Colorado WRX 2020

[ASak10]

I have a buddy who's a member at Valley, he really likes it. I've played it a few times, fun course, atmosphere is really nice and relaxed. Not sure if you have kids but it is also very family friendly.

[pseudoswede]

I had my Tour Training Putting Clinic with Jerry yesterday. It was me and one other guy, so it was nice the class was small. The EyeLine Golf training aids that he provides are extremely helpful. I'll probably be spending 90 minutes tonight at Family Sports putting with the training aids while my kid is at hockey.

If you do Jerry's clinic, I would highly recommend seeing if you can move it over to Valley Country Club like what happened yesterday. Meridian's practice greens are tiny and awful. Valley CC has a monster practice green. We had plenty of room to while never being close to any of the members.Valley is my dad's favorite course in town, mainly because he plays so well there. Even though I've driven by it for years since I live in the area, yesterday was the first time I stepped foot in the property. It definitely has a chill vibe feel to it--compared to Cherry Creek Country Club which has an old man stuffiness feel. Lots of families milling about. My gut feeling is that the majority of the members are at the VP-level of their companies; once they hit the C-suite, they'll move over to Glenmoor Country Club.

[pseudoswede]

The worst part was that I only lost one ball on a par 4/5. The other lost ball was on a par 3; hit a 7-iron about 200 yds over the green and into the weeds.

[CDM]

Got our Prairie Club and Wildhorse trip in last weekend. Prairie Club: Overall....Excellent tracks and excellent service. The only take away was given we had gone years ago was how much they have increased the rate that last few years. I think the groups thoughts overall was "Great place, but not sure it is the "Value" it once was" Not per se a negative but its getting in the Bandon Dunes rate range if you for a few nights, and everyone it was excellent but NOT Bandon. We ended up hang out with some members drinking and they even admitted the club jumped the rates up ALOT the last few years and its all based on being at near full cap on the membership. So non member play is now "gravy" so to speak. The site was only 70%-75% full. Less people by far then you would see at a local course on the weekend in Denver.

Courses:

Dunes course overshadows the Pines. The Pines is a really good track and half the course is dunes "style" but it is not as dramatic. Though I would say the Pines is more a players course, or shot makers course Vs the Dunes by far. Dunes is a brute, big and wide and plays very very long without the wind blowing. The greens on the Pines had been needle punched but still rolling really true. Dunes greens are just excellent as Krush noted. Right there with some of the best.

It rained like crazy on Thursday night on the way up, at one point it was so bad we could not see 10' in front of the car and had to pull over for awhile. The wind was blowing around 15 mph average and Pines course was sooo wet we averaged 238 yards off the tee LOL. We ended up using 3 wood 75% for the carry vs roll. Never had so many mud balls or Hybrids into greens ever LOL. Dunes the following day dried up but the wind was 20ish with some gust so you could hit a 235 yard driver into the wind....or a 300+ down wind. Really made for fun rounds honestly. Wildhorse: Country club conditions. There was really no other way to explain it. The fairways and greens are in such good shape it is crazy. Its a great track still, but coming off the Dunes the day before it made Wildhorse look tame or meek which it is not. Great service as always. Its just an excellent condition course and layout all for $78 with cart....

The standout again is the Greens....it is so hard to explain how well they were rolling and conditions. Krush noted PC greens are excellent and they are almost right there with Wildhorse and all in our group felt PC greens were great but once you play them back to back WH greens are surreal, or were this weekend. So pure and true. They must water/seed the crap out of them as they are thick but mowed soooo tight and smooth. They had to be rolling 11 in the morning and 12+ in afternoon.

If you get a chance to do the trip would suggest go WH first then over to PC. Mainly as it saves some drive time, we went PC then WH and it adds 2-3 hours more of driving.

Overall its great 3 days trip that cant beat it out of Denver. I would say just time the rate at PC so you can play when you arrive and the day you leave to get the rate reasonable.

