2019 Winter Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine

SAVE MORE THAN PAR AT 65 COURSES! • THE 2020 GOLF PASSPORT, PAGE 9

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CONTENTS | Winter 2019

DEPARTMENTS 4 Forethoughts

Handicapping the Future

By Jon Rizzi

6 #coavidgolfer

The CAGGY polls are still open

8 Chipping In

The mysterious case of Crestview Country Club

18 The CGA

Players of the Year

By Ryan Smith

21 The Gallery

Russ Miller’s big year; Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, PGA and JGAC Awards; “Year of the Woman”; Terra Shehee, Kate Karnik, more

64 Blind Shot

A Crabby Christmas to All

By Jon Rizzi

27 Play Away

Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta lights it up with 46 holes of golf and amenities aplenty.

By Denny Dressman

30 Lesson

Digging Out of the Desert. By Alex Fisher

FEATURES

42 54 Sweet Home Alabama Third Time’s the Direct flights from Denver put you on the trail of good ol’ Southern-style golf hospitality.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY LODGE AT VENTANA

46

PLAYER’S CORNER

32 Gift Guide

What to give the golfer in your life.

By Suzanne S. Brown

Charm

Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas reopens— again. By Tom Mackin

SIDE BETS 37 Fareways

Stuff their stockings with food and drink that tastes like Colorado. By John Lehndorff

46

Cactus Makes Perfect Tucson delivers an irresistible feast of glorious golf, world-class gastronomy and natural splendor. By Jon Rizzi

60 The Wonder Down

40 Nice Drives

Why the Rolls-Royce Ghost II remains the epitome of luxury. By Isaac Bouchard

Under

Jaw-dropping Tara Iti puts New Zealand’s Te Arai Coast on the path to becoming golf’s next great destination. By Jon Rizzi PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS BRAY/COURTESY CHRISTMAS ISLAND TOURISM

ON THE COVER Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail; Birmingham, Alabama

Photograph by Brian Weis/GolfTrips.com

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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Forethoughts

Handicapping the Future PHOTOGRAPH BY E.J. CARR

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WHAT’S YOUR resolution for the coming year? Mine is to reassess every year that preceded it, because I’ve heard hindsight is always 2020.

That’s not just a bad dad joke, as the arrival of 2020 does seem to suggest a clarity of vision—and not necessarily the kind that results from Lasik.

When it comes to golf, we have to rely on the USGA and R&A to provide that clarity. At the beginning of 2019, the sport’s mighty legislators planted a flag for improved pace of play and common sense by modernizing the Rules of Golf.

They got rid of stupid penalties for inadvertent infractions (like accidentally hitting the ball more than once while making a stroke) and let us leave in the pin while putting (which also happens to be good advice when handling hand grenades).

On January 1, the presiding organizations will institute the World Handicap System, a topic this publication has heretofore not covered. The WHS reflects the globalization of the game, and given this issue’s emphasis on travel, I suppose we should address it here.

There are six handicapping authorities representing 80 countries, each with a different method of calculating handicaps. An 11 handicap means the same thing in Denver as it does in Alabama (p. 42), Tucson (p. 46) or Las Vegas (p. 54). But it means something different in New Zealand (p. 60). A 10 in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico (p. 27) wouldn’t necessarily be a 10 in Villa Nueva, Argentina.

This makes no sense. So, the USGA and R&A worked with the handicapping authorities to standardize the process. The resulting WHS will enable golfers of differing abilities, genders and nationalities to transport their handicaps and compete globally on a fair basis.

Here are some of the ways the WHS will differ from the existing U.S. system: • Instead of the 10 best of your past 20 scores determining your index, the system will now count eight.

• Instead of potential ability, a player’s handicap index will represent demonstrated ability. (Unlike what the SEC says, past results are an indication of future performance.)

• Instead of “equitable stroke control,” for handicap purposes, the maximum score will be limited to net double bogey (par plus two plus any handicap strokes received).

• Instead of biweekly, handicaps will update instantly.

• Instead of requiring five 18-hole rounds to establish a handicap, any combination of nine- and 18-hole rounds equaling 54 holes will suffice.

• In the new system, your Course Handicap will be the number of strokes needed to play to par, not to the Course Rating, making the number easier to calculate and remember.

• The new system allows a maximum handicap of 54.0, regardless of gender (it’s currently 40.4 for women and 36.4 for men). It will also account for the impact of adverse course and weather conditions.

More details live on whs.com, as does a video of Gary Player, Annika Sorenstam and dozens of smiling men, women and children inviting you to “post your scores.”

This well-marketed global initiative is necessary, but it won’t affect the majority of golfers in the direct, on-course way that last year’s Rules changes did.

The R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers hopes “that the launch of the WHS will be a catalyst for change; signaling the start of a new era of golfer engagement, being inclusive by embracing all golfers...and broadening [the game’s] appeal to a much wider audience.”

I’m skeptical that a new handicap system is going to engage new players. But with the debut of the WHS, this longtime golfer hereby resolves to take his game on the road and to the skies more often, secure in knowing exactly how many strokes I’ll get when I arrive. —JON RIZZI

PremierAerials.com COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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Winter 2019 | Volume 18, Number 7 president and group publisher

A llen J. Walters editorial director

Jon Rizzi

SALES, MARKETING & ADVERTISING associate publisher

Chris Phillips

senior sales directors

Mike Car ver, Craig Hitchcock digital strategist and content manager

Drew Kor t

office and operations manager

Cindy Palmer

projects and special events manager

Melissa Holmberg ART & EDITORIAL creative director

Jani Duncan Smith art director

Chelsea Oglesby

LAST CHANCE TO

editor - at- large

Tom Ferrell

automotive editor

Isaac Bouchard style editor

Suzanne S. Brown contributors

Sam Adams, Andy Bigford, E.J. Carr, Clarkson Creative, Tony Dear, Denny Dressman, Sue Drinker, Dick Durrance, Chris Duthie, Neal Erickson, Scott Gardner, Garo Productions, Ted Johnson, Kaye Kessler, John Lehndorff, Kim McHugh PRINCIPALS Ray L . Baker, C. Don Baker, Dick B. Baker advertising inquiries : cindy@coloradoavidgolfer.com editorial inquiries and letters :

jon@coloradoavidgolfer.com customer service and subscriptions :

720-493-1729

mailing address : 7200 S. Alton Way #A-180, Centennial, CO 80112 fax : 720-482-0784 newsstand information : 720-493-1729

Polls for the 2020 CAGGY Awards close on DECEMBER 31.

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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.

Volume 18, Number seven. 7200 S. Alton Way #A-180, Centennial, 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 Š 2019 by BakerColorado Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Postmaster: Send address changes to Colorado AvidGolfer, 7200 S. Alton Way #A-180 Centennial, CO 80112. The magazine welcomes editorial submissions but assumes no responsibility for the safekeeping or return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork or other material. magazine partner of choice :

Colorado Section

CAGGY AWARDS

VOTE TODAY:

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Winter 2019 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

#coavidgolfer DIGITAL | SOCIAL MEDIA

Polls are Open – But Not for Long!

Vote this December for the best in Colorado Golf in Colorado AvidGolfer’s annual readers’ choice celebration—the 2020 CAGGY Awards.

Are you a golf explorer? Vote for your favorite public or resort course in any Colorado region, across the country and around the world. Are you a member at a Colorado private club? Vote for your club’s signature par 3, 4 or 5 as the state’s best. You can even help give recognition to the instructor who helped turn your game around.

To show our appreciation, we will draw the names of a few lucky voters who will receive a free round of golf at The Ridge at Castle Pines or CommonGround Golf Course when the polls close at the end of the year.

So get CAGGY with it! Vote and give your course—and yourself—a chance to win.

The polls close December 31, 2019 at 11:59 p.m.

Vote at coloradoavidgolfer.com/2020-caggy-awards

Pay Less, Play More The 2020 Golf Passport is on sale now.

On pages 9-16, you will find a list of all the participating courses, early-bird specials and general pricing.

For all the details on the special rates at every course at every time of year, visit coloradoavidgolfer.com/golf-passport-courses

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CAGGY AWARDS

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Come experience both of Troon North’s Monument and Pinnacle courses for the best desert golf in Arizona. Please visit www.TroonNorthGolf.com for best available rates and 36-hole packages. After your round, stop in at the Dynamite Grill where you can enjoy great food with a view. Mention “Colorado Avid Golfer” by phone and get 10% off the already best available rate through 2019.

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Chipping In IT’S YOUR SHOT

A History Mystery “Sympathy Cards,” our feature in the last issue on Colorado’s lost courses, prompted a memory and an inquiry.

MY FOLKS MOVED to Denver from Kansas in the mid-1960s and joined Valley Country Club. I played my junior golf there before graduating from Thomas Jefferson in 1969.

My wife and I joined Valley again in 1999.

In a downtown law office, I recently spotted a large Marsh map on the wall from the 1930s. On it, I noticed there was a country club located south of Yale and west of Monaco called Cresthaven Country Club: PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF ROB BULTHAUP

ENJOYED THE ARTICLE on Colorado’s lost courses. Having played Park Hill many times, I appreciated it being front and center in your article. Just wanted to also mention that the former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, the “Brown Bomber,” often played there. In fact, he is the introductory story in my first book, See It & Sink It, and I discussed our nine holes together in the 1970s.

I was amazed at his sloppy setup for putting, but he made a ton of putts, so my point was, “He had the eye of a champion.” It was testament to the importance of elite visual skills over technique.

Craig Farnsworth puttdoctor.com

“The map above shows the relative location of the club, and in this aerial photo of the area from 1939 (right), you can make out the course (highlighted in green).”

I have maps from 1941 and 1944 that show the course being there, but on a map from March, 1946, the course is gone and the land all the way to Hampden is listed as the “Englewood” airport, which appears on aeronautical maps until 1959.

One of our senior members at Valley, who has lived in Denver since he was a kid, remembers sneaking into the “Cresthaven Inn” in the late 1940s, which we think was the old clubhouse that was left when the course was converted to the airport.

I’d love to know who built it, what people thought of it and why it went airport (not condo) after WWII. Rob Bulthaup Centennial “This shows the routing of the course, which is interesting because it plays over the Highline Canal on several holes.“

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

Editor’s Note: We have done some investigating but have not turned up anything close to what Mr. Bulthaup did regarding Cresthaven Country Club. If you know anything about the club and its provenance, please email jon@coloradoavidgolfer.com or call 720-493-1729 x14.

8

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Proud Sponsor of Great Drives Golf Passport Member Conditions: 2020 Member Privileges. All rates include a cart. Visit coloradoavidgolfer.com/golf-passport for complete details regarding rates, available tee times, number of rounds and reservation policy. Tee time requests are on a space available basis to Golf Passport members and participating courses’ rain check policies will apply. Unless otherwise stated, the golf offers are good from January 1, 2020 – December, 31 2020, excluding holidays, special events, tournaments or closure to environmental or economic conditions. Mountain seasons may vary slightly. The Golf Passport is limited to one per person and is non-transferable. Prices do not include sales tax. Some courses may require a credit card to secure a tee time prior to play. If a tee time is cancelled, the golf course may charge for its discounted fee. Colorado AvidGolfer reserves the right to make reasonable modifications to the Golf Passport, effective upon notice by e-mail or first class mail to the Golf Passport member. A Golf Passport member may reject any such modification by responding in writing to Colorado AvidGolfer and returning the Golf Passport within ten (10) days. The Golf Passport member will receive a prorated refund. However, no refund will be given if the Golf Passport Member received the Complimentary Two-Night Stay at CasaBlanca Resort and Two Rounds of Golf at CasaBlanca or The Palms Golf Club. The Golf Passport member agrees that he or she is not entitled to any additional compensation. Colorado AvidGolfer disclaims all liability for damage or loss of property or injury to any person occurring while using the Golf Passport. If ordered online, please allow up to 10 days for delivery of your Golf Passport. Golf Passport membership includes a digital subscription to Colorado AvidGolfer with the option to opt-in to the mailing subscription for an additional fee. Members will also be subscribed to the Colorado AvidGolfer weekly newsletter list and can unsubscribe at any time.

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The CGA SERVING ALL COLORADO GOLFERS

Winners Circle

Meet the 2019 Colorado Golf Association Players of the Year.

