon Dunes . Every serious golfer has a bucket list of courses to play, and Bandon Dunes is likely near the top. There are seven links courses total and five of them are properly ranked in the top 20 of the 100 best public courses in the U.S. The other two are par 3 layouts that are redefining what a golf course can be. Bandon Preserve is a 13-hole par 3 course that opened in 2012 and Shorty’s is a 19-hole par 3 course that opened in 2024.

AIR FORCE ACADEMY

If you’re able to pull yourself out of the Thanksgiving food coma, book a trip to southern California. Air Force plays San Diego State on Nov. 30 (two days after Turkey Day) and the weather will surely be superior to Colorado by that point.

If You Know Someone: San Diego Country Club. San Diego Country Club was established in 1897 and was the first country club in San Diego. The current location of the club was acquired in 1920 when members purchased 160 acres in Chula Vista More. Now, more than 100 years later and San Diego Country Club is still one of the best private clubs in southern California.

In 2025 the club will host the U.S. Senior Women’s Open.

If You Don’t Know Someone: Torrey Pines Golf Course. With 36 holes hugging the Pacific Ocean Coastline, Torrey Pines’ North and South courses are the pinnacle of municipal golf. It’s home to the Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour and the south course has also hosted two U.S. Opens in 2008 and 2021.

Tiger Woods took the trophy in 2008 with one of his most memorable performances as he battled through an injury to beat Rocco Mediate in a competitive 18-hole playoff that ended in sudden death. To play the same holes as this legendary part of golf history is a rare privilege.

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

There might not be a football team, but DU’s hockey program is one of the best in the country. On Nov. 1 and 2 DU takes on Yale. The course is closed for renovation, but offers tantalizing hope for games in future years.

T he Yale Golf Course is consistently recognized as one of the best collegiate courses in the nation with its large greens, deep bunkers and wide fairways that are meticulously cared for. It was designed by Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor and opened in 1926. As it approaches its 100th anniversary, Yale Golf Course is currently undergoing a complete restoration and is closed. However, it plans to reopen in 2026 to celebrate its centennial and one can hope that DU will return to Connecticut that year. After the restoration, expect Yale Golf Course to solidify its status as the nation’s premier university course.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY TETHEROW RESORT

PRO FOOTBALL

TRAVELING WITH THE BRONCOS OFFERS SOME OUTSTANDING OPPORTUNITIES - WHETHER THIS YEAR OR IN YEARS AHEAD. IF YOU MISSED AN EARLY-SEASON GEM THIS YEAR, YOU JUST HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THAT TEAM ROLLS INTO THE BRONCO SCHEDULE AGAIN. KEEP YOUR CLUBS AND TRAVEL BAG READY.

BY TOM MACKIN

Wk 1 | at Seattle | Sept. 8

If you know someone: Seattle’s premier championship layout is unquestionably found at Sahalee Country Club , 40 minutes northeast of Lumen Field. Host of this year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (the North and South nines were used), the tight, tree-lined fairways offer a superb, if claustrophobic, challenge.

If you don’t know someone: Muni golf is alive and well throughout Seattle. Options include Jefferson Park Golf Course , and the hilly layout at West Seattle (pictured right) which usually hosts the final round of the annual Seattle Amateur.

Wk 3 | at Tampa Bay | Sept. 22

If you know someone: Old Memorial Golf Club is consistently ranked among the state’s Top 20 courses by Golf Digest. Located 25 minutes north of Raymond James Stadium, the club was founded by owners of the Outback Steakhouse chain. Bring an appetite for firm and fast conditions.

If you don’t know someone: The old World Woods complex in Brooksville, an hour north of Tampa, has been transformed recently into Cabot Citrus Farms (pictured right), with one of two new 18-hole layouts already open ( The Karoo ), plus a 9-hole course ( The Squeeze ), and an 11-hole par 3 course ( The Wedge ).

Wk 4 | at NY Jets | Sept. 29

If you know someone: Liberty National Golf Club on the Jersey City waterfront is an engineering marvel, built on top of a former landfill in 2006. It’s hosted the PGA Tour numerous times and the 2017 President’s Cup. The Statue of Liberty provides a memorable backdrop on a handful of holes.

