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CONTENTS | June 2021
DEPARTMENTS
77 8 Forethoughts
A Sort of Homecoming By Jon Rizzi
10 Colorado Golf Coalition
Colorado golf’s economic and environmental influence is eye-popping.
19 The Gallery
The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame moves to The Broadmoor, Pyramid Wedges, Arthur Hills' legacy, Foothills new clubhouse, more
88 Blind Shot
Right Up Hogan's Alley
PLAYER’S CORNER 27 Play Away
Jim Engh’s Lakota Canyon masterpiece gets a new owner, a new name and a new lease on life. By Todd Hartley PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PGA TOUR
66
72
Bryson DeChambeau and his Coloradobased trainer Greg Roskopf are on a journey to break barriers and reach places no other golfer has gone before. By Anthony Cotton
From Tee To Green, The Ridge at Castle Pines North sets a daily-fee gold standard. By Jon Rizzi
39 Fareways
Surprisingly diverse dining awaits in and around Green Valley Ranch. By John Lehndorff
44 Nice Drives
Earning Their Wing
Free-spirited surfer, snowboarder and rising PGA TOUR star Tyler McCumber has traveled his own path to Lyons, where he recharges at the gateway to the Rocky Mountains. By Andy Bigford
During the past year, Colorado Golf Club transformed 4,850 feet of its clubhouse into a museum-quality homage to the club’s course designers, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. In late April, the pair finally got to see it. By Jon Rizzi
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHIP BROMFIELD
By Isaac Bouchard
80
Tyler Being Tyler
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
36 Gift Guide
Old-school and geeky golf-inspired gifts for
BMW 330e, Genesis G80, Mazda3.
74
Photograph by E.J. Carr
SIDE BETS
A View from the Ridge
Bryson DeChambeau and Greg Roskopf.
a Tour pro—and what you can do about it. By Dee Tidwell
Vision Quest
ON THE COVER
Four reasons why you’re literally not fit to be
Dad. By Suzanne S. Brown
FEATURES
66
30 15th Club
SPECIAL SECTION 53 COLORADO GETAWAYS
Grand County, Steamboat, Colorado Springs and NoCo.
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80 77 coloradoavidgolfer.com
THE COUNTRY CLUB AT CASTLE PINES A WORLD CLASS TRANSFORMATION HAS BEGUN The Country Club at Castle Pines has broken ground on their transformation project that will bring stylish new indoor and outdoor dining, bar and patio features to the clubhouse along with new cliffside amenities that showcase our views over Castle Rock and the entire Front Range. The cliffside village will include an infinity edge pool, new dining and bar, fitness and racket sports. 2021 will also bring the formal grand opening of The Crags, our one acre putting course perched at 6700 feet and literally built upon the rocky crags behind our Clubhouse. Complete with lighting, music, fire pits and a new bar, Golf Members and their guests won’t ever want to go home.
TO INQUIRE ABOUT AN INVITATION TO GOLF OR SOCIAL MEMBERSHIP, CONTACT:
MARK LEWICKI, Director of Membership 303.660.6807 | mlewicki@ccatcastlepines.com 6400
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COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
Forethoughts
A Sort of Homecoming EVER SINCE finding out that I was returning to edit this publication, friends and colleagues have responded by quoting and meme-ing the lines everyone knows from The Godfather Part III. Even if you never saw the movie, you probably know the words spoken by Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), who’s desperately trying to legitimize his business, but realizes he can’t escape the mafioso existence that haunts him. Standing in the kitchen on a stormy night, he concedes, “Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in!” What many people don’t remember, however, is that moments later Michael clutches his chest, collapses and winds up in the hospital. It’s kind of a buzzkill, so I usually don’t mention it to my well-intentioned compatriots. I did get pulled back in, and less than a month into the new old (or is it the old new?) job, I’m still standing. In an odd sequence of events, my successor, Anthony Cotton, also became my predecessor and vice-versa. Odder still, exactly a year after he and I both left our