THE CGA TAKES pride in recognizing the following amateur golfers with its 2019 Player of the Year Awards. We are grateful to the 840 men and 716 women who participated in CGA and USGA events this year. Stay tuned for the 2020 tournament schedule.

CGA Women’s Player of the Year

DAVIS BRYANT of Green Valley Ranch Golf Club and sophomore, CSU Rams golf team • Won the CGA Amateur at Lakewood Country Club • 2nd highest amateur finisher at CoBank Colorado Open • 1st atop CGA player point standings

MARY WEINSTEIN of University of Denver Golf Club at Highlands Ranch and senior, DU Women’s Golf Team • 3rd Consecutive Player of the Year Award • Winner of CGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship (won by 6 strokes) • Winner of CGA Women’s Match Play Championship (won 11 and 10) • Women’s Denver City Amateur Champion

CGA Senior Player of the Year

CGA Women’s Senior Player of the Year

SCOTT SULLIVAN of Bookcliff Country Club • Winner of the 50th CGA Senior Match Play, his first overall CGA title • Qualified for U.S. Senior Amateur

KRISTINE FRANKLIN of The Ranch Country Club • Winner of award for the second consecutive season • Swept Women’s Senior Match Play and Senior Stroke Play Championships • Qualified for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur

CGA Mid-Amateur Player of the Year

CGA Super-Senior Player of the Year

RYAN AXLUND of Valley Country Club • U.S. Mid-Amateur Qualifier, advancing to match play • Winner of CGA Mid-Amateur Championship

SEAN FOREY of The Club at Rolling Hills • 2nd consecutive year as SuperSenior POY after leading the CGA’s super-senior point standings • Won his 2nd straight CGA supersenior major by earning the Super-Senior Match Play title

For more information on the Colorado Golf Association, visit coloradogolf.org.

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CGA

CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year

DAY 1 Meet your golf, fitness + wellness coaches Authentic Los Cabos food + entertainment

DAY 2 Land + sea yoga Golf instruction, fitness, + play at Palmilla Golf Club Cooking classes + one-onone wellness Dinner at Flora Farms

DAY 3 Scenic hike + kayaking Golf instruction + fitness at Cabo Del Sol Meditation-sculpt mashup In-villa massages Dinner on Palmilla Beach

DAY 4 Healthful brunch Wellness From Every Sphere Workshop

JANUARY 17 - 20, 2020

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Featuring PGA certified instructors, Dustin Miller and Brett Chalmers, along with strength training and integrative wellness coaches.

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CHANGE OF

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Golf in Tucson means a break from the average links.

Challenge your game on daring desert layouts or hit it long on fairways that host the champions.

Whatever your style, Tucson has it in the bag.

Find Your Course At VisitTucson.org/Golf

The Gallery

NEWS | NOTES | NAMES

It’s Miller Time his involvement in The First Tee of Pikes Peak and the PGA Professional Golf Management program at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. He also has mentored numerous future PGA golf professionals and supervised a thriving caddie program that has produced 14 Evans Scholars during his tenure.

Miller’s love of golf history inspired the creation of The Broadmoor Heritage Hallway—a glorious display of the club’s illustrious pedigree—in time for the resort’s 2018 centennial. He also resurrected the annual Broadmoor Invitation, a tournament that once drew the world’s top amateurs to Colorado Springs.

Miller is the third PGA Professional from The Broadmoor—following Ed Dudley and Dow Finsterwald—to be inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, an organization

THOSE ALSO RECEIVING recognition at next year’s Colorado Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will be held at Colorado Golf Club, include…

and 37 club championships (20 at Wellshire Golf Course and 17 at The Pinery Country Club). The Englewood resident is a former vice president of the Colorado Women’s Golf Association, where she worked on its Course Rating and Handicap Committee.

Distinguished Service Award: Jerry Walters has hosted the popular “In the Fairway” radio show for more than 25 years. The “Voice of Colorado Golf” will add this trophy to his two CGA Dave Nelson Media Awards, the 2003 and 2015 Colorado PGA Todd Phipers Media Award and 2015 Colorado Open Ralph Moore Golf Journalism Award.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Eleanore Pellegrini has won two CGA Senior Women’s Stroke Play titles, six CGA Women’s Brassie Partner trophies

Future Famer Award (Boys): Micah Stangebye of Montrose High School repeated as the Class 4A boys state high school champion, missing

coloradoavidgolfer.com

21

that named him its Person of the Year in 2004 and 2009. coloradogolfhalloffame.org

only two of 36 greens in regulation to card a 9under-par 133 at his home course at The Bridges.

The senior won the tournament by nine strokes and led the Indians to their third consecutive state team championship. Stangebye, who is currently deciding on where to attend college next fall, earlier this year won the AJGA Preview at Fair Oaks Ranch near San Antonio and finished runner-up in the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s Tour Championship. He credits his father and only teacher, Lars Stangebye, for his success.

Future Famer Award (Girls): Charlotte Hillary, a Kent Denver senior, won her third Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado (JGAC) Tour Championship in October at Cherry Hills Country Club. The future Northwestern University freshman also captured the AJGA Junior at Big Sky in Big Sky, Mont. and qualified with 2017 Future Famer Hailey Schalk for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball. In October, the Colorado Open Golf Foundation named her The First Tee Volunteer of the Year for raising $20,000 for The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch and $20,000 more for AJGA ACE Grants.

She also received the AJGA’s prestigious Jerry Cole Sportsmanship Award, and, for being a top fundraiser in the organization’s Leadership Links Incentive Program, she earned the opportunity to play golf with Rickie Fowler in Jupiter, Fla. Winter 2019 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE HONOREES EXCEPT MICAH STANGEBYE (PHOTOGRAPH BY RHONDA HODGES/CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY)

Golf Person of the Year: Mary Weinstein of Highlands Ranch swept the 2019 CGA Women’s Stroke and Match Play Championships, becoming the only player not named Jennifer Kupcho or Kim Eaton to accomplish the feat in the same year.

The University of Denver senior also captured the Summit League Championship and the Women’s Denver City Amateur Championship en route to her third consecutive Colorado Golf Association Women’s Player of the Year award.

HALL CALL: Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee Russ Miller.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MIC CLIK

FOR THE THIRD time in the last four years, the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame will induct only one member. Russ Miller, the PGA Director of Golf at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs and the winner of this year’s Colorado PGA Golf Professional of the Year (page 24), will comprise the Hall of Fame class of 2020.

Since arriving at The Broadmoor in 1998, the 56-year-old North Carolina native has been instrumental in bringing four USGA championships to The Broadmoor—the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2008, ’18 and ’25 U.S. Senior Opens.

The 2025 event will be the ninth USGA championship contested at the resort, the first being the 1959 U.S. Amateur won by Jack Nicklaus.

In 2003, Miller also earned the national PGA of America award for Resort Merchandiser of the Year—a category in which the Colorado PGA Section has honored him in 2000, ’02, ’03 and ’12.

Miller has given back to the game through

The Gallery

Girls II Women empower the next generation of female leaders by providing the content, tools, mentoring and networking opportunities to support career advancement. PGA of America President Suzy Whaley has confirmed her attendance, as have a number of successful golf-loving female executives from a variety of fields.

Invitations have also gone out to Janet Carol Wolfenbarger, the first female four-star general in the U.S. Air Force, and other pioneers. All 156 of the world’s top female players in the 2020 U.S. Girls’ Open field will receive complimentary tickets to the Leadership Summit. To buy or sponsor a table, contact Judy Malone at the Colorado PGA (jmalone@coloradopga.com).

Throughout the year, Ainsworth says, the JGAC also intends to involve and highlight the accomplishments of prominent women in the Colorado golf community. Those include such individuals as Garden of the Gods Club owners Judy Mackey and Brenda Smith, former USGA President Judy Bell, Colorado Golf Coalition Lobbyist Jennifer Cassell, CGA President Janene Guzowsky and “women from different backgrounds who love the game.” juniorgolfcolorado.org/2020usgj

OVER THE LAST FOUR YEARS, The Ranch Country Club has debuted a $5.5 million clubhouse renovation, poolside restaurant and other amenities to attract more members. Apparently, none of the blueprints included a grass ceiling—a play on “glass ceiling” that refers to the barrier to advancement of women in the golf profession.

As of November 14, Terra Shehee will take over as the Head PGA Golf Professional at the Westminster club, making her the only female golf professional to hold the top job at a private club in Colorado and one of only 32 nationwide.

And in January, The Ranch’s Assistant General Manager Kate Karnik will assume the title of General Manager from Mark Condon, who’s semi-retiring.

With one woman in charge of golf operations reporting to another managing all club operations, The Ranch may have established a first for a private golf club—not only in Colorado but in the U.S. “And we also have a woman, Kristi Thoutt, as our club president,” Condon notes.

A native of Lyons, Shehee has spent the last 21 years at Boulder Country Club, where she worked alongside PGA Director of Golf Kevin Bolles. “It was hard to leave Boulder after so many years,” she says.

“But I realize I’m at the point in my life and career where I can handle all aspects of the golf operation and also be a mentor to my fellow professionals.”

“Terra was the unanimous choice of our search committee,” Condon says. “In baseball, you’d call her a five-tool player. She’s also a team player who wants the club to succeed.”

Shehee will report to Karnik, who worked at COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

Boulder and Valley country clubs before coming to The Ranch in 2017. “I’ve spent 37 years in the club business,” Condon says, “and of all the people I’ve worked with, Kate’s the brightest of all.”

She is the third woman to hold the position at a private Colorado golf club, following former Pinehurst Country Club GM Cheryl Rooke and current Country Club of Colorado GM Cathy Mathews-Kane.

It will fall to Karnik and Shehee not only to serve The Ranch’s current members but also to continue building a culture and an “experience” that appeals to new ones, especially those with younger families.

“Building on what Mark started, I want to create the kind of culture and environment that means something to the members, the staff and in the community,” Karnik said. “We aim to create an experience so memorable that members want to spend their time at the club when they’re not at work.”

To Karnik, making the club a home away from home is about touchpoints: “The first person you see when you walk through the door, in the golf shop, in the locker room. Not all touchpoints are with people, but with amenities—things like having Band-Aids and hair ties that you don’t have to bring from home.”

Does being a woman make a difference? “Absolutely,” Karnik says. “Being a woman proves that these experiences can come from a place of passion, rather than that old male-dominated club mentality.

The Ranch is a very family-focused club, and women see that whole perspective.”

Karnik and Shehee, both married with children, bring that passion. And The Ranch membership stands to benefit the most. theranchcc.com

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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF TERRA SHEHEE AND KATE KARNIK

Women II the Top

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVEN GIBBONS/COURTESY OF USGA

through events leading up to the championship.”

Preliminary plans call for: • Showcasing the U.S. Girls’ Championship and Colorado’s “Women in Golf” initiative at February’s Denver Golf Expo Feb. 7-9.

• Expanding the successful spring and fall Golf in 2020 VISION: 2019 U.S Girls Championship finalists Lei Ye and Jillian Schools programs and bringing Bourdage pose before their match. Colorado will host the 2020 event. them to Boys & Girls Clubs and YMCAs during the summer.

• Staging a June 27 “Golf in the Park” fam2020 WILL BE the “Year of the Woman” in Colorado golf. So says the Junior Golf Alliance of Col- ily festival in downtown Colorado Springs that orado (JGAC), which will serve as the host organi- highlights Women in Golf, PGA Jr. League, JGAC, zation for the 2020 U.S. Girls’ Championship July Youth on Course and Drive, Chip & Putt.

• Holding a double-shotgun July 7 Champi11-18 at Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course in onship Preview Day for 240 golfers at the EisenColorado Springs.

“Our goal is to capitalize and leverage the hower Blue Course.

• Hosting the third annual Women’s Leaderchampionship,” says Eddie Ainsworth, Executive ship Summit at the Air Force Academy on July 10, Director of Colorado PGA, which partnered with the Colorado Golf Association to create the JGAC the day before the tournament begins.