If you don’t know someone: Architecture aficionados will appreciate the Seth Raynor design trademarks at Rock Spring Golf Club in West Orange, just 14 miles southwest of Met Life Stadium (pictured right). Or fight the traffic and head over to Long Island to take on the daunting Bethpage Black Course, venue for next year’s Ryder Cup.

PHOTO CREDIT: MATT MAJKA

PHOTO PROVIDED BY WEST SEATTLE GC

PHOTO CREDIT: BRIAN OAR

PRO FOOTBALL

THE BRONCOS HAVE A 9-3 RECORD VERSUS THE SAINTS ALL-TIME. THE BRONCOS HAVE NOT PLAYED AT NEW ORLEANS SINCE 2016, DEFEATING THE SAINTS, 25-23. DENVER HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON MAKES HIS RETURN TO NOLA AFTER COACHING THE SAINTS FOR 15 SEASONS.

Wk 7 | at New Orleans | Oct. 17

If you know someone: Test your skills among the large, live oaks at New Orleans Country Club , whose roots extend back to 1914 on a site just three miles northwest of the Superdome.

If you don’t know someone: Check out a current PGA Tour host venue at TPC Louisiana (pictured right) across the Mississippi in nearby Avondale where the Pete Dye design turns 20 this year. Or take on the Jack Nicklaus Signature design at English Turn Golf and Country Club , which hosted the annual PGA Tour stop from 1989 to 2004. Beware: water lurks on every single hole there.

Wk 9 | at Baltimore | Nov. 3

If you know someone: Flip a coin between the East Course at Baltimore Country Club (originally designed by A.W. Tillinghast, it’s hosted a PGA Championship, U.S. Women’s Open, and a Walker Cup) located just seven miles north of downtown, or slide over to the hilly Tom Fazio-designed layout at nearby Caves Valley Golf Club , which first opened in 1991.

If you don’t know someone: Check out Pete Dye’s handiwork at Bulle Rock (pictured right) in Harve de Grace, northeast of the city. It’s long been ranked the No. 1 public course in Maryland by Golfweek.

Wk 10 | at Kansas City | Nov. 10

If you know someone: The Kansas City Country Club, founded 1896, produced the state’s finest golfer: Tom Watson. He learned the game there on the A.W. Tillinghast-designed course. Acclaimed Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson is just over a 3-hour drive southwest of Arrowhead Stadium.

If you don’t know someone: Swope Memorial , (pictured right), is a tight layout originally designed in 1934 by A.W. Tillinghast, will test your skills, although the nearby Kansas City Zoo can provide noisy distractions. In the southern suburb of Leawood sits Ironhorse Golf Club , where you better avoid the Blue River that comes in play on multiple holes.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY TPC LOUISIANA

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BULLE ROCK

PHOTO PROVIDED BY SWOPE MEMORIAL

PRO FOOTBALL

THE BRONCOS HAVE AN ALL-TIME RECORD OF 53-71-2 AGAINST THE RAIDERS IN REGULAR-SEASON PLAY, INCLUDING A ROAD RECORD OF 25-38-0 BUT HAVE NOT BEATEN THE RAIDERS SINCE THEY RELOCATED TO ALLEGIANT STADIUM IN LAS VEGAS IN 2020.

Wk 12 | at Las Vegas | Nov. 24

If you know someone: It’s more about the dough than who you know. To play Shadow Creek, just north of downtown, you have to stay two nights at an MGM Resort and pay a $1,250 green fee. A tee time at The Wynn Golf Club (pictured right) on The Strip goes for $800, plus a mandatory forecaddie fee. Booking a tee time more than two weeks out also means booking a room at The Wynn, too!