respective positions at Colorado Public Radio and Colorado AvidGolfer, we’re both working at those same jobs again. It’s as if 2020 never happened, which, because of the pandemic, many people—except perhaps Joe Biden and the owners of golf courses—wish were the case. But 2020 did happen. During that time, I became the executive director of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, which I’m proud to report (page 19) will move from the Riverdale Golf Courses in Brighton to The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs in time for the Hall’s 2023 Golden Anniversary. Colorado AvidGolfer has also changed addresses. As the pandemic proved that businesses could function remotely, the company downsized its physical footprint and relocated to new digs. Or so I’ve heard: A month into the new old job, I still haven’t seen the new world headquarters, preferring to work from the office my wife and I added to our home during what turned out to be more of a sabbatical than a retirement. What hasn’t changed is the actual work. On my first day back with CAG, I had the privilege of attending the dedication dinner for the Coore & Crenshaw Wing at Colorado Golf Club. Curated by CGC Marketing and Membership Director Tom Ferrell, who also happens to be CAG’s longtime editor-at-large, the glorious displays left the guests of honor, Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, profoundly humbled, as you’ll see and read on page 80. How can such a grand event not appear on the cover of this magazine? When you have a story about the defending U.S. Open champion—that’s how. Before he left, Anthony spent some time with Bryson DeChambeau and his Colorado-based trainer, Greg Roskopf, at Roskopf’s Muscle Activation Therapy studio in Englewood. The pair’s quest to optimize the golfer’s performance and protect him from injury has taken them into uncharted golf territory. They’re transforming the game, and Anthony, as is his gift, takes you along for the ride (pg. 66). Speaking of rides, Andy Bigford charts the one that brought free-spirited PGA TOUR rookie Tyler McCumber to the tiny Boulder County town of Lyons. “Tyler Being Tyler” (pg. 74) shows why every professional occasionally needs to escape work and recharge. And then, of course, he gets pulled back in to do what he does best. —JON RIZZI
8
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A SPECIAL REPORT
We’re Big Drivers Like Bryson’s yardage off the tee, the numbers related to Colorado golf’s economic and environmental influence are eye-popping. them owned and operated by local municipalities and recreation districts. Colorado’s environmental efforts reflected in the report shows an effective use of our limited natural resources. Golf courses create 33,061 acres of green infrastructure for wildlife habitat and improved quality of life. This green space
Environmental Impact More than 33,000 acres of greenspace 11,855 acres of water, wetlands and native rough Less than 1% of Colorado’s annual water usage 13,724 acres of urban green space in Metro Denver
includes wetlands and native areas that support wildlife and pollinator habitats, cools the urban heat island, filters surface water runoff and con-
tributes to health and well-being. The Colorado Golf Coalition promotes collaboration and engagement with communities, civic leaders and legislators. Colorado’s legislative leaders have recognized the importance of golf for the state via a proclamation which was read in both the Colorado House and Senate chambers on April 14th upon the release of the report. The Colorado Golf Economic and Environmental Report is the first of its kind to fully integrate the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a universal call-to-action to protect the planet, promote good health and well-being and decent work options and economic growth for people around the world. So, the next time you wander through the native looking for your too-powerful “power fade,” stop to celebrate the vast impact the game of golf has around you. It might help appreciating that net-double bogey and give you a sense of peace about contributing to the economic wellbeing of your playing partner at the 19th hole. Visit coloradogolfimpact.org to read the full report.