While all these events aspire to attract womin 2016. “We want to focus on introducing and en golfers, the Leadership Summit also aims to bringing more women, young and old, to the game

Terra Shehee

Kate Karnik

coloradoavidgolfer.com

The Gallery

Smokin’ Hot Pros ON NOV. 1, the Colorado PGA Section honored its top professionals at its annual awards gala at Colorado Golf Club in Parker. A total of 19 awards were given out, including the President’s Award to the board, members and staff of the host facility.

Players of the Year: Caine Fitzgerald of Meadow Hills Golf Course won his second Dow Finsterwald Omega Player of the Year Award; AndersonOrd sales rep Doug Rohrbaugh earned his fourth Omega Senior Player of the Year Award; Sherry Andonian of Valley Country Club repeated as the Women’s Player of the Year; and Ben Lanting of Bear Creek Golf Club defended as Associate Player of the Year.

Sherry Andonian

Steve Atherton

Tom Buzbee

Rick Cole

Caine Fitzgerald

Andrew Hedrick

Ben Lanting

Kirk Mease

Josh Miller

Bobby Quaratino

Kenny Thayer

Trent Wearner

THE JUNIOR GOLF Alliance of Colorado named its male and female Players of the Year in October.

Although Dillon Stewart played in only three JGAC events in 2019, he won two of them, both majors: the Colorado Junior PGA and the Colorado Junior Amateur. The Fort Collins native and graduate of Fossil Ridge captured the award for the second consecutive year. Stewart currently plays as a freshman on the Oklahoma State University men’s golf team.

Charlotte Hillary’s third victory in the JGAC Tour Championship clinched the Kent Denver senior’s first Player of the Year honor. She also placed second in the 3A girls state high school tournament and third in the CGA Women’s Stroke Play, Girls Junior Americas Cup and AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior. Hillary will play golf for the Northwestern University Wildcats this fall. juniorgolfcolorado.org

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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Bobby Quaratino of West Woods Golf Club and chair of the Awards Committee took home the Charles “Vic” Kline Award for his contributions to the Board of Directors. coloradopga.com

Golf by Numbers

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shot separated Denver native Mark Hubbard from a playoff to win his first PGA TOUR event. The only player to break 70 in each round at October’s Houston Open, the 30-year-old Hubbard held a one stroke lead heading into the Golf Club of Houston’s par-5 15th, but a bogey followed by fellow Korn Ferry Tour alum Lanto Griffin’s birdie on 16 flipped the narrative. Hubbard finished at 13-under, a stroke behind Griffin and tied with Scott Harrington. Afterwards, he drove to his nearby home in The Woodlands $667,500 richer and in the top 10 in FedEx Cup standings.

coloradoavidgolfer.com

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF DILLON STEWART AND CHARLOTTE HILLARY

Junior Achievers

the Colorado PGA, Colorado Golf Club received the 2019 President’s Award. The Noble Chalfant Award, honoring distinguished service to the Colorado Section PGA went to Indian Tree Golf Club’s Alan Abrams and Life Member Bob Doyle.

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF COLORADO PGA

Special Awards: The PGA Golf Professional of the Year Award went to Russ Miller (p. 21), PGA Director of Golf of the Broadmoor Golf Club; Cherry Hills Derek Rush Keith Stilwell Doug Rohrbaugh Country Club’s Derek Rush captured the Assistant PGA Professional of the Year; the PGA Teacher of the Year was Steve Merchandisers of the Year: Andrew Hedrick of The Atherton of Eagle Springs Golf Club; Rick Cole Country Club at Castle Pines took Private cateof Eaton Country Club won the Bill Strausbaugh gory; Keith Stilwell of Cheyenne Shadows Golf Award; GolfTEC’s Josh Miller captured the Horton Course at Fort Carson won in the Public classifiSmith Award; Tom Buzbee of Flatirons Golf Course cation; and Beaver Creek Golf Club’s Kenny Thayer grabbed the Warren Smith Award; the Player captured the Resort award.

Development Award went to Kirk Mease of Wellshire Golf Course; and Trent Wearner of the Trent Additionally, for its role in supporting the PGA Wearner Golf Academy collected his second con- and hosting Regional Finals of Drive, Chip & Putt, secutive Youth Player Development Award. the 2019 U.S. Amateur and numerous events for

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The Gallery

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

miles of fairways and greens—incorporating 2,500 feet of elevation gain—took a group of seven Steamboat Springs golfers 10 hours to complete on foot October 1.

Their goal: Raise awareness for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Led

by A.J. Fleming, who lost his sister, Tifanne K. Wells, to a domestic violence incident in 2015, the group tackled, in order, the pedestrian-friendly Haymaker Golf Course, the heaving Rollingstone Ranch Golf Club and the wildly elevated Catamount Ranch and Club (which moved from first to last in the rotation due to a two-hour frost delay). The committed sevensome finished in near darkness with glow balls, raising $4,000 for the Advocates of Routt County, which serves victims and survivors of sexual and domestic violence. advocatesrc.org STEAMBOAT SEVEN: Nick Roma, Kevin Riegler, Zach Patterson, A.J. Fleming, John Ostergar, Jason Gilligan and Colton Sankey

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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF A.J. FLEMING

years into its five-year sponsorship deal with the Colorado Open, CoBank Lexi Thompson has decided not to renew past 2020. The CoBank Colorado Open Era saw the men’s purse doubling to $250,000 (with a $100,000 winner’s share) in 2016, and the women’s purse similarly jumping to $150,000 (with $50,000 going to the winner). The increases made these events the richest state opens in the country. The sponsorship also “became more of a community asset than a sports sponsorship asset,” says Kevin Laura, the CEO of The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch and the CoBank Colorado Opens that support them. He cites the CoBank Kids Exhibitions, where professional golfers such as Hale Irwin, Paula Creamer, David Duval, Lexi Thompson, Matt Kuchar, Ryan Palmer and Jennifer Kupcho inspired The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch participants. “CoBank certainly raised the bar,” Laura says, “and we have no intention of downshifting.”

Describing the type of business that can sustain that commitment, he says, “The perfect fit is a company that’s looking to build or establish its brand as a leader in its category and in the community, a company that supports teaching kids the core values that are associated with The First Tee.” coloradoopen.com

PHOTOGRAPH BY KIM D. MCHUGH

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Player’s Corner PLAY AWAY

Nuevo Vallarta Lights It Up Vidanta’s 46 holes of golf only hint at the splendors awaiting at the Mexican luxury resort group’s flagship property. By Denny Dressman

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF GRUPO VIDANTA

DANIEL CHÁVEZ MORÁN is not a golfer, at least not a serious, avid golfer. He’s a real estate developer—one of Mexico’s 100 most important businesspersons, according to CNN. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate golf or recognize its importance to those who enjoy the sport.

In addition to the more than 30 hotels and resorts he has built in Latin America since founding the real estate consortium Grupo Vidanta in 1974, Chávez Morán is responsible for the largest collection of golf courses in all of Mexico—including four conceived by design firms headed by either Jack Nicklaus or Greg Norman.

Grupo Vidanta operates more than a dozen high-end layouts, including several at many of Mexico’s most popular destinations: Nuevo Vallarta, Riviera Maya, Los Cabos, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta and Puerto Peñasco. The flagship location is Nuevo Vallarta.

Located less than a 20-minute taxi ride north of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport in Puerto Vallarta, the Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta resort covers 1,700 acres with 1.25 miles of beachfront. The property comprises 25 swimming pools plus a kids’ water park and lazy river, 10 hotel buildings, more than 40 restaurants and bars, the outdoor Santuario nightclub, two spas, a gal-

NIGHT AND DAY: The Lakes, an illuminated par-3 10-holer (above); Vidanta’s par-73 Norman course.

coloradoavidgolfer.com

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lery and outdoor Mexican market and a two-story shopping plaza. A lavish Cirque du Soleil Theme Park is under construction at a reported cost of nearly a billion dollars. Plans call for the complex to open in 2020.

“People want things to do,” Chávez Morán told Forbes magazine in 2016.

That naturally also includes golf on the resort’s two 18-hole championship courses—one by Nicklaus and one by Norman—and an innovative Nicklaus-designed 10-hole par three course lighted for night play called The Lakes.

COURSES AND CLASSES The Nayar Course, a Nicklaus design and the first course built on the property, runs on both sides of the Rio Ameca, which flows into Bahía de Banderas—the “Bay of Flags,” so named for the plumes carried by the indigenous tribes who confronted the Spanish conquistadors. Golfers cross Rio Ameca via a one-lane steel suspension bridge that affords a compelling view of the landscape.

Bordered by lush jungle and the Sierra Madre Mountains to the east and the crosswindproducing Pacific to the west, Nayar takes its name from El Nayar, territorially the largest municipality in Nuevo’s home state of Riviera Nayarit.

The course sports seven lakes, measures 6,668 yards from the black tees and 6,153 from the blues, but is a playable 5,681 for those who prefer teeing from the whites. Generous Bermuda fairways give all players room for error. The greens on the par-70 layout are also Bermuda.

The Greg Norman Signature Course lies to the south of the river, with views of the Sierra Winter 2019 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

Play Away

ON THE BEACH: One of Nayar’s 49 strategically placed bunkers.

Vibration Technology, 1024-point integrated pressure/balance mat, industry-leading ball flight monitors, and the Jack Nicklaus Academy’s integrated technologies package and proprietary analysis software. The academy even offers custom club and ball fittings.

WHAT’S NUEVO AT VIDANTA? Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta seems to be ever-changing,

Contributor Denny Dressman is a member of the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame. For more information on Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta, visit vidanta.com/en/web/nuevo-vallarta or call 800-292-9446.

BRIDGE OF SIZE: The Rio Ameca divides the Nayar course.

The Tigre Next Door Though not a part of Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta resort, the celebrated El Tigre Golf Club at Paradise Village Resort lurks just north of the Nayar Course. Designed by the team of Robert von Hagge, Michael Smelek and Rick Baril, the course features six sets of tees, allowing it to play from 5,159 to 7,239 yards. Water factors into 13 holes (including an island green on the par-3 sixth), while all 18 have wily bunker placements— especially the short par-4 seventh, known as “La Tierra de los Bunkers,” which requires navigation around 17 sandboxes. Paradise Village Resort offers three- and five-day stay-and-play golf packages. Resort guests and club members get preference for tee times, but the course welcomes outside play. eltigregolf.com COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF GRUPO VIDANTA

Madre in the distance and the sights and sounds of nearby Ordaz Díaz International. Here, the greens are salt-tolerant paspalum platinum first generation.

“Norman” measures 7,287 from the tips, 6,793 from the blue tees and 6,221 from the whites. It even has a set of gold (senior) tees that measure 5,748. Vast waste areas and bunkers help make this par-73 layout much more difficult.

The courses get steady play, Director of Golf Jesus Torres notes: 18,000 rounds on Norman and 33,000 rounds on Nayar in a typical year.

Caddies are required at both courses, and the loopers are well worth it—particularly for their ability to read the subtle greens but also for their local knowledge and the camaraderie they add. (If you go, ask for a caddie named Hipolito, who goes

by Polo. He’s among the best.)

If you need help in more than club selection, however, head for the resort’s Jack Nicklaus Academy of Golf, an outstanding training facility for everyone from beginners to low-handicap players want to work on a particular phase of the game. Instructional offerings include: Total Game Golf Schools, Golf 101, Problem Solver Clinic and Swing Analysis.

Among the many features are two state-ofthe-art coaching studios, multiple high-speed video cameras, the K-Vest Kinetic Training System (movement analysis technology to analyze your swing) and TOMI Computerized Putting Lab (to analyze your putting stroke), Vertex Whole Body

and the Nayar and Norman courses are a good example. As work proceeded on the Cirque du Soleil park in the past year and a half, five of the original Nicklaus holes were sacrificed to make room, shifting five of the Norman holes to Nayar. The Norman layout remained whole with the addition of five scenic new holes along the Rio Ameca.

The other recent development is The Lakes, a 10-hole floodlit Par Three, created by Nicklaus Design.

With no hole longer than 114 yards (from the blue tees) and a couple as short as 49 yards (from the whites), it might not seem very challenging at a total 890 yards. But factor in the water, which borders the walking paths from many tees and wraps around virtually every green, and you’d better be able to hit your targets (or bring a lot of balls). It’s fun, especially at night when it’s not as warm as midday.