[Dancin]

Thanks for the report. Yeah the pricing is getting up there at Prairie Club and it's getting to where you need to book it as soon as they open bookings for the season due to the number of members they have as it fills up quickly. If I do it now I'll probably try to get on as a guest of a member to cut the cost down; although, I probably will never make the trip. I still need to play Dismal River and I'd do that long before Prairie Club.

[CSURam_06]

Is it possible to play Dismal River without a member?

[CDM]

Overall a great place just missing some aspects the top locations offer given the price. (Jokingly but true..... like cell phone coverage ....)

The members we drank with (Who jokingly referred to themselves as there member numbers.) noted the membership group has pushed to max it at 500 for the club, but the ownership is leaning towards 600? Given the amount of people we saw I would say they could add a few more members but it could back fire too.

It is a long drive... 5.5hrs roughly so right on the cusp of should we fly somewhere LOL. A few photos below.

[CDM]

Few more:

Last photo is #8 on the Dunes.... a really fun short risk /reward hole you can drive the green by going over the left trap (trap is about 20'+ deep if you don't make it over it which a few in did not LOL and ate them up)

[Dancin]

It's expensive but they have been allowing non members to come out and play the last few years. They also had an open offer on boxgroove the last few years too, but that seems to be gone. I know they've finally been gaining members after going through 3 or 4 bankruptcies, so maybe they're cutting back on the non member play now.

[deadsolid...shank]

I think you still can

Give them a call or send them a short note. It has been a few years but they were very accommodating and easy to work with.

[deadsolid...shank]

Nice write up CDM. It just pains me to hear what Wildhorse is charging now. Not that it isn’t worth it, it’s just remembering when it first opened and we used to play for around $25.

[Dancin]

The signup for the Ravenna CGA member play day on Monday 8/10 is open now ($130). https://coloradogolfassociation.regfox.com/2020-cga-member-play-day-the-club-at-ravenna

This one will likely sell out pretty quickly too. I'm at 9:20 if anyone wants to grab one of the other two spots.

 

Edit: And it's sold out.

[jacobEDGE]

Anyone know of any scrambles coming up? I really want to play in one. It's been far too long. 2 man, 4 man...whatever.

[seven dewey]

I played in one with Tim and Joel (who don’t seem to post much here anymore) at Raccoon Creek last summer and it was a blast. I’m pretty sure we were only 1 or 2 shots out of first too.

Personally I generally enjoy scrambles more than individual stroke play. Not saying I only want to play them, but the ones where people don’t come with like a 46 are pretty fun. I have one coming up on Saturday for our couples league where if you birdie you move back a tee box and up to the reds if you bogey...

[Noodler]

Anyone looking for another for a game on Friday? I totally forgot I have the day off from work... :)

[br8kn80]

Any one Club Corp members at Blackstone and Black Bear? I am curious on your thoughts about the golf experience. Blackstone looks like a beast. Black Bear I don't know much about, but will likely play in the CGA member play day to get a feel for the course and if I would like it.

[CDM]

Have a good friend who is. I have played both this year a few times now.

Both were in good shape, but I would not say "Country Club" conditions. Blackstone is a decent track that has a stretch of holes they call "The Gauntlet" on the back that are tough but the rest of the course is pretty straight forward, development style. It does have a lot of elevation.. Black Bear was a public course for a long time (Canterberry) and also decent and they re-routed the holes a bit with the final development layout. It also has elevation to it Both were designed / laid out for development ($$$). They are good tracks but there but there are also a lot of good public tracks to locally I would play first. THAT NOTED..... The member I know actually signed up while he lived in Boston under some travel Club Corp program that you have to travel XXX Miles from you home and its pretty much free to play those courses I think. I do not know the whole deal but is was crazy cheap it seemed and limited to so many rounds per month at courses. He moved back to Denver a few years ago but he still has it registered to the address in Boston and they never validate it from what i can tell. They send his membership card to that address and his old roommate mails it to him. I "think" he said they limit the rounds per month at each course to 2 rounds per month so he plays one them every other weekend or every other weekend. He said there is a mountain course too I think? Sorry don't know a lot about the membership deal but if you can pull it off.... its a killer setup it seems.On a side note a friend I play a lot with developed Blackstone, he was VP at US Homes/Lennar for a long long time and director of golf development for them.

