FEATURE RainDance
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KINGD OM — IS SU E 56
Photos: Wheeler Golfscapes
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indsor, Colorado, is not in the mountains. Not exactly. Technically speaking, the city sits in the Front Range, a vast high plains area in front of the mountains. What that means for golf course developers is that there’s a lot of land to work with, and in the case of RainDance National Resort & Golf, that is a very good thing. RainDance opened this July and though the acclaim has been huge, we’re not sure it begins to match the hugeness of the course itself. Originally planned to have a total yardage in the “high 7,000s,” as course architect Harrison Minchew told us, the end product was somewhat larger. “As we started seeing the elevation changes in the holes, and the fact that we wanted to use fescue grass that we could dry out so the ball would roll quite a bit,” he said, “it became obvious that the course needed to be longer.” In the end, Minchew said that he and design consultant (and eight-time winner on the PGA Tour) Fred Funk pushed the course to 8,465 yards: “Not the largest in the world,” he points out, “but the largest in North America.” “We had it around 8,000 and we realized if we ever had a tour event, that was going to play too short,” explained Funk, who also has nine PGA Tour Champions wins. “We have 250 feet of drop and we’re at 5,000 feet so Martin [Lind], the developer, said, ‘Why don’t we have the shortest golfer to ever play on the PGA Tour design the longest golf course?’ I went, ‘Really?!’” Funk was joking, of course (and at 5’ 8” he’s the same height as Francesco Molinari and nearly three inches taller than Gene Sarazen was). Regardless, anyone could feel small standing amidst the epic landscape at RainDance. “There’s no denying it was built for the best players in the world,” said Chris Williamson, RainDance’s head golf pro. “It’s challenging, but there’s nothing unfair about it. You look at No.2, it’s a big, slightly downhill turn-to-the-left par-5. It’s really pretty to look at and there’s a huge landing zone with bunkers on each side should you miss. With the scale we have up here and with the hill, it feels narrow, but if you get out there and measure it’s actually a 60-yard-wide fairway.”