Staying at Vidanta as a timeshare owner or guest ensures access to the Norman, Nayar and The Lakes courses, as well as all the other attractions and amenities. Golfers not staying on-property can play but must subscribe to the availability and reservations policies. During high season, that means after 2 p.m. on the Norman course.

If that seems too late, just wait till dark and tee it up under the lights.

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Player’s Corner LESSON

Avoid Desert Drama Escaping Arizona’s cactus, cholla, scrub and hardpan takes a bit of wizardry. By Alex Fisher you have to evaluate the lie of the ball. Do you have a little cushion underneath or is it hardpan? Are there any loose impediments that can be dislodged without moving the ball? Next is the stance. Can you get good footing as you address the ball? You don’t want slip at any point during your swing.

Once you have established these things, decide on club selection. It’s not uncommon to see golfers carry a desert club in their bag. Be prepared for your club to get scuffed and scraped when you hit out of the desert. If you’re okay with that, don’t worry, but if you do care about your club’s well-being then maybe consider bringing a beat-up old wedge.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEVE JELLERSON

PLAYING GOLF IN the desert is an experience like no other. Tight fairways, desert flora and saguaro cacti can add drama to an already intimidating golf course. Golf in Arizona will present shots that you’ve probably never faced before—like those from the unyielding desert floor and its prickly flora—especially around the greens.

Hitting your ball from the desert is like hitting off of a cart path.

The ground underneath the ball will be hard and compacted and your club will take a beating. Controlling distance and direction can be tough because of the unpredictability of the lie. Ultimately your goal should be to get it back into play.

Before you attempt to hack it out, consider these factors. First,

1.

SETUP When it comes to selecting a club, go with a wedge that has the least amount of sole bounce. Typically the lie will be tight and the ball will have nothing underneath it other than dirt.

High-bounce clubs tend to bottom out too soon and bounce off the hard pan before the ball. If your ball is fluffed up with grass, the shot will be a lot easier to execute. Open the clubface slightly to avoid digging the club into the ground and play the ball forward in your stance. Make sure you address the ball without grounding the club. If you ground it, you’re likely to move the ball before starting your backswing.

2.

FAN THE FACE Make some practice swings and feel like you are fanning the face open. Focus on getting the right hand underneath the handle at the midpoint of your backswing and make sure the clubface is pointing towards the sky.

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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coloradoavidgolfer.com

3.

NO ROTATION Unlike your full swing, you need to avoid releasing the clubface through impact. Doing so will expose the leading edge of the club and cause it to dig into the dirt too much. Instead, check the clubface at the midpoint of your follow through and make sure it remains open. The inside of your right forearm should be facing the sky and the toe of the club will be on the right side of the shaft.

4.

COMMIT TO THE CAUSE Creating a big swing with minimal body rotation on your backswing helps you stay balanced. If your upper body turns like a full swing, you’re likely to sway off the golf ball and change where the bottom of the swing happens. Try to keep your weight towards the front foot and your chest facing the ball.

5.

BLAST OFF Impact should feel like you’re hitting a bunker shot. Your body should turn towards the target as you accelerate through impact. By playing the ball more forward in your stance, you should aim to thump the dirt before the ball. This will cause an explosion launching the ball into the air and landing softly, while at the same time generating backspin.

Alex Fisher is the PGA Director of Instruction at the JW Marriott Camelback Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., and at Glacier Club in Durango during the summer months. Reach him at alexfisherpga.com or 602-363-9800. coloradoavidgolfer.com

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Winter 2019 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

Player’s Corner FASHION

Gifts for the Golfer in Your Life Presents he or she will love to receive this holiday season By Suzanne S. Brown

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED The Mission Belt company has found a niche in the market with its no-holes latching mechanism and designs crafted from quality leathers and canvas. The buckle features a release lever that allows the belt to be adjusted every ¼-inch, enabling the wearer to loosen or tighten it with a few clicks, as well as take the belt on and off easily. The belts and buckles can also be mixed and matched. And the mission? A portion from the proceeds of each sale go to micro loans in 70-plus countries. Prices start at about $35, and for the holidays, Mission offers a threepiece Italian leather set, $199. missionbelt.com

HAND IT TO THE FANS Who says you can’t root for the Colorado Avalanche from the golf course? Zero Friction makes golf gloves detailed with a double-sided ball marker featuring the logo of the Avs or your favorite NHL (or NFL, MLB or college) team. The glove is made with compression fit technology and features a cabretta leather palm patch and breathable mesh for a guaranteed fit. Available in black or white, the glove also comes with a performance tee, color matched to your glove, $24.95. zerofriction.com

HONE ON THE RANGE Bushnell’s new Pro XE might be the ultimate rangefinder for the golfer who loves gadgets almost as much as he/ she likes being able to accurately measure the distance to the nearest hazard or pin. The company’s latest innovation takes ball flight into account rather than using simple geometry to calculate distance. Among its numerous other features: waterproof, seven-times magnification for easy reading, target highlighting in red and the signature Visual “Jolt” technology which vibrates the device when it locks on the target, $549.99. bushnellgolf.com

KITCHEN ON THE GO When an unorganized family camping trip found them at meal time without a spatula, salt and oil needed to make burgers, Ron Johnson of Grand Junction and his children Kobe and Taylor decided they needed to have a better option. So they invented the Tailgate N Go, and after nine prototypes and numerous trade shows, they came up with a customizable portable outdoor kitchen and dry box to compactly organize all the gear needed for tailgates and camping trips. The box, which has been featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, comes in two sizes, and the company also offers an array of add-ons and accessories, $1,550 and $1,650. tailgatengo.com COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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coloradoavidgolfer.com

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Fashion

CHEERS TO COCKTAIL RECIPES Those who are fond of craft cocktails but would rather make them at home instead of going to a bar or restaurant will find plenty of ideas in the Colorado Cocktail Cookbook from photographer and travel writer Chad Chisholm. He scoured the state to assemble 58 recipes from restaurants and bars, including the rye-based Aspen, accented with smoked cinnamon and cloves, from Coohills in Denver. Find the guide, $24.99, at booksellers and liferichpublishing.com.

SMART CART For golfers who prefer to use a walking cart at the course but don’t like the space it takes up in the trunk or back of their SUV, check out Big Max’s Blade Quattro. The design has four wheels for stability and folds almost flat for easy storage in your car and garage. Other features include a foot brake, organizer panel, storage compartment and height-adjustable handle. As a holiday promotion, the design in white and red will also include a waterproof rain cover and towel accessory, $300. us.bigmaxgolf.com

BOX BOOM Whether you want regular shipments of candy or clothes, snacks or spirits, books or beauty products, there’s a subscription service just for you. Golf is no exception. Short Par 4 has catered to male golfers with its assortments of clothing and accessories, some curated by such PGA pros as Rickie Fowler. Now the company is offering Magnolia boxes of women’s apparel, with special picks from LPGA champ Lexi Thompson. Subscribers fill out a questionnaire noting their sizes and style preferences, and then each bimonthly shipment will include such items as a top, skort or shorts, and accessories like gloves and socks. The fee is $99 per box, plus shipping, and can feature brands such as Puma, Under Armour and more. shortpar4.com

HEADS UP We all know how serious the game of golf can be. But for those who take a more lighthearted approach to their rounds, we suggest gifting them with fuzzy, furry headcovers that depict their favorite bird, wild animal or such characters as a gnome, unicorn or pirate. With dozens of designs to choose from, including a number of breeds of cats and dogs, Daphne’s Headcovers are colorful and fun, and there are also designs that benefit such organizations as the ASPCA (rescue dog) and Golf Fore Africa (giraffe), with most designs priced at $21.50 to $35. daphnesheadcovers.com

DOT’S THE ONE Emily Haythorn spent the first decade of her career as a teaching pro and buyer for golf shops and the next 10 years fulfilling golfers’ requests for golf bags and accessories that are bright, colorful and fun, through her Colorado-based company, Sassy Caddy. Among her offerings for the holidays is the Monte Carlo, which has a bold geometric dot pattern and a patent plaid red accent band at the top.

The cart bag features 14 dividers and an integrated putter well, a waterproof velvet-lined pouch to protect valuables, cooler pocket and additional pockets for storage. A coordinating purse and rain hood are included, $328. sassycaddy.com

SPECS APPEAL You might have worn your first Revos on the ski slopes in the 1990s when the company’s polycarbonate lenses were all the rage. Their history actually dates back to the 1980s when an optical engineer working on a project for NASA took the idea of applying the coatings that protected satellites to shielding eyes. Revo still makes goggles, but is better known for its extensive line of sunglasses used by recreational and competitive athletes. Styles for golfers include the classic Crawler, $189, in matte tortoise with a golf lens (as shown), or a number of other frame/lens combinations. The lightweight Zinger, $199, is unisex and in addition to polarized lenses to enhance clarity and prevent glare, features a keyhole bridge and non-slip nose pads, $199. revo.com COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

Style Editor Suzanne S. Brown is a former editor for The Denver Post and contributor to Colorado Expression.

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coloradoavidgolfer.com

PLAN TO ATTEND! Use the Denver Golf Expo to kickstart your 2020 season!

It’s a fun and exciting way to experience golf for all ages and skill levels! ∙ Deals on equipment, travel and greens fees. ∙ Tips and lessons from PGA pros. ∙ An immersive kids golf experience. ∙ A lot of fun, food and GOLF!

Bring your friends and family.

Hit the latest drivers.

Then grab a cold one in the beer garden!

Details at www.DenverGolfExpo.com or call 303-771-2000

Side Bets FAREWAYS

CARBONDALE COMFORTS: At Marble Distilling, you can see owner Connie Baker mix a mash, partake of the product and sleep beneath Mt. Sopris at the Distillery Inn.

Spirits of the Season Stuff their stockings with food and drink that tastes like Colorado. By John Lehndorff

GIVE A SPIRITED GETAWAY A bottle of Colorado-distilled vodka makes a nice—if slightly ho-hum—gift for a spirits-loving family member or friend. Why not give them a truly rare present: a night’s lodging in the distillery where the vodka is made? The Distillery Inn boasts the only guest accommodations in the world housed within a working distillery.

Housed above Carbondale’s Marble Distilling, the Inn’s five comfy suites serve up views of Mt. Sopris and loads of amenities. This may be the best place to stay in Aspen … without that resort town’s pricey hubbub. coloradoavidgolfer.com

STOCK A COLORADO COCKTAIL BAR Not so long ago, Colorado was home to one distillery, Stranahan’s, which opened in Denver in 2002. Now the state has more than 100 spirits producers and a vibrant spinoff industry of artisan makers of cocktail bitters, syrups and drink essentials. These well-crafted Colorado selections are ideal gifts for the home mixologist and host on your list.

The in-room cocktail fixings include a minibar stocked with little bottles of the spirits being aged in the barrel room beneath your feet. Marble Distillery creates vodka, Ragged Mountain Rye, and two notable liqueurs: coffee-infused Moonlight Expresso and spicy Gingercello. One can simply walk downstairs to the tasting room offering craft cocktails and special infusions along with small plates.

The Distillery’s Main Street location puts it steps away from eateries ranging from Silo, the farm-to-table breakfast and lunch spot, to Allegria Restaurant (for well-done traditional Italian fare).

THE DISTILLERY INN 150 Main St., Carbondale, 970-963-7008, marbledistilling.com/the-inn

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STRONGWATER OLD FASHIONED COCKTAIL SYRUP Strongwater makes mixology easy with a fine syrup of organic demerara sugar, orange peel and tart cherries with spices and bitter herbs. The classic drink recipe is ¼ ounce Old Fashioned Syrup to 2 ounces whiskey, bourbon or rye over ice with an orange peel garnish. The Denver company also makes other syrups and bitters. strongwater.com

Winter 2019 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

PHOTOGRAPH BY JACK AFFLECK (TOP); COURTESY OF MARBLE DISTILLING (CENTER, RIGHT); COURTESY OF STRONGWATER (BOTTOM)

I LOVE TO GIVE people gifts that hit them right in the kisser. Holiday gift giving can be a virtual minefield, but I skip the angst and go for the treats, snacks and sips that make people swoon.

It helps to know the giftee’s taste. Sometimes you can glean clues from the food photos they post on social media, but it’s easy when you know someone on your list appreciates fine food and drink. I always skip the imported stuff and give well-crafted goodies that are baked, cooked or distilled in Colorado.