If you don’t know someone: Head 40 minutes northwest of The Strip to the Las Vegas Paiute Resort where The Wolf, Snow Mountain , and Sun Mountain layouts are all formidable options. Or drive just over an hour northeast to Mesquite for the unforgettable landscape of Wolf Creek Golf Club

Wk 16 | at Los Angeles | Dec. 22

If you know someone: Flip a coin between Riviera Country Club (pictured right) and Los Angeles Country Club. The former hosts an annual PGA Tour event, while the even more exclusive latter choice exposed itself briefly to the world when it hosted the 2023 U.S. Open, won by Denver native Wyndham Clark.

If you don’t know someone: Rustic Canyon in suburban Moorpark is a subtle walk with huge greens and plenty of opportunities to hit bump and run shots more commonly found on a links layout. In LA proper, munis like Rancho Park and Griffith Park are fun, but snagging tee times can be harder than winning an Oscar.

Wk 17 | at Cincinnati | TBD

If you know someone: Tom Doak brought Seth Raynor’s vision back to life at the highly-regarded Camargo Club , northeast of downtown Cincy. Enjoy the quartet of template par 3s there. An hour’s drive north in Dayton, the South Course at NCR Country Club turns 70 this year and is among the country’s best classic layouts.

If you don’t know someone: Stonelick Hills (pictured right), 30 minutes east of downtown and Paycor Stadium, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. There’s plenty of water to negotiate – especially around the island green on the par-5 ninth – and be sure to keep an eye out for a bison between the first and 10th holes.

PHOTO CREDIT: ADOBE STOCK / THE DESERT PHOTO

PHOTO CREDIT: ADOBE STOCK / TIERNEY

PHOTO PROVIDED BY STONELICK HILLS

On behalf of AvidLifestyle, Colorado AvidGolfer, and our esteemed Presenting Sponsors - Mountain High Appliance and Howard Lorton Furniture & Design - we extend our heartfelt gratitude for your presence at the 4th Annual Wheels of Dreams Charity Experience at Hangar Club.

Thanks to you, over the past four years, the Wheels of Dreams Charity Experience has raised more than $323,000 for Bags of Fun.

Sponsors!

Vegas’ Summerlin

Arcis Golf

Arcis Arizona – 10 Courses to Play

In the Phoenix area, the Arcis Golf group operates courses that can test, tantalize, reward and challenge golfers looking for a weekend trip or a longer vacation in the sun. Colorado golfers may know them best from playing the Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton. In Phoenix, Scottsdale and nearby Arcis offers 10 great courses that welcome, challenge and delight. The Arcis Players’ Prime program at their nine participating courses offers 14-day advance booking, the best rates, daily range privileges and cart-feeonly pricing for twilight golf.

Raven Golf Club This course is parkland style - the desert elements are there, but the course itself has more than 6,000 pine trees lining fairways. The course, designed by Gary Panks and David Graham, received a major renovation in 2024. Trees were thinned to open up site lines, and the course’s 60 bunkers were upgraded with new liners and sand. It can challenge the scratch golfer and is still welcoming for the learner and is a short hop from Phoenix’s nearby Sky Harbor Airport. ravenphx.com.

Grayhawk: The Grayhawk Golf Course complex makes the perfect cornerstone for your fall or winter outing. Grayhawk features 36 holes of fantastic golf. The two 18s – dubbed Raptor and Talon – opened in the mid-1990s and are two of the best daily-fee, public courses in Arizona. The Raptor Course is the biggest challenge and can run to nearly 7,200 yards. Designed by world-renowned architect Tom Fazio, the Raptor Course combines massive, undulating green complexes with tricky fairways nestled between natural desert stone and terrain. The Talon Course is shorter but has just as much personality. At the course eateries include the Quill Creek Café, Isabella’s Kitchen, and Phil’s Grill – named after Grayhawk ambassador Phil Mickelson. grayhawkgolf.com.

McDowell Mountain Golf Club is built into the foothills of Scottsdale’s McDowell Mountains, and the rolling terrain is put to good use. The course features large fairways and a little more green than some of the other desert-style tracks in the region. The course this year also features a new neighborhood restaurant, Rossa Kitchen and Patio, with traditional American fare alongside Italian and wood-fired pizza. mcdowellmountaingc.com.