Overall Impact Survey
Economic Impact Direct spending equaled $1.3 billion 487,000+ golfers play annually $639.3 million in consumer spending $281.3 million in golf tourism $92 million in capital improvements
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
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GRAPHIC COURTESY OF COLORADO GOLF COALITION; ICONS BY FREEPIK FROM FLATICON.COM
AS EVERY COLORADO avid golfer knows, it takes a small village to keep a golf course running and in pristine condition. The intricacies of the business are vast, requiring seamlessly coordinated technologies and systems to keep tee sheets full, play on pace, merchandise stocked, food fresh and beverages cold. The acres and acres of glorious open space with both native and manicured conditions demand calculated resources to ensure an experience worth the price of admission. And, of course, there’s the attentive service needed to keep the 62,000+ members of these facilities happy, engaged and coming back for more. Last year, the Colorado Golf Coalition (CGC)—a partnership comprised of the Colorado Golf Association (CGA), Colorado Section of the PGA of America (PGA), Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association (RMGCSA) and Mile-High Chapter of the Club Management Association of America (Mile-High CMAA)—set out to understand the true impact of that “village” and its greater ripple effect on our Colorado communities. In collaboration with the National Golf Foundation (NGF) and the Radius Sports Group (a sports and sustainability consulting firm), the Coalition recently produced the Colorado Golf Economic & Environmental Impact Report, which evaluated the extensive impact made by the game in Colorado. The following highlights from the report show the impressive reach of the sport in our economy and on the resources it consumes. The report shows the industry generated more than an estimated $2.0 billion in direct, indirect and induced spending to the wider Colorado economy, with more than 19,400 jobs supported by the golf industry, $696.5 million in wage income, and more than $166.5 million in state and local taxes. The game is accessible in many Colorado cities and towns with 76 percent of Colorado’s courses open to the public and 46 percent of
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Proud Sponsor of Great Drives Golf Passport Member Conditions: 2021 Member Privileges. All rates include a cart unless offer specifies differently. 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, 2021 – December, 31 2021, 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 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 or 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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Located just south of Denver, The Ridge at Castle Pines North is an award-winning example of Tom Weiskopf’s fluent, wellproportioned layout that presents players with roomy fairways, sculpted bunkers and large, rolling greens. The Ridge is recognized by various golf publications as one of Colorado’s top golf courses. More specifically, The Ridge has been voted as the top Denver region golf course, as well as the top golf course in Colorado multiple times by Colorado AvidGolfer.
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P l aY t H E r I d G E . c O M
The Gallery
NEWS | NOTES | NAMES
A Hall of Fame Move
MOVING PICTURES: The Hall of Fame has outgrown its current location at Riverdale.
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PRELIMINARY RENDERINGS COURTESY OF ARTWORKER
SINCE ITS FOUNDING in 1973, the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame has inducted 144 men and women whose accomplishments have had a profound impact on Colorado golf; and since opening in 2004, the clubhouse at the Riverdale Golf Courses in Brighton has served as home to the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame museum. That arrangement will soon change. The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame has announced that it will relocate its museum to The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs in early 2023. The move will be the first of three major Hall-related events scheduled at the resort that year. The other two are the nonprofit organization’s annual fundraising tournament and its Golden Anniversary gala. “This process began as the board considered how to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary,” Colorado Golf Hall of Fame President Kevin Hood explains. “Given The Broadmoor’s impeccable reputation in golf and hospitality—plus the stellar job it did hosting the Century of Golf Gala in 2015 and the Hale Irwin Medal dinner two years ago— the choice was obvious. The conversation didn’t last very long.” Nor did it take very long for Hall of Fame Vice President and banquet committee chair Mark Passey to get an enthusiastic response from The Broadmoor about hosting the 2023 events. During discussions with The Broadmoor President/CEO Jack Damioli and PGA Director of Golf Russ Miller, “the conversation turned to the possibility of moving the Hall to The Broadmoor permanently,” Passey explains. “That initiative soon took on a life of its own.” “We have great a relationship with Riverdale and appreciate the generosity of Adams County and General Manager Steve Bruening in providing the space for 17 years,” Hood says. “But we are running out of room there, and the opportunity to relocate to The Broadmoor is difficult to pass up.” It’s hard to imagine a more perfect fit. The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s mission is to recognize excellence…past, present and future, and The Broadmoor has dedicated itself to delivering its guests exceptional service, uncompromising excellence and distinctive amenities since opening its doors—and Donald Ross-designed golf course—in 1918.