Our state has cachet in a lot of areas, but not every foodie knows that the state is a treasure trove of first-class, award-winning flavors. There’s nothing I like better than hearing folks rave and exclaim that they had no idea anything that tasted that good was produced here … especially if they live in Colorado.

My recommended culinary gift selections are thoughtfully made local condiments, beverages, sweets and tastes of “here” that you can feel pretty good about supporting.

Fareways COCKTAIL SIDEKICKS: A PLATE OF THE STATE’S BEST TASTES Every good cocktail and mocktail requires an accompaniment of tasty bites and a cheese and meat board. With Colorado companies winning a slew of national awards for their cheeses, chips and other goodies, there’s no reason not to nosh locally.

KARAMI JAPANESE SALSA Boulder’s Karami Japanese Salsa emerged decades ago when local immigrant farmers replaced seaweed with roasted Pueblo green chilies in a traditional condiment. The result is a spicy, sweet, salty, savory relish that is great on crackers and sensational on steamed rice and salmon. karamisalsa.com

REAL DILL BLOODY MARY RIMMING SPICE This Denver pickle company and Savory Spice Shop came up with an ideal rimming blend of dill, celery seed, chile, coriander, fennel and garlic.

The spice even works well as a rub for grilled chicken and pork. Real Dill bottles a topnotch Bloody Mary mix spiked with horseradish and habanero. therealdill.com

COLORADO GREEN CHILI POTATO CHIPS Denver’s Morgan Handmade Rations makes chips so craveable they won a national Good Food Award. Hand-cut and fried Harvest Moon potatoes grown in Center, Colorado, are dusted with roasted Hatch chilies, cumin, roasted garlic, onion and lime. morganhandmaderations.com IL PORCELLINO FINNOCCHIONA SALAMI The Denver salumeria crafts stellar cured meats including the Queso Salami (laced with Haystack Mountain Queso de Mano cheese), and the classic Finnocchiona packed with garlic, fennel seed and black pepper. ilporcellinodenver.com MOUCO COLOROUGE CHEESE A lovely French-style ripened, round, Colorouge has a natural reddish-orange color with a mildly earthy aroma. The soft, creamy texture gets even more buttery and pungent as it ages—up to six weeks if you can wait that long. Northern Coloradomade MouCo ColoRouge earned a Bronze medal at Italy’s recent World Cheese Competition. mouco.com

DRAM APOTHECARY GINGER SWITCHEL This concentrated elixir of organic apple cider vinegar, honey and fresh ginger is a versatile necessity. It adds oomph to almost any cocktail made with vodka, gin and tequila, and it also makes a fantastic cup of warming winter tea. The Salida-based company produces a full line of cocktail bitters. dramapothecary.com

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MANUFACTURERS

VINO VERMOUTH DI SALIDA – ROSSO Yes, great Vermouth really is being made in Poncha Springs. The winery distills its Black Moscato into brandy and infuses it with botanicals like angelica, chamomile, sage and wormwood. The result is a red Vermouth that was recently honored as part of the 2019 Colorado Governor’s Cup Collection. vinosalida.com Also Recommended: Cocktailpunk Oak Aromatic Bitters (cocktailpunk.com) and The Forager’s Botanical Gin, which Mythology Distillery makes with herbs grown at the Denver Botanic Gardens (mythologydistillery.com).

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

MouCo ColoRouge

Be Your Own Santa While food-gift shopping, don’t forget to treat yourself to something delicious.

You’ve earned it and, literally, everybody does it. According to a recent Deloitte survey, fully 43 percent of holiday shoppers say they plan to “self-gift” food and beverages that make their seasons jollier. I think the other 57 percent are just pretending that they buy gourmet stuff because “the kids really like it.”

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coloradoavidgolfer.com

CULTURA CRAFT CHOCOLATE CAFE DE OLLA This variation on Mexico’s traditional cafe de olla brews together organic dark roast coffee, cacao, cinnamon and piloncillo (similar to brown sugar).

To create a warm cocktail, simply heat some and add a shot of Marble Distillery’s Moonlight Expresso liqueur. culturachocolate.com

HIGHLAND HONEY CREAMED WILDFLOWER HONEY This naturally creamed raw honey gathered from Boulder County hives is un-heated and unfiltered, so it retains all its flavor and aroma. It’s excellent on a cracker with ripe cheese and in tea. highlandbees.com

34 DEGREES TOASTED ONION CRISPS Tasting like an onion bagel, these wafer-thin crackers are made to pair with cured meats, soft cheese, salsa and sweets like fig jam. This Denver company bakes a range of sweet and savory crisps including Cracked Pepper, Rosemary and Sesame. 34-degrees.com

Also Recommended: Helliemae’s Vanilla Vanilla Caramels (saltcaramels.com) and Farmhand Organics Garlic Dills bottled in Lafayette (farmhandorganics.com).

CAG Contributor John Lehndorff is the former dining critic of the Rocky Mountain News and food editor of the Daily Camera. He writes Nibbles for the Boulder Weekly and hosts Radio Nibbles on KGNU.

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Side Bets NICE DRIVES

This is How We Rolls The 2019 Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II floats on rarefied air.

HOW DOES A MEMBER of the fourth estate, such as your humble reporter, give objective feedback when considering a machine as lavish as the Rolls-Royce?

That was a question I struggled at times to answer over four glorious days piloting a Ghost Series II across New England this fall. Some conclusions were obvious—such as that the styling of the historic firm’s smaller (that’s a relative term) sedan was spot-on. One immediate benefit: The Rolls’ properly intimidating frontal aspect helped moved the ubiquitous “leaf peepers” from their habitual left-lane dawdling. Another: The sculpted sides, tapering greenhouse and pert tail imbue the Ghost with an understated decorum that had people zooming up alongside to see more and to offer commentary that was invariably positive.

That the Rolls-Royce was so approachable came as something of a surprise, as piloting it could feel otherworldly at times.

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

One sits very upright in the sumptuous driver’s seat of a Ghost; the architecture of the dash, A-pillars and vast hood evoke a modern SUV. The thin-rimmed steering wheel is more tactilely pleasing than any tiller these obliging hands have ever grasped—or fondled, caressed and squeezed—with its reversed, hidden stitching and red and black hides. That should shock no one, given that takes more than 60 veteran craftsmen some 450 hours to create an interior that is beyond—well, just beyond.

Every single interior surface in the RollsRoyce is covered in buttery, luscious hide or piano black wood that is so finely lacquered and so deep and lustrous that it would befit a Bösendorfer Imperial Grand. The rear passenger area is almost boudoir-like; you access it via rear-hinged apertures—do not be so gauche as to refer to these portals as “suicide doors.”

Once ensconced within, an air of well-being

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By Isaac Bouchard

descends as you scrunch your toes through the (literally) inch-thick lambswool foot mats, making even the humblest feel as if they have joined the ranks of the plutocracy. Machined, chromed switches all operate as one would expect at the price point, and the modern tech retreats to the background until needed, much like the staff in Downton Abbey.

It isn’t necessarily the way the Ghost drives that leaves the most lasting impression, though the way it wafts over good roads on its heightadjustable air suspension did indeed redefine the ride quality standard. And it’s not just how its 563-horsepower, 6.6-liter, twin turbo V12 engine allowed the Rolls-Royce to really “shift,” as those from the UK might say—there are plenty of fast sedans.

What resonates with me are the lovely nuances. The GPS-based shift strategy has the eight-speed auto seamlessly selecting lower gears coloradoavidgolfer.com

Rolls-Royce & BMW: A Postwar Alliance Some people know that BMW owns Rolls-Royce. But how the two companies became one is a wonderfully twisted tale. During World War II, the two were literal arch enemies, with the skies over London filled with German Heinkel bombers, powered by the BMW 801 radial engine, and British Spitfires and Hurricanes, powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin V12. Long after the war ended, the aero engine divisions of Rolls-Royce and BMW joined forces, leading to the creation of the BR700 family of turbofan engines for regional and business jets. While BMW gradually reduced its stake in this endeavor, it became crucial to the future of Rolls-Royce automobiles.

In the luxury-auto-company acquisition-crazed 1990s, firms like Ford, GM, BMW and Volkswagen Group gobbled up most of the world’s top marques. The latter two battled for the rights to Bentley and RollsRoyce—which were now part of one company, owned by a British holding firm, Vickers PLC. VW outbid BMW and ended up acquiring the two venerable English companies for $780 million in 1998. The victory would prove short-lived, however, as it turned out the rights to the actual name Rolls-Royce and its famous Spirit of Ecstasy mascot belonged to the aero engine division, which was partially owned by BMW. VW sold the mascot and name to the BMW passenger car group for a comparative pittance of $65 million that same year. Faced with its own missteps, Volkswagen agreed to let BMW take over building a new generation of Rolls-Royce motor cars starting in 2003. Henceforth, VW would produce Bentleys only, making Rolls-Royce and Bentley upper-crust competitors again for the first time since 1931, when Rolls-Royce had bought Bentley out of bankruptcy.

2019 ROLLS-ROYCE GHOST SERIES II EPA Ratings: 12 /18/14mpg 0-60mph: 5.3 sec (estimate) Price as tested: $371,800

so as to provide just the right amount of engine braking on hill descents or when entering intersections. The double RR logos in the forged and polished 21-inch wheels never rotate, remaining perennially upright. The coveted Spirit of Ecstasy ornament vanishes behind the aluminum grill when the car is locked.

Then there’s the power close for those coach doors which ensured that passengers didn’t have to stretch forward in an undignified manner, even if their driver forget to shuts them.

And while the masses have embraced their phone’s navigation capability, Rolls-Royce occupants are treated to voice commands that are so thoughtfully phrased and delivered in such a cultured, properly intonated British accent as to tempt one to get lost—just to hear them said again. Forevermore an upcoming 45-degree turn will have me remembering to “Please prepare to make a half-right” or “half-left” course change.

That one never needed to type in an address—merely ask the Emily Blunt soundalike in charge of infallibly guiding us brought up our destination—defined the epitome of service. The high-def screen displaying the journey appears from behind a sliding wood panel that vanishes into the Ghost’s dash. Passengers can also follow the route via twin rear monitors—that is, when they aren’t dining on the perfectly counterbalanced, swing-out picnic tables.

The crowning touch is the Starlight Headliner, a hand-crafted leather roof whose thousand-plus perforations house fiber optic strands, attached at different depths and angles so as to create the most serene ambiance one might ever experience in a motor car. This was the essence of traveling by Rolls-Royce and a constant reminder that, while there was no objective justification for such an expensive vehicle, there was every reason in the world to desire one.

Automotive Editor Isaac Bouchard owns Denverbased Bespoke Autos (isaac@bespokeautos.com; 303-475-1462). Read more of his automotive writing, reviews and recommendations on coloradoavidgolfer.com and bespokeautos.com.

coloradoavidgolfer.com

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Winter 2019 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

Alabama HOT SHOTS: Outside the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville (left); the 18th at Birmingham’s Ross Bridge Golf Resort (above); and Grand National Links in Opelika (below).

Sweet Home

ALABAMA

is more than just a song or a movie, although they both certainly evoke the spirit of a beautiful state. It’s also a mantra for the hardworking, friendly folks that travelers encounter along the way. From the bagboys and beverage cart girls on the world-class golf courses to the servers and chefs in the award-winning restaurants, visitors are made to feel right at home, ensuring that time spent in Alabama is as sweet as the tea.

SWEET HOME ALABAMA is a golf destination unlike any other. It’s home to the original golf trail, modern and historic golf resorts, and over 32 miles of sugarwhite beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. Both the incomparable Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail and the Arnold Palmer-designed Craft Farms Resort in Gulf Shores put Alabama on the radar of traveling golf COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

groups more than two decades ago. The ensuing years have upgraded the state’s position on all types of vacation bucket lists by spawning award-winning hotels, spas and luxury resorts; exciting craft breweries with medal-worthy beers; world-renowned bass fishing events and red snapper rodeos; and a thriving culinary scene.

Here’s a north-to-south snapshot of

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some of the golf locales to create a custom golf vacation in Sweet Home Alabama.