Other Arcis Courses also Worth a Try! Continental Golf Club (continentalgc.com), Kokopelli Golf Club (kokopelligc.com), Ocotillo Golf Club (ocotillogolf.com), Palm Valley Golf Club (palmvalleygolf.com), Stonecreek Golf Club (stonecreekgc.com), Superstition Springs Golf Club (superstitionspringsgc.com), The Legend at Arrowhead (legendatarrowhead.com).

GRAYHAWK GOLF CLUB//RAPTOR COURSE

MCDOWELL MOUNTAIN GOLF CLUB

STONECREEK GOLF CLUB

RAVEN GOLF CLUB-PHOENIX

Troon Golf Arizona

DISCOVER: TROONGOLFAZ.COM

Troon Golf Arizona

Troon, the world’s largest golf management company, has significantly expanded its Arizona footprint this year, enhancing the golf experience across the state. With 19 Troon Golf Arizona courses spanning from Sedona to Tubac - more than 250 miles - Troon offers golf enthusiasts a diverse range of stunning locales and challenging layouts. Sedona Golf Resort offers a picturesque setting amidst the striking Red Rocks of Sedona and is conveniently close to the scenic Oak Creek, providing a truly immersive desert golf experience. Rancho Mañana Golf Club, in Cave Creek north of Phoenix, features a par 70 championship course nestled in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, boasting breathtaking high desert views that promise a memorable round. Eagle Mountain Golf Course and SunRidge Canyon are neighboring gems just northeast of Scottsdale. Both courses deliver excellent golf experiences and are perfect for avid golfers looking to explore a variety of challenges. At the southern end of the state, Tubac Golf Resort & Spa offers a tranquil escape with its classic Spanish architecture and serene surroundings, providing a quintessential retreat from the hustle and bustle. With this expanded portfolio, Troon

Golf ensures that Arizona’s golf visitors have a remarkable array of options to choose from, each with its unique charm and challenges.

Arizona Troon Network

• Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club, Maricopa - AkChinSouthernDunes.com

• Boulders Resort & Spa Scottsdale, Scottsdale – TheBoulders.com

• The Club at Starr Pass, Tucson – TheClubatStarrPass.com

• Dove Valley Ranch Golf Club, Cave Creek – DoveValleyRanch.com

• Eagle Mountain Golf Club, Fountain Hills – EagleMtn.com

• Foothills Golf Club, Phoenix – TheFoothillsGC.com

• Golf Club of Estrella, Goodyear – EstrellaGolf.com

• Longbow Golf Club, Mesa – LongbowGolf.Com

• Lookout Mountain Golf Club, Phoenix – LookoutMountainGolf.com

• Power Ranch Golf Club, Gilbert – PowerRanchGolfClub.com

• Putting World Scottsdale, Scottsdale – PuttingWorld.com

• Rancho Mañana Golf Club, Cave Creek – RanchoManana.com

• Sedona Golf Resort, Sedona – SedonaGolfResort.Com

• Sterling Grove Golf + Country Club, Surprise - SterlingGroveClub.com

• SunRidge Canyon Golf Club, Scottsdale – SunRidgeGolf.com

• The Phoenician, Scottsdale – ThePhoenician.com

• Troon North Golf Club, Scottsdale - TroonNorthGolf.com

• Tubac Golf Resort & Spa, Tubac – TubacGolfResort.com

• The Westin Kierland Golf Club, Scottsdale – KierlandGolf.com

For reservations and information on these stunning Arizona golf courses, visit TroonGolfAZ.com

Eagle Mountain Golf Club

Rancho Mañana Golf Club

SunRidge Canyon Golf Club

Sedona Golf Resort

Tubac Golf Resort & Spa

We-Ko-Pa

Overview

Tucked in the northeast corner of the Valley of the Sun lie two courses that Coloradans love to visit to escape the grey of winter - Cholla and Saguaro, the 18-hole tracks of the We-Ko-Pa Golf Club. Like two wolves raised together since birth, they make for a gorgeous pair even when you know they have claws. They lure in the unsuspecting with immaculate conditions and genuinely unique desert surroundings. There are no home developments nearby – just the companion resort hotel and casino. So the mountain-scapes are gorgeous.