IT’S HALL THAT: These preliminary renderings depict The Broadmoor Golf Club atrium and its entrance into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
Consistently evolving and expanding amenities, the resort perpetually earns Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond ratings. It celebrated its 2018 centennial by staging the U.S. Senior Open and announcing it would again play host to the event—its ninth USGA championship—in 2025. Factor in five NCAA Division I men’s golf championships, 100 years of the prestigious Broadmoor Invitation tournament and 11 inductees into the Colorado Hall of Fame (including Class of 2020 member Russ Miller) and you have one of the state’s most distinguished golf pedigrees. That pedigree already beams from cherrywood-framed glass cases in the stunning Heritage Hallway leading from the Broadmoor Golf Shop to its plush Golf Grille. Plans for the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame—which will occupy the highceilinged atrium of the main Golf Club Complex and the long east-west corridor entered from the northwest corner—call for a similarly refined presentation on an even grander scale. These preliminarily include interactive displays, etched-glass inductee portraits, a historic timeline and space for rotating exhibits. To exe-
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cute this, the Hall has engaged Nancy Woelfel, principal of Denver-based artworker, with whom The Broadmoor has collaborated for two decades on projects throughout the resort—including the Heritage Hallway and Golf Grille. In addition to playing a pivotal role in the growth of golf in Colorado, The Broadmoor’s unique position as a world-renowned public resort affords the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame the kind of partnership that will increase the nonprofit organization’s exposure and profile. Funding for the project will come in the form of a capital campaign that has already commenced, with moneys coming from public and private donations, foundation grants and support from Hall of Fame board members and inductees. Both organizations look forward to a long, mutually beneficial relationship. “The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame is honored by this partnership with The Broadmoor to provide a wonderful home for the museum,” Passey says. “It will allow us to chronicle the history of Colorado golf in a dynamic way, celebrate the achievements of those we’ve enshrined and inspire future generations of golfers.” Calling it a “great privilege and source of pride for The Broadmoor,” Miller believes that “showcasing the distinguished men, women and golf championships that have had such a profound impact on golf in Colorado allows our members and our guests to recognize and reflect on the great history and traditions of the game.” Damoli emphasizes those emotions: “The Broadmoor is very proud of our long and rich golf history and believe that the Hall of Fame has found a fitting new home at our resort,” he says. “We look forward to sharing the many individuals from Colorado who have impacted the game of golf, their unique stories and memorabilia for everyone to enjoy in the future.” coloradogolfhalloffame.org June 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
The Gallery
Pyramid’s Scene
PHOTOGRAPHS BY E.J. CARR
RIDING THE SUCCESS of its Pyramid Putter—the 2018 PGA Merchandise Show’s “Putter of the Year” and one of 2020’s hottest-selling online golf clubs—Denver-based Break Even Golf has come out with the Pyramid P3 Pharaoh Wedge. Unlike the Pyramid Putter, whose face self-corrects off-center hits by virtue of diagonal grooves forming a pyramid around a horizontally grooved center, the grooves on the Pharaoh P3 run straight across the entire clubface to promote spin no matter where you make contact. The P3’s “pyramid” appears as a suggestion in the shape of the clubhead, while mini-Transamerica Buildings form rails on the wide sole, gliding the club through any surface. The P3 wedges, which come in 45-, 50-, and 55-degree lofts, can help anyone who regularly wastes shots with skulls and chunks from inside 70 feet. They accomplish this through subtle but important attributes. Each wedge features a shorter shaft length and more upright lie angle than a normal wedge, allowing you to set up closer and more vertically, as you would when putting. This tends to keep the clubface square. So does a topline that features 18 notches for alignment, and a heavier head, which also promotes a back-and-through stroke using your arms and shoulders rather than your flippy hands and wrists. You may never see this club in a Tour player’s bag, but the black PVD coating looks as badass as the shots the club produces. pyramid-putters.com
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
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The Gallery
Wink Gets the Nod
