Great news for all that like strategic architecture and golf courses with a sense of place. Can’t wait to see what they do.

LOOKING BACK DOWN THE FOURTEENTH

Colorado Golf Club has been awarded a Senior PGA in 2010 and there has been some speculation that it will one day host a major on the big tour. Because of the altitude some additional length may be required, but this could readily be accomplished. The property is expansive and could easily handle spectators. Denver is a major city that loves golf and has not had a tour stop since 2005. Colorado Golf Club would be a welcome break from the long list of parkland courses that have recently hosted the PGA. The landscape and look of CGC is unique, quite different from the faux links of Whistling Straights and it is a course with great strategic holes. Here is hoping the PGA is smart enough to bring the PGA championship here. (Back nine video and review after the jump).

The back nine at Colorado Golf Club is just as solid as the front and features a few of my favorite holes on the course. (For front nine click here.) The tenth is a bunkerless dog leg left that plays back down into the valley. The par three eleventh features one of the wildest greens on the course and to me it looks the most manufactured. It is a fun green and a fun hole but the large ridge at the back does not tie in to natural land form particularly well.

The twelfth plays out through the valley is a monster at 531 yards. A good drive will skirt the left side and the native rough that guards it. A flared drive will leave a very long second. The thirteenth plays back uphill. It is fairly steep and to me is the other weak hole on the course. Building a good hole that plays significantly uphill is a tough task. The fifth at Cuscowilla is a great uphill hole that I have long admired a s a great way to gain elevation in a routing. It is a drivable par four with lots of options. Coore/Crenshaw have been less successful on the two uphill holes at CGC, the eighth and thirteenth (and a few uphill holes at Sugarloaf in Florida). While the details, green and bunkering, are as usual great, the hole just does not come together. Luckily the following hole is very good.

The fourteenth is a short four with a downhill tee shot into a valley. The green is one of Coore/Crenshaw’s patented horseshoes and really work well. The left side is significantly higher than the right side. The front of the green is at grade making an approach shot along the ground ideal The bunker in the middle is narrow and nasty- not a place you want to end up. The concept of this hole has been used by Bill and Ben on almost all their courses but I love it.

The fifteenth is the first two back to back par fives. A tee shot up and over a ridge leaves a decision on weather to lay up short of a stream or rip it at the green. This hole features great bunkering. The sixteenth is bout as modern a hole as I have ever seen from Coore/Crenshaw. An artificial creek runs through the middle of the hole and splits the fairway. What makes the smaller fairway more appealing, besides the shorter route,  is that an approach from this angle can be played into a slope that will then kick the ball onto the green. The longer route will have leave a shot angled back at the creek and with less f an opportunity to stop the ball. This is a different type of hole and it works very well.

As you can see from the video, a large storm rolled up on us at the end of the round so I will be brief in my analysis. The seventeenth is a par three that plays to a green that is on a peninsula that is created by the creek in the front and a wash in the back. The eighteenth is an uphill hole with bunkers all along the left. The slope of the hole is gradual and is a solid finisher.

The one thing that could take away from the experience is the surrounding real estate which is obviously progressing slowly. The few houses that have been built are on the enormous side and sit high up on the ridges. They are very visible from the holes that play along the valley floor. The newly constructed clubhouse is also huge and it will be interesting if this adds to the club or becomes a financial drag. In any event, Colorado Golf Club is a hell of a golf course.

]]> http://punchbowlgolf.com/2009/10/colorado-golf-club-back-nine/feed/ 4 http://punchbowlgolf.com/2009/06/coorecrenshaw-com/ http://punchbowlgolf.com/2009/06/coorecrenshaw-com/#comments Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:06:55 +0000 Will Smith http://punchbowlgolf.com/?p=1184

THE SEVENTH AT COORE & CRENSHAW'S CHECHESSEE CREEK

Those of us who are big fans of Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw have long bemoaned the firm’s lack of a website. No more. http://www.coorecrenshaw.com/ is a the firm’s sophisticated and elegant new home on the interwebs, full of information and pictures on their current and past projects. Matt Varney, developed the site for the duo, and he promises that it will feature updates on their current projects and even better images of some of their past works. There portfolio can be seen here and when all laid out on one page, it is just mind boggling. This website is a very welcome addition for any aficionado of golf course design.

There is also a great video on the new site that I believe was produced by the Colorado Golf Club, a link to which can be found here.

THE DEMANDING GREEN AT TWELVE (Courtesy GCA)

In the second half of my interview with Bill Kennedy, superintendent of Chechessee Creek, he discusses how Chaffin/Light, the club’s developer, went about making environmental stewardship a priority at the club. Bill lays out what measures he undertakes to develop animal habitat, limit water and chemical use and generally make the course as environmentally friendly as possible. (Video after jump)

It is interesting to hear Bill talk about the lessons Chechessee learned from Spring Island, another Chaffin/Light course. It is not simply enough to leave things alone, but it takes a detailed and thoughtful management plan to not only limit the effects of a golf course, but rather to make the golf course a positive environment. Chechessee is very willing to share what they have learned with any parties interested. This environmental ethos is one of the many reasons it is a true pleasure to belong to this understated gem.

For first half of this interview, click here.

Chechessee's Tenth

Full Disclosure: I have been a member of this club since 2003 and it is one on my favorite places in the world.

Chechessee Creek is located halfway between Hilton Head and Beaufort, SC and only forty minutes from Savannah. The Coore/Crenshaw low-profile design is an excellent example of how a short course can play much longer than the yardage by combining short par fours with a number of stern, longer ones and adding another par three in lieu of a fourth par five. (Video after jump)

What truly makes the course though, is the level of detail that Bill Coore put into the greens. These push-up greens are filled with both large contours and fine breaks that can be very difficult to read. A good short game is a must in order to score well here. The bunkers are not as jagged as other Coore/Crenshaw courses but have a rustic, linear charm.

This video is the first of two and introduces Bill Kennedy, Chechessee Creek’s superintendent. He discusses working with Bill and Ben and how he tries to maintain the golf course to compliment the design. Bill Kennedy also talks about the decision to use a coastal bermuda grass as the course’s primary rough. While the coastal provides a look and playing characteristics that are quite different from the other courses in the area, it has caused some grumbling from the members because it is both hard to find balls in and is also extremely difficult to play from.