Operated as part of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Enterprises, the courses are a great destination in their own right. But put them up against the beautiful backdrop of the Mazatzal and Superstition mountain ranges, the courses give visitors an experience of wonder even as they work to

stay close to par. The complex has long been a Colorado winter vacation favorite and the courses are ranked near the top of the lists of public Arizona courses.

The Courses

The Cholla Course. This is the one that will have you fitting in extra range sessions before your trip. It’s playable for everyone, but it rewards precision so much that it is irresistible to not want to get better at dropping your ball exactly where you can off the tees.

The Saguaro Course. The success of the Cholla course led the developers to double-down in 2005 and hire the design team of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore to design Saguaro. (This is the same team that is working on the Rodeo Dunes development in northeast Colorado.) This is a course designed for the pushcart mafia; they encourage walking and designed it to have challenging holes close to each other. This highly rated course – often the No. 1 rated public course in Arizona – has a variety of desert-golf challenges.

Where to Stay

The more than 240-room resort and convention center includes the We-Ko-Pa Casino. The courses are close to Phoenix and Scottsdale, but staying here opens up stay-and-play deals that put both courses in range for a weekend getaway.

36 HOLES | PLAY SAGUARO & CHOLLA

The Coore/Crenshaw-designed Saguaro course (No. 1) and the Scott Miller-designed Cholla course (No. 9) have been ranked among the Top-10 Best You Can Play in Arizona* for a decade. And you can experience both within a 3-day period with the 36-hole package. Located minutes from Scottsdale, Arizona in the pristine Sonoran Desert of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation

Troon North

The Golf

The Troon North Golf Club resort north of Scottsdale has two Tom Weiskopf-designed 18-hole experiences that are routinely rated as some of the top public courses available in Arizona. Both courses – The Pinnacle and the Monument – wind through the Sonoran Desert, which is modified just enough to give the fairways and greens room to provide a lush challenge. The twists of the fabled Pinnacle course require smart placement to avoid the many natural rocky fields strewn between emerald fairways, greens and tee boxes. Its companion, the Monument course, makes great use of natural rock formations to add even more challenge. And true to the name of it’s No. 18 hole, St. Andrews, the greens are simply enormous. Troonnorthgolf.com.

After Your Round

On course, the Dynamite Grille offers a delicious array, much of it with a southwest flare. The grille gets going early, with a breakfast lineup to power your round or lunch/dinner offerings for after your round. The eatery overlooks the 18th hole of the Pinnacle course and reservations are recommended. Troonnorthgolf.com.

Where to Stay

The Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North is just around the corner from the Troon North clubhouse. The luxury resort and spa offers the perfect desert getaway from which to explore the museums, shops and nightlife that Scottsdale has to offer. The resort features plans and packages for every taste including Grand Canyon tours, Sedona hiking, wine tours, mountain biking and all the pleasures the region offers. Fourseasons.com/scottsdale

DISCOVER

Cherish the ultimate golf experience at Troon North’s Monument and Pinnacle courses for the best desert golf in Arizona. Located in the golf mecca of the Southwest, these two North Scottsdale courses offer golf connoisseurs the best luxury golf experience. Pure. Desert. Classic.

Visit TroonNorthGolf.com for the best available rates and 36-hole packages.

or

TROON NORTH GOLF CLUB

Verrado Golf Club

The Golf

The Verrado Golf Club on the Phoenix area’s western edge offers visitors two challenging courses amid landscapes with stunning views sunrise to sunset. The Founders Course, built in 2004, was designed by John Fought and PGA veteran Tom Lehman. They wound the 7,300-yard course through the foothills of the White Tank Mountains, and on the back nine the views become spectacular. “You can literally see 100 miles,” says Verrado’s director of golf Nick Kondos . The challenging par 3s bring variety that will have you using every club in your bag.