HUNTSVILLE is a great place to start your Alabama golf journey, as it’s the northernmost location of the RTJ Golf Trail—the 54-hole Hampton Cove—and home to the U.S. coloradoavidgolfer.com

Getaway Direct flights from Denver put you on the trail of good ol’ SOUTHERN-STYLE golf hospitality.

Space & Rocket Center. But there are also two other trails to enjoy while in the Rocket City.

Wet your whistle at any or all of the 10 stops along the Downtown Huntsville Craft Beer Trail or the nine-stop Downtown Huntsville Craft Coffee Trail. Lodging options range from convenient hotels near golf to upscale accommodations downtown.

TRAIL OF BEERS: Back Forty Beer Company, located in Birmingham, crafts Cart Barn Light.

BIRMINGHAM plays host to two RTJ Golf Trail sites (Ross Bridge and Oxmoor Valley) and the state’s most luxurious golf resort at Renaissance Birmingham Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa. Alabama’s

FLYING FROM DENVER It’s so easy to get to Alabama from Colorado. First, there are daily, non-stop flights from Denver into four area airports: Huntsville (HSV), the start to the RTJ Golf Trail in north Alabama; Birmingham (BHM), which makes a perfect hub for an RTJ Golf Trail trip; Mobile’s new downtown airport (BFM), which puts you near Magnolia Grove; and Pensacola (PNS), which is the closest airport (30 miles) to the Gulf Shores-Orange Beach area. Other Colorado airports also have direct flights to Atlanta (ATL), which is less than two hours away from two RTJ Golf Trail locations. coloradoavidgolfer.com

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largest city also features the Barber Vintage Motor Sports Museum, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, James Beard Awardwinning restaurants such as Highlands Bar and Grill and the Hot and Hot Fish Club, four craft breweries and big-city nightlife options. You can choose to stay on-site at Ross Bridge, a historic downtown hotel, boutique inn or any number of convenient branded hotels.

For a rare treat, head 45 minutes south of Birmingham to Sylacauga, where Pursell Farms indulges guests with the perennially award-winning Farmlinks Golf Club and an array of lodging options, ranging from a new boutique inn, four-bedroom golf cottages and an eight-bedroom lodge.

Sister cities AUBURN and OPELIKA combine to create the coolest college town and one of the South’s most intriguing small towns. It’s also home to Robert Trent Jones’ favorite location on his trail. The RTJ Golf Trail at Grand National boasts 54 holes of scenic and challenging golf along a gleaming lake. These two small towns have an abundance of great eateries too, plus the Red Winter 2019 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

QUEEN OF THE BAY: The venerable Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa in Point Clear commands the shore of Mobile Bay.

Clay Brewery and the award-winning John Emerald Distilling Company are located in historic downtown Opelika. Your overnight choices include the on-site Marriott Golf Resort & Spa at Grand National, the on-campus Auburn University Hotel and a selection of hotels and B&Bs.

MOBILE, once called the Paris of the South, has long been the cultural center of the Gulf Coast, providing an authentic experience unlike any other in the region. As the birthplace of America’s original Mardi Gras, this port city majors in good times. Attractions include the USS Alabama battleship, Bellingrath Gardens & Home, riverboat dinner cruises, Dauphin Street entertainment district and a couple of craft breweries. Not only is Mobile home to the RTJ Golf Trail’s

ONE OF 54: The eighth hole at the Crossings Course at Magnolia Grove in Mobile.

54-hole Magnolia Grove, but there are several other challenging courses to keep you in town a bit longer—which is something you’ll surely want to do if you stay at either the historic Renaissance Battle House Hotel & Spa or the Renaissance Riverview Plaza, both part of the RTJ Golf Trail collection of hotels and resorts.

That collection — as well as the courses of the RTJ Golf Trail — reach their southernmost point across the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway in Point Clear, where you’ll find the glorious century-and-a-half-old Grand Hotel Golf Resort and Spa, considered the “queen of Southern resorts,” and home to Lakewood Golf Club’s Dogwood and Azalea courses.

GULF SHORES and ORANGE BEACH, which lie a half-hour drive from Point Clear, are home to 32 miles of white-sand beaches that line the pristine turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Add the nine premier golf courses—including two by Arnold Palmer at Craft Farms and the Jerry Pate-designed Kiva Dunes in Gulf Shores, Alabama’s only beachfront golf resort—to numerous adventure activities, including fishing, boating, kayaking and biking, and you’ll find there’s more to this small beach town than meets the eye.

After a full day of fun in the sun, grab a hearty meal at one of the many locally owned restaurants that specialize in everything from fresh seafood to sweet Alabama BBQ, and don’t forget to wash it all down with a cold beer at Big Beach Brewing Company or an infamous bushwacker (aka adult milkshake) at the legendary Flora-Bama Lounge & Oyster Bar. An outstanding selection of accommodations—from high-rise condos and colorful beach houses to nationally-branded hotels and resorts—dot the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach areas.

INFO TO GO

KING’S LAIR: Craft Farms Golf Resort in Gulf Shores boasts two Arnold Palmer-designs—Cotton Creek and Cypress Bend.

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, with its eight hotels/resorts and 26 courses at 11 sites, and Coastal Alabama Golf, the booking entity for the Gulf Shores-Orange Beach area, will customize golf packages for your foursome or group. Check out AlabamaGolfTours.com for sample itineraries and information, or visit RTJGolf.com and CoastalAlabamaGolf.com to book today.

coloradoavidgolfer.com

GET OUT OF THE SNOW AND ONTO THE GREEN “A majority of golfers replace clubs with a camera for their first shot on the back nine.”

- Golfweek

ESCAPE. PLAY. DISCOVER. RELAX. Stay and play at Sand Hollow Resort!

Play the Championship Course, consistently ranked as a “Top 100 Resort Course” by Golfweek since 2011.

Stay for adventure, relaxation, or both in our pristine nightly rentals. Sand Hollow Resort offers adrenaline pumping activities and gorgeous space for corporate events.

To book your stay or event call 804-404-3260

sandhollowresort.com 5662 W. Clubhouse Dr. Hurricane, Utah 435-656-GOLF

Cactus

Makes

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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coloradoavidgolfer.com

SENTINELS OF THE DESERT: Saguaro cacti dominate Tucson’s Sabino Canyon, home to a latticework of scenic hiking trails.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF VISIT TUCSON

TUCSON delivers an irresistible feast of glorious golf, world-class gastronomy and natural splendor.

Charro Steak

coloradoavidgolfer.com

PHOTOGRAPH COURT ESY OF

VISIT TUCSO N

By JON RIZZI

Hole 3 al Catalina Course, Omni Tucson Nation

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Winter 2019 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

SAGUAROS ARE FASCINATING.

FAZIO PHOTO OPP: Ventana Canyon Mountain Course’s signature 107-yard par-3 third.

JON RIZZI

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

PHOTOGRAPH BY

Silent sentinels of the Sonoran Desert, these prickly slow-growing, long-living giants symbolize Arizona—especially Tucson, which perches at precisely the elevation at which they thrive. Thousands upon thousands of them stud the foothills that rise in every direction from the city, their anthropomorphic appearances suggesting everything from surrendering soldiers to saluting greeters to multilimbed Hindu deities.

The saguaros bestriding the golf courses form a noiseless gallery watching from stadium seating. They raise their arms exultantly after a birdie or exasperatedly after a wayward drive.

Saguaros sprout flowers and fruit, provide homes for pecking birds and can hold more than a thousand gallons of water, all while saluting hikers, bikers and horseback riders along the glorious trails of Catalina State Park, Sabino Canyon and hundreds of other dedicated open spaces.

Over the past 13 years, Tucson’s cacti have also done lots of waving goodbye. In 2006, the Omni Tucson National’s Catalina Course hosted the PGA TOUR’s 62nd and final Tucson Open, and the 2014 Accenture Match Play Championship marked the last of eight World Golf Championships played in nearby Marana. By 2011, the three Major League Baseball teams with springtraining facilities in Tucson—including your Colorado Rockies—had relocated, and two years later, so did the Pacific Coast League’s Tucson Padres.

Tucson more than survived these defections. The PGA TOUR Champions Cologuard Classic has come to the Omni every year since 2015 (the next takes place Feb. 23–March 1, 2020). Minorleague baseball and hockey teams—the independent-league Saguaros and American Hockey League’s Roadrunners (a Phoenix Coyotes affiliate)—satisfy sports fans when they aren’t attending University of Arizona Wildcats games.

Instead of bright lights, Tucson has starlit nights, thanks to “dark sky” codes regulating light pollution. This doesn’t mean they roll up the sidewalks at 9 p.m.

Downtown pulses with electricity. Shops and craft breweries abound. The venerable Hotel Congress features music at the outdoor Club Congress, as do the nearby restored 100-year-old Rialto Theatre and

the 1930 Art Deco Fox Tucson Theatre.

Tucson rocks. Best of all, as my wife and I discovered during a recent long weekend there, the saguaro-rich city known as “the old Pueblo” has youthful energy. It has retained its authenticity and distinctive character by avoiding much of the carpetbagging and Californication that has overtaken other snowbird nesting grounds.

OMNI PRESENT The 128-room Omni Tucson National Resort’s golf heritage—32 Tucson Opens and sponsorship of a 22-year-old Jack Nicklaus— made an ideal first stop. The labyrinthine grounds—which include four lighted tennis courts, a pool complex and Forbes 4-Star Spa—the compound quickly felt like home.

An oversized room overlooking the Catalina course provided delightful seclusion.

Over cold pints of Thunder Canyon beer on the patio of the resort’s Legends Bar & Grill, we watched the shadows grow long across the Catalina course, the same one, designed by Bruce Devlin and Robert Van Hagge, on which Mark O’Meara won the Cologuard Champions event earlier this year.

A rare par-73 layout, it’s a demanding yet delightful test of tree-lined parkland golf in which no two holes repeat. Water factors into seven of them—including the 18th, where it borders both sides of a narrow, oddly angled fairway. I surprised myself there by

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making par using the same ball with which I’d teed off four hours earlier.

In contrast to the almost midwestern feel of Catalina, Tucson National’s par-70 Sonoran course, which I drove but didn’t play, fits the definition of desert golf, with fewer trees, more waste areas and forced carries.

WHEN A VENTANA OPENS… A more intimate and dramatic experience awaited 14 miles east at the 50-suite Lodge at Ventana Canyon, home of the masterful Tom Fazio-designed Mountain and Canyon courses—two of the most scenic and enchanting layouts you’ll ever play.

The boutique resort treats guests with the kind of personal, solicitous attention afforded private-club members. And for good reason. The building also clubhouses the private Ventana Canyon Golf & Racquet Club. In 2004, an alliance of 13 members purchased from Wyndham Resorts the club and all the resort facilities, which now include the two courses, eight lighted tennis and four pickleball courts, a day spa, delectable restaurant and well-equipped fitness center.

Guests have access to these facilities, with guest and member play alternating (comme Red Sky Golf Club) between the two courses. Similar golf privileges apply to those staying at the 398-room Loews Ventana Canyon Resort behind the waterfall on the coloradoavidgolfer.com

do you hear that?

THE SOUND OF SILENCE… Verrado Golf Club offers 36 holes of championship golf between two alluring courses. Tucked in the foothills of the White Tank Mountains, with massive rock outcroppings, elevaVon changes, and views across the valley, the Founders Course and the newer Victory Course are the West Valley’s premiere desert golf desVnaVon. Golf here defines golf everywhere.

LOCATED JUST 1/2 HOUR WEST OF SKY HARBOR AIRPORT!

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GEOLOGIC ICON: Whaleback Rock abuts the 10th on Ventana Canyon’s Canyon Course.