THE DENVER METRO AREA’S second-oldest golf clubhouse will celebrate its final birthday this year. Built in 1971 to serve golfers at Foothills Golf Course in southwest Denver’s Marston neighborhood, the outdated edifice of emetic hue will meet the wrecking ball at the end of this season. To replace it, the Foothills Park & Recreation District (FPRD) has enlisted the services of Johnson Nathan Strohe (JNS)—the same Denver-based architectural firm responsible for the clubhouses at Riverdale in Brighton, Westminster’s Greg Mastriona Courses at Hyland Hills and, most recently, City Park Golf Course in Denver. “Those structures all vary greatly in style, which is very attractive,” PGA Director of Golf Tom Woodard explains, noting the way in which City Park clubhouse’s window wall showcases downtown Denver and the snowcapped peaks. “Our whole concept
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF AERO-IMAGES.COM
THE BROADMOOR GOLF CLUB has a new PGA Head Golf Professional. Justin Wink, who spent the last 15 years as the golf professional at TPC Tampa Bay, will fill the position vacated by Mark Kelbel in early 2020, when he left to head up the fledgling Broadmoor Caddie Leadership Academy. Wink earned numerous PGA Section awards in Florida, and his eight years of experience managing the PGA Tour Champions’ Encompass Insurance Pro-Am of Tampa Bay should serve him well as The Broadmoor counts down to the 2025 U.S. Senior Open. broadmoor.com
The Clubhouse Turn
is to show off our western view of the Front Range, which is truly spectacular.” FPRD and JNS are still early in the design process, but Woodard expects they will break ground before the end of the year. “The only original clubhouse in the area that’s older is the one at Kennedy, which the City of Denver built in the Sixties,” Woodard says. Foothills will follow the westside daily-fee courses of Raccoon Creek in Littleton, South Suburban in Centennial and West Woods in Arvada—all of which built new clubhouses within the last five years and are attracting both golf and non-golf events. As far as the projected cost, it certainly won’t exceed the $50 million Cherry Hills Country Club is reportedly spending to upgrade its clubhouse. foothillsgolf.org
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An Arthurian Legend ARTHUR HILLS, THE DESIGNER of numerous Colorado courses, died May 18, in Florida. He was 91 and left a legacy that stretched from his hometown of Toledo, Ohio—where his offices remain—to more than 30 states and to Sweden, Thailand, Russia, Portugal and Jamaica. That legacy began southwest of Toledo in 1967 at Brandywine Country Club in Maumee. More than 200 new golf courses and another 150 renovations followed. An environmental pioneer, Hills designed the first Audubon Signature Sanctuary courses in the United States, Mexico and Europe. Haymaker Golf Course in Steamboat Springs, which in 2000 became the first Colorado course to be certified as an Audubon Signature Sanctuary, was designed by former Hills protégé Keith Foster. In addition to a 2003 scrape of Denver’s erstwhile Green Gables Country Club, Hills laid out six Colorado courses: Heritage Eagle Bend (Aurora), Ironbridge (Glenwood Springs), Legacy Ridge (Westminster), Todd Creek (Thornton), Walking Stick (Pueblo) and Glacier Club’s Valley Course (Durango). Then known as The Cliffs at Tamarron, the Durango layout opened in 1976 and represented one of the state’s first true “mountain” layouts. “As a kid, I would read the magazines and marvel at the articles about new courses,” the architect Forrest Richardson recalled. “One was Tamarron in Colorado, a new course by Art Hills set in a rugged valley with steep cliffs. Eventually I got to see it firsthand, and it inspired me with its bold greens and creative routing.” Like Hills, Richardson became president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. He cited Hills’ contributions to a newsletter the teenaged Richardson published in the 1970s: “While he left an incredible legacy of work across the world, I will always recall the kindness he showed a young, aspiring student—a gift we should all pay forward.”
UPON REFLECTION: The Cliffs at Tamarron in Durango, Hills’ first course in Colorado, inspired course architects to prospect in the mountains.
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June 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
The Gallery
Postseason Pioneers THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER men’s and women’s golf teams both repeated as Summit League champions, qualifying for the NCAA regionals. Although the women finished 10th, failing to advance to the NCAA Finals at Grayhawk Golf Club, sophomore Anna Zanusso (Castelfranco Veneto, Italy) carded a 2-under 211 to tie for second among players from non-qualifying teams. She will compete as an individual at Grayhawk. The DU men had their work cut out for them as the 13 seed out of 14 teams in the Cle Elum, Wash., Regional May 17-19, which began after this magazine went to press.
The teams from Colorado’s three other Division I golf programs failed to qualify for regionals, but Colorado State’s A.J. Ott and the University of Colorado’s Daniel O’Loughlin and Malak Bouraeda received invitations to compete as individuals. Rain washed out Bouraeda’s regional in Louisiana, while Ott traveled to Stillwater, Okla. and O’Loughlin competed in Albuquerque. Congratulations to the Division II Colorado State-Pueblo ThunderWolves. Their fourth-place finish in Regionals delivered “the Pack’s” first-ever berth in the NCAA Championship. They played May 17-20, at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Find all results at golfstat.com.