A short drive through the Verrado residential neighborhood will bring visitors to the Victory Course, another Lehman design that opened in 2017. The course features generous fairways but can still challenge any level of player. It sits back from the mountains amid a landscape built atop the region’s granite. No. 18 is the crown jewel, a par 5 over water. “It’s one of the

most stunning holes on the property,” Kondos says. The most popular choice for visitors is a discounted two-round package, giving access to both courses the same day. verradogolfclub.com

Amenities

The Verrado Grille is based at the Founders clubhouse and lets diners recharge after a round with the beautiful views of the western mountains. The pub features American fare with a southwest touch. The Cliff House perches high above the Victory course’s 18th green, the perfect respite at the end of a round. The Spa Victory Club is also on the grounds and offers skin and massage therapy as well as nail, eyelash and waxing services.

Close By

By far, the No. 1 attraction to the area around Verrado is spring training. The west side is home to the Guardians, Reds, Royals, Rangers, White Sox, Dodgers, Mariners, Padres and Brewers. So, February is set. But this fall and early winter the nearby mountains are calling. The Verrado residential community has 26 miles of hiking and biking trails, and nearby Skyline Regional Park and White Tank Mountain Park have more than 40 miles of trails ranging from sunset strolls to backcountry adventures.

One of Arizona’s “Exceptional Golf Experiences”

Mesquite Gaming

Overview

Mesquite Nevada’s golf courses, casinos and restaurants have long been a fall and winter destination for Colorado golfers. Many of the resorts offer affordable play-and-stay packages. There are 11 courses to choose from and nearly all work with local hotels and resorts to offer packages. MesquiteGaming.com

Where to Stay

The Casablanca Hotel, Resort Golf and Spa: Visitors driving in from Las Vegas will find the CasaBlanca hotel on the city’s east side, just as they enter town. The casino hosts gaming, concerts and food, and the resort is the perfect base camp for a golf excursion. Stay-and-play packages begin at $99 a night. The hotel’s huge pool and cabanas are a great place to cool off after a round and concerts and bands are live most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays in October. casablancaresort.com.

Virgin River Hotel and Casino offers stay and play packages for as low at $79. virginriver.com/golf.

Golfing Opportunities

There are 11 world-class golf courses in and around Mesquite, Nevada, with variety and challenges for all. CasaBlanca Golf Club is a classic desert challenge. The Palms Golf Club features more than 200 palm trees and a ton of water to challenge visitors. The front-nine is where the water is, and the backnine heads into the mountains for serious terrain. The Coyote Springs Golf Club tips out at more than 7,400 yards and is a Jack Nicklaus-designed course. Falcon Ridge Golf Club and Conestoga Golf Course are two of the newest additions to the Mesquite community. The Golf Course and Sand Hollow Resort in Hurricane, Utah, features a championship course that blends links and desert designs. Other great options include Coral Canyon, The Palmer at the Oasis Golf Club, The Canyons at the Oasis Golf Club, Sky Mountain Golf Club, and The Ledges Golf Club

Two-player tournaments: For the second year running Mesquite golf courses are hosting a series of two-player tournaments to be held just at Casablanca, Palms and Conestoga courses. The final two-man tournament for 2024 is scheduled for Nov. 8 and 10 with players competing across all three courses. Casablancaresort.com/golf

Golf Summerlin

Overview

Summerlin is a master-planned community on the western edge of Las Vegas and with more than 200 miles of trails, 300 parks, and 10 golf courses. The community affords visitors an island of calm and relaxation while still being just a short drive from the Vegas energy of the Strip. Summerlin’s downtown features an eclectic mix of shops, restaurants and sports facilities, and three golf courses in the community designed by PGA great Billy Casper make for a welcoming excursion year-round.

Highland Falls opened in 1999 and at 6,400 yards with fairly generous fairways can appear on paper to be appropriate for shorter hitters. But the landscape is in the foothills and fairways begin as rolling challenges and end up on the back nine with significant elevation changes. It is a fun course that will test all levels of players. The holes are carved through neighborhoods – aim well. The course provides plenty of challenge for big

hitters with ball placement at a premium. Eagle Crest is an executive course that measures a little more than 4,000 yards and is the perfect place to bring a newer or learning golfer, or seek a challenge that will test your short-game. Another Billy Casper design, Eagle Crest runs at a par 60 with several holes 350 yards and more. The terrain and conditions are pristine.