In addition to the courses at Ventana Canyon (thelodgeatventanacanyon.com) and Omni Tucson National (omnitucsonnational.com), the region boasts more than 40 layouts. Among the best: Starr Pass Golf Club (Tucson): Play 27 Arnold Palmer-designed holes at JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort. marriottstarrpass.com

La Paloma Country Club (Tucson): Play on the Jack Nicklaus Signature nines requires a stay at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa. westinlapaloma.com

Sewailo Golf Club (Tucson): The stunning Notah Begay-Ty Butler design is the chief amenity of the Casino Del Sol Resort. casinodelsol.com

Randolph North Golf Course (Tucson): Built in 1925 and a former Tucson Open site, it’s the top of the city’s four munis. tucsoncitygolf.com

The Golf Club at Dove Mountain (Marana): Nonmembers can play any of the 27 Nicklaus Signature holes at this former WGC venue. thegolfclubatdovemountain.com

El Conquistador Golf Club (Oro Valley): Two 18-hole courses and one nine-holer traverse the rugged terrain north of Tucson. elcongolfandtennis.com

float forever. However, the course’s most memorable geological feature is the massive Whaleback Rock breaching to the left of the Par-4 10th green.

Ventana Canyon currently has 700 members, and after enjoying the heck out of both courses, the friendly folks and lipsmacking fare in the grill, we found ourselves seriously considering joining their ranks.

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD You can’t talk about Tucson without salivating. In 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named Tucson the first City of Gastronomy in the United States and one of only 17 in the world. (The list has since swollen to 29 and now includes San Antonio.)

Tucson cuisine incorporates the

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bounty of the desert—agave, cactus pads, cholla buds, chiltepins, amaranth and white Sonoran wheat. The sweet, protein-filled pods of the ubiquitous mesquite trees make great snacks and a can be ground into a flour found in everything from bread to cookies to smoothies. Fruits such as quince, fig, prickly pear and white pomegranate juice up numerous dishes.

The superb restaurants of Wildflower and Downtown Kitchen take these and other ingredients to a global level.

From the worldly menu at Wildflower we settled on a satisfying lunch of jumbo lump crab avocado toast spiked with fresh jalapeños and chile-lime tajin seasoning. The barbecue chicken tacos overflowed with salsa fresca, white cheddar and Anasazi beans.

Downtown Kitchen features the culinary talents of James Beard Awardcoloradoavidgolfer.com

CANYON

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

TEEING UP TUCSON

PHOTOGR APH COURTESY OF LODGE AT VENTANA

18th green of the Canyon Course. Loews guests can also purchase merchandise at their resort from the club’s second, smaller golf shop.

Between the upstairs hike to the rear tee box and the photogenic setting of the hole, the 107-yard par-3 third on Ventana Canyon’s Mountain course required some pulse-slowing deep breaths before teeing off.

I nonetheless yanked an adrenaline-fueled pitching wedge left into the unplayable vegetation, but my reload hit the green and my putt found the hole for what my generous playing partner, The Lodge’s Director of Marketing Aaron Aguilar, kindly described as “a birdie with an asterisk.”

Ascents and descents characterized the following 15 holes—both through the craggy Catalina foothills and on the scorecard. But oh, what a glorious round—filled with slim, puckered fairways, lickety-split greens, views to Mexico and, on the 12th hole, an encounter with the standing skeleton of a dead saguaro—its wooden ribs looking bleached and brittle, a desiccated husk of the hyperhydrated giant it once must have been.

The Mountain course impeccably camouflages colossal homes into its surroundings. For the most part, so does the Canyon course, which I played the following day with three entertaining owners of those homes. Putts on both courses succumb to the “mountain effect” we Colorado golfers know all too well.

The Canyon differs from the Mountain, as it meanders into Esperero Canyon. A number of holes play straight into the Catalinas, creating back-to-front sloping greens as well as a backcloth against which a well-struck ball will seemingly

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TUCSON RTESY OF VISIT PHOTOGRAPH COU

OWER RTESY OF WIL DFL PHOTOGRAPH COU

Less than an hour south of Tucson spreads Tubac Golf Resort and Spa. Built 60 years ago on the historic Otero Ranch, the resort is a tranquil, AAA Four Diamond oasis of 27 treelined golf holes (the Anza, Rancho and Otero nines), 68 uniquely appointed suites, 30 magnificently upgraded guest rooms, a worldclass Aveda spa, scrumptious Stables Restaurant and the utterly enchanting Pancho’s home design shop.

The resort has two strong Colorado connections: Its owner, Ron Allred, is famous for developing Telluride’s Mountain Village; and Tubac’s PGA Director of Golf Kristie Fowler grew up in Grand Junction, where her father, Tom Kolacny, designed and built Tiara Rado Golf Course. Fowler, who won the Colorado women’s 1984 Colorado Match Play and 1985 Stroke Play, played collegiately in Tucson at the University of Arizona before competing professionally and transitioning to the business side. The variety and quality of merchandise in the shop has earned her the Southwest PGA Section’s Golf Merchandiser of the Year.

A number of items for sale reference Tin Cup, which was mostly shot at Tubac.

The fourth hole on the Rancho nine displays a plaque denoting the spot from which Kevin Costner’s character, Roy McAvoy, carried the water with a 3-wood.

Two holes later brings you to the three-hole stretch known as the “Tubac Triangle,” the longest par 3, 4, and 5 on the course. tubacgolfresort.com

JON RIZZI

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

Jon Rizzi is the editor of Colorado AvidGolfer.

Learn more about Tucson at visittucson.org or call 800-638-8350.

MAKE TIME FOR TUBAC

PHOTOGRAPH BY

winner Janos Wilder, a Tucson legend who sharpened his talents at Colorado’s famed Gold Hill Inn during the 1970s.

We indulged in a plate of lightly fried calamari with mango, candied ginger, Spanish peanuts and green-chile vinaigrette, and savored a Hibiscus Cured Hamachi Crudo (yellowtail) with prickly pear ponzu and a furikake featuring toasted Sonoran pepitas. The Chile en Nogada—a roasted poblano pepper stuffed with more than 20 ingredients and covered with a walnut cream and pomegranate seeds—did not disappoint.

Nor did the grilled pork chop basted in red chile honey and posole broth and topped with pickled onions and chayote.

Tucson also touts itself as having “The Best 23 Miles of Mexican Food in America,” which encompass the City of South Tucson, downtown and lower midtown. Yes, it’s a brilliant marketing campaign—one that’s annually highlighted by June’s weekendlong Tucson 23 Mexican Food Festival at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa—but there’s some serious steak behind the sizzle.

Charro Steak, in fact, is the latest addition to the 97-year legacy started by El Charro Café, reputedly America’s oldest Mexican Restaurant in continuous operation by the same family.

The downtown restaurant dishes up perfectly turned mesquite-fired T-Bones, Rib Eyes and Carne Asada with optional complements such as smoked manchego and charred chiles (the “Estillo Charro”) and the decadent “El Jefe” (avocado, bacon, chimichurri and a cage-free egg over easy).

We split appetizers of Prickly Pear Glazed Albondigas with chiles and three cheeses and Cast-Iron Mushrooms stuffed with chorizo and masa beneath a crunchy queso frito. The Charrasco sampling of six meats (including bison, chorizo and pollo asado)

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TUBAC

cos Q Chicken Ta Wildflower’s BB

regrettably left no room for the chocolate tres leches cake with peanut butter frosting and cacahuetes picantes.

A less filling but no less satisfying repast awaited the following night at the dimly lit Penca Restaurante—restaurateur Patricia Schwabe’s downtown temple of ligeras like chicharrones dusted in chile citrus salt, elote with chipotle aoli, a split bone of well-seasoned beef marrow and selection of corn tacos containing everything from the usual fish, steak and tongue to red-wine braised beef cheek and grilled cactus. An entrée well worth sharing was the short ribs braised in mezcal served with chichilo mole sauce and horchata chochoyote (a cinnamonflavored corn dumpling).

There’s probably nothing more authentically and delectably Tucson than a Sonoran hot dog—a grilled bacon-wrapped frank in a bolillo bun slathered with pinto beans, grilled and fresh onions, jalapeños, fresh tomatoes, mustard, jalapeño sauce and mayonnaise— accompanied by a sizable and spicy grilled yellow chile pepper. Some prefer the ones at El Güero Canelo. Others swear by BK Tacos. We’re not taking sides. Don’t like hot dogs? Neither does my wife, but you’d never know it from the way she inhaled one of these decadent bad boys.

Between golf, hiking and eating, no time remained to visit the intriguing Biosphere II or the movie sets at Old Tucson, let alone the amazing eateries along 12th Avenue in South Tucson or more of the area’s trails and golf courses.

But there’s always next time. As we bid farewell to Tucson in the early-morning hours, I could swear one of those saguaro semaphores was signaling us to return.

GASTRO GRUB: Downtown Kitchen’s Chile en Nogada (left); Sonoran hot dogs rage at BK’s Tacos and Güero Canelo, which annually sells 500,000.

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BACK IN THE GAME: Again an amenity of the resort, Wynn Golf Club features redone Fazio holes like nos. 12 and 5 (inset).

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WYNN GOLF CLUB in Las Vegas reopens—again.

By TOM MACKIN Photographs By BRIAN OAR IN LAS VEGAS the house almost always wins. That’s why the Strip overflows with gaming tables beckoning gamblers more than willing to part with their money. But every once in a while, the powers that be overplay their hand, albeit temporarily.

Take the Wynn Las Vegas. In December 2017 it shut down its Tom Fazio-designed golf course— which in 2005 replaced the old Desert Inn golf course that debuted in 1952—in order to use the 130acre site for Paradise Park, a planned convention center and entertainment complex featuring a massive lake to be roamed by water skiers and paddle boarders.

That plan never came to fruition, and closing the course resulted in the loss of an estimated 16,000 rounds of golf and up to $15 million of gaming business. A drop in the sprawling casino’s very deep bucket? Of course. Still, high rollers do love their often-comped amenities, and lower rollers got a kick out of taking the short elevator ride and walk from their Tower Suite (even-numbered rooms overlook the course), stepping into the sunshine and knocking the ball around a very manicured layout.

But no one stays successful for long in Las Vegas without making quick adjustments. Paradise Park was scuttled and golf made its comeback. Re-enter Fazio, along with his son Logan. Their new design opened this past October with eight brand new holes and 10 others altered somewhat from their previous incarnation but using similar hole corridors. The result is a lush, plush effort with 15-minute tee time intervals.

This is Vegas, so anyone surprised by the Wynn Golf Club’s $550 green fee shouldn’t be. It includes 18 holes, cart with pre-loaded water, soda and sports drinks, a mandatory forecaddie (gratuity not included) and top-shelf rental clubs if

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PHOTOGRAPH BY TOM MACKIN

both celebrities and pro golf tournaments made regular stops to the Desert Inn. A sampling of those moments are captured in black and white photos lining the walls of the elegant if compact locker room area. But anyone who played that version of the course—an essentially flat layout that closed in 2003—won’t recognize it. And if you played Wynn Golf Club 2.0, circa 2005– 2017, a new increase in the overall movement of the terrain will come as a pleasant surprise.

Despite an incredibly quick build, which took a mere 10 months, the bentgrass greens are already as pure as you will find anywhere. They are also expansive, which can lead to putts TEST THE WATERS: One of Wynn’s six par 3s, the tough 209of 90 feet or more at times (listen yard 12th is also one of a dozen holes on which water lurks. to your caddie). Water is in play on multiple holes, most notably needed. Off-season rates, from June to mid- on the downhill par 3 12th. Wind can play September, are $300 on weekdays and $375 a factor too, especially come the springtime.

Two sharp doglegs—on six and 17—inject on weekends.

“We feel that we include basically some memorable flavor, while some trees everything that one might need in that price dating back to the Desert Inn days remain point,” general manager Brian Hawthorne part of the course. Conditioning, as you says. “So there’s not any additional layered- would expect, more than meets the standard on expense. We have locker room attendants of a very upscale, private club.

Thanks to an expansion of the resort’s tending to everyone’s needs and pro caddies (whose ranks include more than a convention space, the former par 4 18th is dozen PGA of America professionals), all now a par 3, the first time Fazio has ever included in that price point. And if you keep ended one of his designs in such a manner. somebody from gambling for four and a half “You normally don’t do that,” he said. “Not hours, we might be saving people money.”

Count Fazio among those who remains shocked that a golf course even exists right off the Strip (technically it’s behind the Wynn Las Vegas). But he believes the singular location helps explain the massive green fee.

“If you put the economics involved in that, it’s really not a high price because of the value of the real estate, the value of what was spent to build it, and the cost to maintain it in that location is extremely high,” he says.