[hoselpalooza]

any current members of colorado national in here? i recently saw some less than stellar feedback from a couple of years ago in this forum but haven't seen anything recent. thanks!

[Dancin]

Not a member. Haven't played it since April, so no idea on current conditions. Nice layout but it's always been a 5 or more hour round when I played there, so I tend to avoid it. The April round was the only one I've had finish in 4.5 hours. That was because they had increased the tee time gaps due to the virus, but it looks like they are back to 9 minute gaps now.

[hoselpalooza]

Nice layout but it's always been a 5 or more hour round when I played there, so I tend to avoid it@Dancin, thanks for your feedback. do you know if it's that slow for all/most tee times or just weekends?

[Dancin]

I only played it once during the week and had the first tee time but it still took 4:30 because the grounds crew wouldn't let us go through and held us up on 3 holes.

Also this just happened last night:Last evening we had 2 incidents that caused damage to the course and property:Due to a homeowner shooting off fireworks, we had a brush fire near #9 green that had to be extinguished by the Fire Department. Also, a drunk driver drove his vehicle on the course, causing damage and ultimately ending up with his car high centered on the tee marker rock on Hole #6.

 

[hoselpalooza]

good grief! hope the damage isn't too extensive.

[pseudoswede]

A lot of members of my golf league are also members at Club Corp. The courses are always in good condition, and there are members of all abilities for you to find games. I haven't heard too many complaints about the Men's Club. I know a few people who have left because it was basically impossible to get weekend morning tee times unless you planned a week in advance. Most of them went to The Pinery/Pradera.

If Black Bear had all of the club amenities like Blackstone (pool, fitness center, etc.), I would probably be more inclined to join. Blackstone is just a little too far away for me--mainly because I'm lazy and think a 20-minute drive is too much, and I don't feel like paying E-470 tolls to shorten it to 17 minutes.

[pseudoswede]

Does anyone want to join Jacob and I tomorrow night at South Suburban? 4:30/4:40/4:50 tee times. I'm in the 4:50 group since I have a meeting until 4pm. We have 2-3 spots available.

[CSURam_06]

Just wanted to say thanks for the opinions on Valley. We played it and it is a great, walkable layout, and they seem to be doing a lot to really up the conditioning, although it is bad. I think the wife and I are going to take the plunge into private club life.

[brianhorne8]

Possibly. How much is the tee time?

EDIT: I'm out.

[pseudoswede]

For future reference... you would get the guest resident rate (unless you are a South Suburban resident). $23 walking.

[Golfing Boiler]

Heading out today to play...Will be the first time I've played in over 6 months...Going to be interesting to see if I can keep the ball on the course :)

[pseudoswede]

I can report back that I only had 18 putts yesterday (one technically on the fringe). I did have two 3-putts, but they were really long, uphill putts. We all struggled last night with those given that it's South Suburban. I definitely made more putts I would normally miss, and I felt confident with my stroke and direction. I even had a beautiful super-breaky, downhill 30-footer birdie on #6; what felt great was that the alignment mark I drew on the ball showed I hit the ball square.

On #5, I was about 40 feet above the hole. I duffed my chip, and the ball still managed to roll down the hill, scream past the hole, and end up 20 feet past the pin in the fringe.

[ASak10]

Got to play the Broadmoor East course yesterday. What an experience! The course is just a pleasure to play and it was in perfect shape. The greens on that course are something else. Extremely fast on downhill putts, insane amounts of break, and very difficult to read and figure out what's going on. Between the history of the course, the greens, the layout, and the views, it's very much worth finding a way to get out there to play it.