Palm Valley is the longest of the Golf Summerlin courses at a little over 6800 yards. Matches are won or lost on the greens. The fairways are plentiful but the greens are kept in top shape and provide a challenge to even the most practiced player.

What to Do

Summerlin is on the edge of the Spring Mountains and Red Rock Canyon, an outdoor hiking spot that is dotted with lakes and reservoirs. It is also a 30 minute drive west of the strip and downtown. The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area makes up the desert foothills west of Summerlin and include miles of trails for hiking and desert exploration. The Visitor Center is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Like with many Colorado natural wonders, there are timed-entry reservations for many of the roads and most popular hikes. They can be made at recreation.gov with more information at Redrockcanyonlv.org

To the east of Summerlin is downtown Las Vegas and the many, many pursuits available there, including one of the most ground-breaking entertainment venues in the world – The Sphere.

Golf Mesquite

Overview

Mesquite, Nevada, is an hour’s drive northwest of Las Vegas and a world away. The community has the Eureka Casino Resort but is covered with golf course options and a short trip over the horizon brings you to the Grand Canyon hikes and Lake Mead waters. Visitors can do much worse than play outdoors all day in Mesquite, then hit the tables after sundown.

Where to Play

The nearby Oasis Golf Course features two 18-hole courses worth your time. The Palmer Course is carved out of desert canyons to give players a host of options. Arnold Palmer designed the par 71 track with five tee boxes and the course provides a challenge to all levels of player. Its sibling course, The Canyons, has a lot of elevation change as its holes weave up and down local terrain. The Canyons fairways and greens are generous and visitors can swing hard. Non-members can make reservations up to

90 days in advance. TheOasisGolfClub.com. The Jack Nicklaus-designed Coyote Springs Golf Club opened in 2018 and is one of the Bear’s finest desert creations. It is 45 minutes north of Las Vegas and 55 minutes south of Mesquite. The course winds through a new housing development and is intended to be the cornerstone to a desert golf community. CoyoteSprings.com. The Conestoga Golf Club is another great desert test. The holes are immaculately weaved across the desert floor and the course provides a full test for all range of players. Post-round celebrations or commiserations can be found at the 1880 Grille. ConestogaGolf.com.

Where to Stay

The Eureka Casino Resort has newly remodeled rooms and suites, but the place to be is poolside. The cabanas and lush landscaping make the ‘oasis’ reputation of Mesquite a reality. The new William Hill Sportsbook in the casino gives sports gamblers a new base camp from which to enjoy the games. The Rising Star Sports Ranch is also available, designed for groups and features 210 guest rooms and suites.

Things to Do

Cathedral Gorge State Park is a two-hour drive north of Mesquite, and offers miles of trails to explore. Two hours to the south, Mesquite visitors can hit Lake Mead or the western edge of Grand Canyon National Park. There are rugged day hikes and places to visit throughout the region. EurekaMesquite.com.

Colorado Golf Rounds Up from 2023

The number of golf rounds in Colorado played this year through June rose nearly 11 percent over 2023, another sign that when the weather cooperates the region’s golf boom here is still loud.

Spring in Colorado was golf-perfect weatherwise, and course operators say that is one of the reasons for this year’s increase. Golf’s popularity continues in Colorado and Denver, according to research by the National Golf Foundation and Golf Datatech.

“We’re up 21 percent in rounds and 24 percent in revenue,” said Dan Wickman, the PGA Golf Manager for the city of Aurora’s five courses. “The weather this spring was really good and last year was spring rain, snow and cold.”

Nationwide, the number of tee times reported this year through June was up 2 percent. In Colorado tee times were up 10.8 percent and in the Denver area they were up 10.2 percent. Those numbers put Colorado behind only a group of other western states - Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Idaho - which reported an 18.8 percent year-over-year increase in golf rounds through June.