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Owned by the Colorado Golf Association, and designed by world-renowned architect Tom Doak, CommonGround can be found in Aurora at the intersection of Mission and Masterpiece. commongroundgc.com | 303-340-1520 COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
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Player’s Corner PLAY AWAY
Mountain Revival Jim Engh’s Lakota Canyon masterpiece gets a new owner, a new name and a new lease on life. By Todd Hartley PHOTOGRAPH © DRINKER DURRANCE GRAPHICS
THE EIGHTH TEE at Lakota Links golf course provides a great vantage point from which to view the past, present and future of this twice-bankrupt, Jim Engh-designed marvel of engineering in the rugged canyons of New Castle, Colorado. Accessed by a steep, lung-busting climb up a railroad-tie staircase that is falling apart in places, the black tee at the eighth hole is one of the most elevated tees at a course renowned for its elevated tees. From here, way up on the side of a canyon, you can see holes six through eight down in the bowl below you. The turf on the fairways and most of the blue, white and red tees is in good shape, about where it should be for late April, but the black tees, the tips, are another story. Some are fine, but some, like the vertiginous eighth, have basically been left to grow wild for the last two years while the course had no owner and now serve as a reminder of Lakota Links’ troubled financial history. You get the sense that all those issues are in the past, though, because amongst the fairways and desertlike rough, shining like beacons of hope, are emerald-green, immaculate putting surfaces in better shape than you’d ever expect to find on a mountain course at this time of year.
PHOTOGRAPH BY TODD HARTLEY
CRAZY EIGHT: The climb to the back tee on the 398-yard 8th rewards you with one of the best panoramas on the course. But with so much water in play, there’s no need to bring your driver.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE: New club ownership envisions Lakota Lookout as “family-friendly, serving delicious, flexible and approachable food with mountain views.”
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The stellar greens are a testament to the work already put in by the course’s latest owner, the Romero Group. But the black tees, which are lower on the to-do list, show just how far the Basalt-based property-management company has to go to restore this iconic course to its former glory. Fortunately for Romero, it didn’t cost very much to get the opportunity to find that out. HILLY COURSE, ROCKY PAST Formerly known as Lakota Canyon Ranch, Lakota Links has had its share of hiccups in its 17-year history. The course, which winds its way up and down a quartet of canyons, opened to thunderous applause in 2004 and earned a No. 5 ranking
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on Golf Digest’s 2005 list of Best New Public Courses, and in 2008, the same magazine ranked Lakota Canyon 79th on its prestigious list of 100 Greatest Public Courses, ahead of such famous tracks as PGA West, Torrey Pines South and Troon North. But then the Great Recession hit, and the real estate market in New Castle, which had been booming, ground to a halt. Lakota Canyon went bankrupt in 2011 and was purchased in 2012 by Warrior Golf, a company that, at the time, owned 13 courses around the country. Warrior built a spacious new clubhouse and ran the course unevenly for seven years until falling on hard times itself. A casualty of a corporate restructuring, June 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
PHOTOGRAPHS © DRINKER DURRANCE GRAPHICS
Player’s Corner PLAY AWAY
Lakota Canyon filed for bankruptcy again in March 2019, just as the golf season was getting ready to start. What followed were two summers of what new Lakota Links General Manager Jacques Deyoe describes as “neglect,” when the more difficult parts of the course to maintain essentially went ignored. The course’s reputation suffered, rounds dropped, and the future looked bleak once again. Finally, in August 2020, the course, along with Lakota Canyon’s remaining residential and commercial lots, which number about 350, were put up for auction. Romero Group placed its bid and won with what must be a contender for steal of the century. “We paid $1.5 million for the whole thing— blood, guts and feathers,” says Romero Group President and CEO Dwayne Romero, “down to forks, knives, and spoons and alcohol inventory in the clubhouse restaurant. Everything.” It was too late in the summer to do much about the conditions at the course last year, but Romero Group got to work right away in the fall with an eye toward improvements for this season. Deyoe, the former head pro at River Valley Ranch and a veteran of Aspen Glen, both in nearby Carbondale, was brought in to run things with a new staff and upgraded maintenance equipment. The crew began the process of overhauling the irrigation system, Romero purchased a whole new fleet of golf carts, and to show that things are going to be different this time around, changed the name to Lakota Links. “Lakota Canyon Ranch Golf Club was a lot of words, and we’re just trying to be simple and clean and clear,” Romero explains. “So we went with Lakota Links, and we went with Lakota Lookout for the restaurant, which is such an appropriate name for the cool lookout perspective you get (on the edge of a canyon overlooking the 18th green).”