But then most numbers in Las Vegas are overwhelming. Wynn Las Vegas and the adjacent Encore Resort serve up 4,748 spacious hotel rooms, suites and villas, with 192,000 square feet of casino space, 22 dining options and 11 bars, not to mention approximately 160,000 square feet of retail space.

Thousands of rounds have been played there too, dating back to the 1950s Rat Pack CASHING IN: An ace on the redone par-3 18th could make you $20,000 richer. days of Frank, Dean and Sammy, when COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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that it’s not accepted overall, but usually you have lots of other choices and opportunities.

We had choices and opportunities; none was as good as the 18th hole and where it’s placed.”

And if you hit the shot of your life and ace the closer—avoiding multiple greenside bunkers and a 30-foot high waterfall behind the green—you’ll win enough money to buy a few tee times for your buddies: $20,000 from the Black tees (249 yards), $15,000 from the Gold tees (200 yards) and $10,000 from Platinum (160 yards) and Bronze (140 yards) tees. Do read the fine print on a sign near the tee and keep in mind that security cameras are everywhere in Vegas. You have to earn that money.

“Arguably it may be one of the most dramatic par 3s I’ve ever had the opportunity to be involved with,” Fazio says. “I personally like the 18th being a par 3. Now I loved the 18th hole when it was a long strong par 4.

I don’t think one is better than the other.

I think it’s just a difference in how you perceive it.”

Tom Mackin is an Arizona-based writer.

FOR THE WYNN: Golfers with a room reservation at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Resort can secure tee times 90 days in advance. Non-resort guests can reserve tee times 30 days in advance. 702-770-4653; wynnlasvegas.com/ experiences/golf Turn to p. 58 for more Las Vegas golf.

coloradoavidgolfer.com

Lucky 7 WYNN GOLF CLUB’S $550 green fee isn’t as high as the $600 it costs to play SHADOW CREEK (shadowcreek.com), the first Tom Fazio-Steve Wynn collaboration, now owned by MGM Resorts International. In comparison, a $299 tee time at the Rees Jones layout

at CASCATA (cascatagolf.com) in Boulder City seems like a bargain.

That said, the Las Vegas area boasts no shortage of less expensive golf. Herewith a sampling of best bets, starting with the priciest published rates:

BEAR’S BEST LAS VEGAS 18 holes culled from Jack Nicklaus’ private-course portfolio. $179-$199. bearsbestlasvegas.com FALCON RIDGE GOLF COURSE One of the many treasures in golf-rich Mesquite, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. $105-$125. golffalcon.com

RIO SECCO GOLF CLUB Stellar Rees Jones golf in nearby Henderson—and sister property of Cascata. $119 and up. riosecco.com

LAS VEGAS PAIUTE GOLF RESORT Three 18s by Pete Dye, including The Wolf and its Sawgrass-like island green. $99-$109. lvpaiutegolf.com

HIGHLAND FALLS GOLF CLUB A favorite of locals, one of four Summerlin courses 10 miles from the Strip. $79-$109. golfsummerlin.com

ANGEL PARK GOLF CLUB Summerlin venue hosts the Arnold Palmer-designed Mountain and Palm courses. $89-$125. angelpark.com

COYOTE SPRINGS GOLF CLUB A Nicklaus-designed course 50 miles north of Las Vegas and well worth the drive. $68-$98. coyotesprings.com

SHANGRI-LA: Shadow Creek remains a one-ofa-kind oasis and bucket-list course.

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

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Jaw-dropping TARA ITI puts New Zealand’s Te Arai Coast on the path to becoming golf ’s next great destination.

NEW ZEALAND admittedly doesn’t have the golf pedigree of its brawny neighbor across the Tasman Sea. Aussies, for example, have won 17 major championships; Kiwis Bob Charles and Michael Campbell have won exactly two. And in Golf Digest’s latest rankings of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses, Australia’s layouts outnumber New Zealand’s 12 to five.

Then again, New Zealand ranks second in the world only to Scotland in the number of golf courses per capita, and one in particular has achieved a feat unsurpassed by any other in the 50-year history of Golf Digest’s biennial rankings. In 2018, Tara Iti Golf Club debuted at No. 6—the highest rank ever for a first-time course.

Built along the Te Arai coast 90 minutes north of Auckland Airport on the North Island, the par-71 masterpiece designed by Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf team unfurls over 6,840 rippling yards of hard, fast fescue, marbled by sand and shaped as much by wind and natural vegetation as by the blade of a bulldozer and a hydroseeder’s nozzle.

Tara Iti evokes Doak’s links-inspired layouts at Bandon’s Pacific Dunes, Long Island’s Sebonack, Tasmania’s Barnbougle Dunes and, yes, even landlocked Ballyneal in Colorado. Shots pinball along the ground and seem to run forever. They also flutter in the wind and land in sand so parlous and pervasive that you may ground your club anywhere without penalty. Walking Tara Iti with a caddie is a must to negotiate the strategies, physics-defying breaks and undulations that only come with playing the course multiple times.

Which even nonmembers can do.

While Tara Iti is literally a once-in-a-lifetime course—that is, nonmembers can play it once COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

DROOL-WORTHY: Tara Iti’s brutal, beautiful 467yard par-4 sixth, its closest hole to the Pacific.

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the

Wonder

Down Under

By JON RIZZI  Photographs by JOANN DOST

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Winter 2019 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER

TRIBUTE HOLE: With a view of the region’s iconic rock islands, Tara Iti’s 177-yard second sports a wee pot bunker in the green à la Riviera’s famous sixth, the hole above which owner Ric Kayne lives in L.A.

in their lifetimes (with approval and the requisite letter from their home club)—that “one time” policy only applies to a stay in one of eight on-premises cottages. During your visit, you may play as often as daylight and your back allow.

You can also walk miles of unspoiled beach, kayak, surf, paddleboard and fly-fish, or rusticate in the tastefully understated clubhouse built from sandstone mined onsite. By all accounts, the membership— which is hand-picked from around the world by billionaire club owner Ric Kayne and managing partner Jim Rohrstaff—exudes a friendliness that belies the club’s exclusivity.

Before you call your pro for a letter and check your frequent-flyer miles, however, consider the economics of spending 20 hours in the air to play one course—albeit a great one. And if you’re thinking about adding more world-class courses to your itinerary, get out a map.

From Tara Iti, it’s a three-hour drive north to the magnificent Rees Jones redesign at Kauri Cliffs and a six-hour drive south to Doak’s cliff-hanging Cape Kidnappers.

Another four hours in the car separates Cape Kidnappers from the venerable Paraparaumu Beach Golf Course. And if you want to check Jack’s Point Golf Course off your Top 100 list, you’ll need to fly from Wellington on New Zealand’s North Island to Queensland on its South.

COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | Winter 2019

Kayne has a better plan. He wants to turn the Te Arai area into the next Monterey Peninsula. When the Los Angeles-based billionaire purchased the land now occupied

by Tara Iti from the indigenous Ngati Manuhiri iwi in 2012, he pledged to respect the land and uphold its heritage—a promise he has steadfastly kept. He designated nearly 500 of the roughly 1,100 acres to the Te Arai and Mangawhai Shorebirds Trust, whose most notable success lies in a redoubt behind the 15th tee, just beyond the course’s north boundary. This is where New Zealand’s rarest breeding bird—the “critically endangered” fairy tern known locally as tara iti—nestles and increases its minuscule population (last reported at 40).

Kayne and his development team also intend to increase the area’s golfcourse population. Working with the Ngati Manuhiri, Kayne’s team plans to lease for more than 100 years an 1,888-acre block of land adjacent to and south of Tara Iti. Five hundred of those acres will extend the existing reserve areas, with the remainder comprising the two public courses of Te Arai Links—the North Course designed by Doak and the South Course designed by the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

Both will play along a beach facing the iconic Little Barrier Island and the Hen and Chicken Islands.

“Mike Keiser pointed out that the South

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Course may have more ocean frontage than any course in the world,” Rohrstaff says, referring to the visionary behind of the highly successful golf destinations of Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley and Cabot Links.

Rohrstaff and Kayne envision Te Arai to join the ranks of those golf meccas within the near future.

“We intend to create a world golfing destination, a treasure unlike any other place in the world,” Kayne told the New Zealand Herald. It will feature visitor accommodations, a clubhouse, 60 luxury home sites, a public camping ground and retail shops. “The goal is to create a significant recreational, economic and environmental asset for Auckland and New Zealand.”

Rohrstaff compares it to the trio of courses along 17 Mile Drive. “Tara Iti will be Cypress Point,” he explains, “and the North and South courses will be like Spyglass and Pebble.” The timeline for this year-round paradise to come to fruition, he says, is late 2021 or early 2022. “Best of all,” he says, noting the natural beauty and surfeit of outdoor activities, “this will be a golf destination that your spouse will happily want to join you.”

Jon Rizzi is the editor of Colorado AvidGolfer.

For more information, visit taraiti.com/ general-enquiry. coloradoavidgolfer.com

PHOTOGRAPH BY JACOB SJOMAN

PHOTOGRAPH BY JACOB SJOMAN

NORTH ISLAND ROTA: Ranked 17th in the world, Doak’s first New Zealand design at Cape Kidnappers in Hawkes Bay (top) lies more than 400 miles southeast of its sister property, the 37th-ranked Kauri Cliffs (bottom left). Tara Iti, with holes like the picturesque par-3 17th (right), is closer to Auckland than either, but a long way from both.

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Blind Shot THE UNSEEN GAME A SHORE THING: Just a few of the more than 100 million crabs that annually migrate from the island’s highland jungle to the Indian Ocean.

A Crabby Christmas to All And to all a rare sight of Australia’s singularly endowed Christmas Island.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS SURMAN/COURTESY OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND TOURISM

PHOTOGRAPH BY YVONNE MCKENZIE, WONDROUS WORLD IMAGES

Invaders of a different species arrive on the course and throughout Christmas Island’s capital, Flying Fish Cove, during November and December. In one of the most eye-popping natural processions on earth, an estimated 100 million red crabs migrate from the highland rainforest to the northeastern beaches to procreate, then return with innumerable minuscule offspring, each measuring less than .20 inches. The crimson swarms swathe highways, yards and even homes, as residents give the protected species right of way.

Road closures and specially constructed bridges and culverts ease the annual pilgrimage. Golfers time their arrival and departure from the course to avoid the red waves that carpet the fairways and greens, creating a rather Christmassy—if chaotic—color scheme. Players gently move their wee mates along when they invariably stand in their lines. The red crabs rarely steal balls. That’s the job of the island’s huge robber crabs—whose pincers can crack open a coconut as easily as a red crab—and the Christmas frigatebirds, which tend to use hats, balls and even clubs for their nests.

These are just a few of the dozens of species of wildlife and vegetation found only on this 52-squaremile island. With Christmas Island National Park covering 70 percent of that area, ecotourism thrives CRAB COURSE: Christmas Island Golf Club’s location can turn it into a migratory raceway. (within the national park nestles the

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PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS BRAY /COURTESY CHRISTMAS ISLAND TOURISM

IN THE SPIRIT of the season—and in keeping with the antipodal theme of the last four pages— we present Christmas Island Golf Club. Known for its uneven lies and teeny greens, the par-64 course lies on the northeastern edge of an Australian external territory that’s geographically closer to Indonesia than the motherland. The course dates to 1955 and borders the Indian Ocean and a tropical jungle cleared by an Australian prisoner of war, Jack Pettigrew, during the island’s Japanese occupation in World War II.

luxurious Swell “eco-lodge”).

Many also come for the fishing and diving.

Within a mile of the shoreline, schools of tuna and wahoo race one another with fishing boats in hot pursuit. Below the water, a tropical reef laced with unspoiled corals and rare marine life draws snorkelers. And scuba enthusiasts plunge from the sheer drop-offs at the reef’s edge for a chance at glimpsing the world’s largest fish, the benign whale shark.

Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company sighted the island on Christmas Day, 1643, giving it its name. Seeing the remote location for yourself, however, requires multiple layovers and thousands of dollars. While playing the golf course and staying at nearby Christmas Island Resort probably isn’t reward enough for such an outlay, when you take into account an environment brimming with uniqueness, this speck in the Indian Ocean transforms into a must-see natural wonder. christmas.net.au —Jon Rizzi coloradoavidgolfer.com

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