PHOTO CREDIT: COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

for Bryant Break Out

FIRST-YEAR PRO GETS WINS IN BUNCHES

BY JIM BEBBINGTON

For Davis Bryant, the first-year professional golfer from Aurora, his rookie season is turning into a wild ride.

He’s had some agonizing near misses. He’s had some interesting travel – including getting access to a tournament in Morocco, his first overseas event.

He amassed a string of top-10s playing in regional and mini-tour professional events. The evidence was building that something good could be on the horizon.

Then the lid blew off.

In a one month stretch Davis won three times –including a tournament that has meant more to his family than any other, the Inspirato Colorado Open. The money mattered less than the experience – he was able to match up against other players of similar age and talent and sink putts under pressure to win.

That is a lesson you cannot learn on the range; it can only be done on the 18th hole. “I’m thinking more positively,” he said. “I’m playing with more self-belief. I’m mentally more engaged and having some better thoughts go through my head –before shots, during shots, after shots. I haven’t done anything secret practice wise. Nothing dramatic like ‘that was a golden ticket.’”

PHOTO CREDIT: COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

His win at the Inspirato Colorado Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club showed just how far he has come. It’s almost impossible to overstate how connected Bryant is to that tournament and to that course. His father Matt is the Green Valley general manager and director of golf. His mother Julie is the tournament director. Davis and his sister Emma Bryant, who is also a serious stick, practically grew up on the course. Matt estimated that Davis has played the course at least 1,000 times.

But none of that would have helped him win if he was not able to play side-by-side with an experienced pro like Jim Knous and come away victorious.

The final round match Davis was paired with Knous – a Colorado School of Mines graduate who retired from the PGA Tour earlier this year. The two have remarkably similar stories – both Colorado natives; both excellent at the game of golf. They’re built the same.

During the round Knous – who is 10 years older than Bryant – was unshakeable. To beat him, Davis was going to have to beat a seasoned professional playing near the top of his game. And it could not have been closer.

For Knous, the tournament would have also been a triumphant return home. Both players had many fans in the gallery rooting for them. Knous put himself in the final pairing with a blistering Saturday round of 61. Davis had three consistent below-par rounds and entered Sunday in first place at 18-under. As other players

“I got the job done in the playoff. I’m super pleased; super proud of my hard work and my dedication.”

Sunday went low to try to catch him, he steadily ground out pars and stayed ahead.

On the 10th hole, a double-bogey by Davis put him briefly in a three-way tie with Knous and BJ Bigley of Schenectady, NY. But then he rallied with two birdies over the next three holes and never relinquished the lead from there.

The tournament came down to the 18th hole. On the final hole of regulation Knous sunk a 20foot birdie putt to tie Davis at 19-under.

Then they returned to the tee box for a sudden-death playoff.

Both drove into the middle of the fairway, and both opted to go for the green in two on the long par 5. Knous’ ball found a bunker behind the green while Davis’ landed in short rough in front. Davis chipped to three-feet. Knous’ bunker shot didn’t make it far enough and rolled back into the sand, and his recovery shot left him a 20-footer for par.

Davis tapped in for the victory. Knous and Davis hugged on the green. “It’s a tournament

I’ve dreamt of walking up this green and having a chance to win and I was fortunate enough to have a chance on 18,” Davis Bryant said. “I got the job done in the playoff. I’m super pleased; super proud of my hard work and my dedication.”

It was the second of three wins for Bryant in mid-summer. He also took first place at the Wyoming Open, taking home $10,000 for first place. In that tournament, played at the Airport Golf Club in Cheyenne, he put together three rounds in the low 60s to finish 20-under par, three shots ahead of the second-place finisher.

Then he added a win in August at the Platte Valley Pro-Am in Scotts Bluff, Neb. and together the three wins gave him $120,000 in proceeds.

He used the money to fund travel to the DP Tour’s qualifying first stage in Sweden in early September. He played well and qualified for the second stage in Spain in early October. The Korn Ferry Q-School is still on the agenda – the first stage of that plays out Oct. 15 to 18 – and will be his primary focus for the rest of the year.

PHOTO CREDIT: COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

PHOTO CREDIT: COLORADO OPEN