BIG FINISH: A view back at Lakota’s uphill 557-yard par-5 18th shows a deep ravine creating three distinct landing areas—and New Castle’s iconic Burning Mountain, the site of three mining disasters, smoldering in the distance.
FIRM GOALS AND GOLF GOODWILL There’s still a lot of work to be done, of course. The pro shop was left with virtually no inventory, and though Deyoe had ordered everything for the season, in late April the shelves were all but bare. And while the greens, the first beneficiaries of the new irrigation, were in pristine condition, the course’s extremely hilly nature means that setting up the sprinklers correctly as they come online is a little tricky.
SWEEPING BEAUTY: Lakota’s 557-yard fourth, the first of two consecutive par 5s, curls uphill to a tongue-shaped green nesting on the highest point on the course.
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
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“It’s a challenge to irrigate this course,” says Deyoe. “The irrigation system really needs to be dialed in and orchestrated to perfection so the water doesn’t pool down in the low spots. I would love to see this course have that nice firm turf all over, and that’s our goal.” Thus far, Lakota Links has been on the right track with all its changes related to the physical and managerial aspects of things, but Romero Group knows there’s more to restoring this course to its former glory than just improving the playing conditions. “The first priority is to re-establish goodwill with the community and develop a relationship and some trust,” says Romero. “That comes in the form of restoring some investment and some care in the assets that are already up here.” The changes seem to be paying off already. One Lakota regular down from Aspen, who’d been turned off the last two years, remarked about how much better things were under the new management. And Romero Group’s investment is set to pay off big-time, as the once-moribund real estate market is booming again in New Castle, a historic mining town that offers excellent mountain biking and hiking in addition to golf. People are starting to notice, too. The season had barely started, and already a steady stream of golfers from across Colorado were remembering why they loved this course so much in the first place. “We hit almost 150 golfers today,” Romero says on the last day of April. “That’s winning.” Todd Hartley is a freelance writer and 7 handicap who writes about golf, skiing and other healthy pursuits. He lives in Basalt with his wife, son, two dogs and a cat. coloradoavidgolfer.com
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Player’s Corner 15TH CLUB
Exercises in Utility Four reasons why you’re literally not fit to be a Tour pro—and what you can do about it. By Dee Tidwell
ILLUSTRATION BY DAVE PALMER
FACE IT. Most amateurs don’t think of golf as a sport that requires fitness training. While the concept of golf fitness has had a direct impact on performance for guys and gals on the tours, I still don’t see it trickling down to the amateur golfer. Instead, I see amateurs gladly investing in the brands of clubs and balls used by their favorite pros without making the same kind of investment those pros make in their bodies. The results are predictably frustrating, and it’s not just because amateurs nurture grandiose delusions about their ability or don’t work out enough. Having trained both professional and amateur golfers for more than 20 years, I can give you four main reasons why many amateurs struggle to improve. 1. TOUR PLAYERS TRAIN WITH INTENT AND STRUCTURE—AND YOU DON’T. If you’re like most golfers, you don’t exercise consistently—or purposefully—enough to make changes in your game. You may “exercise” to check it off the health list or even to make yourself COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
feel better, lose weight, etc., but do you have a specifically created plan to address the physical issues that may affect your day-to-day life— including golf? Twenty-five of the top 30 PGA TOUR players have a TPI fitness professional who works closely with his teaching professional and medical staff to create a customized fitness plan to optimize performance. Having trained two Tour winners, I can tell you that the simpler I can make it for a player, the better. If an athlete can get up and look at the training schedule and know what to do, it helps with consistency, growth, progress and confidence. He or she also knows “why” they are doing what they’re doing in the training program because I’ve explained it. This provides a strong motivator to action. Do you need that? The answer is yes. I suggest finding your closest TPI-certified professional to help begin the process of getting a program designed to identify exactly what your body needs and learn why issues such as tightness, weakness and immobility are affecting your
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golf swing. Should you elect to design your own program, be sure to always include these crucial primal movements: • Squat • Lunge • Push • Pull • Bend • Twist 2. TOUR PLAYERS AREN’T AS TIGHT AS YOU PROBABLY ARE. Flexibility is probably the top physical issue separating the professionals from the average golfers—a difference that was compounded during the lockdown by issues such as “texting neck,” “computer posture” and “pandemic pounds” becoming their own mini-epidemic. When tightness acts as kryptonite to consistency, handicap reduction, decreased distance and difficulty of performing what a golf pro may be trying to teach you, it’s simply difficult for most people to make any progress. coloradoavidgolfer.com
15th Club 3. PROFESSIONALS HAVE A MORE CONSISTENT BACKSWING THAN YOU DO. The golf swing is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. How you’re built, what sports you played growing up and your present athleticism will create your swing mechanics. Whether you’re comparing Rahm to DJ or Justin to Jack, one thing they all have is a consistent backswing move. However, most average golfers don’t know how to move their body in a correct biomechanical backswing. Why the backswing? Well, remember that the backswing is an upper-body move and the downswing is a lower-body move. You want to be able to create a repeatable backswing rotational move to set up a repeatable downswing rotational move.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY E.J. CARR
BACKSWING BODY SEQUENCE • Stand at address holding an alignment stick or golf club to your chest to emphasize your body position. • Using your lead arm, initiate the backswing by moving an imaginary club. • Move your torso/thorax. Here’s where you can see the turn begin to show itself. • Last, move your hips along with your front knee. This is crucial, as many amateurs don’t let their front leg (my left) follow the turn of the right hip into the rotation pattern. When the knee moves more straight, you limit your ability to turn your hips in your backswing and thus limit your downswing rotational pattern in the transition. When the above sequence happens correctly, you will not have moved much from your original posture position up, down or laterally. At the top of your backswing, your sternum should be pointing 90 degrees from your address position, your hips to 45 degrees and your left knee to about 20 degrees. If any of those three are limited, your brain will find a way for your club to get to the top in the form of swing faults. Being able to move with these biomechanical markers will set up better consistency, improve your rotational move in the downswing, reduce or eliminate back pain and improve your allaround game. 4. THEIR JOB IS TO PERFORM; YOURS IS TO PLAY. If your golf obsession has only resulted in a disappointing lack of improvement, take the approach of so many other amateur athletes: Find balance. Most amateur golfers struggle to improve because they spend too much time on the range and not enough time working with the thing that swings the club—the body. When your body doesn’t move well, swing faults arise and prevent progress in your golf game. For example, let’s say you’ve had a left hip or knee replacement. If you are too hesitant to load that side from transition to impact and follow through because you think it might hurt, swing faults such COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
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Denver
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15th Club as swaying, hanging back, coming over the top, casting, scooping and loss of posture can result. Imagine being able to maximize your new joint’s ability to move and reduce or eliminate those faults. I’ve done this with amateur and Tour
players since 2000, and never tire of the joy they experience when they discover they can improve despite their injury. So, in the end, like with most things in life, create balance in your game. Get fit for clubs,
meet with an instructor to help guide you through your learning process and definitely spend time in the gym making your body capable of moving the best it can. Your brain and body will reward you with more fun while playing the game!
PHOTOGRAPHS BY E.J. CARR
• • • •
• • • •
NECK ROTATION WITH FLEXION (1-2 sets of 2-3 reps each side) • Sit up tall, then turn your chin as far as you can to look over your shoulder without flexing or extending your neck. • Once you’ve reached your max turn, tuck your chin and try to touch your clavicle without moving your shoulder! • You can then GENTLY pull your head downward, but please do it GENTLY!
HIPS CIRCLES (1-3 sets of 6-10 reps both forward and backward) Get on all fours with wrists under shoulders and knees under hips. Lift one leg and try to create a circle with your knee hitting all parts of the circle. If you have ‘stuck’ sections of it, spend more time trying to break into that section. When you lift your leg, think about turning your pelvis to help raise the leg.
ELDOA LOWER BACK SPINAL DECOMPRESSION • Lay on your back and try to get your sit bones on the wall. If you have to bend your knees to do that, then start from there; otherwise, keep legs straight. • Extend yourself so the crown of your head and tailbone are “reaching” away from each other. • Rotate your hands externally into “Spider-Man” arms—with pinkies toward each other with fingers spread. • Straighten your knees and turn your legs inward so your toes point toward the opposite shoulder. Imagine a piece of paper between your feet, your toes should reach toward it but not touch it. • Look down as low as you can with your eyes and keep them that way for the whole minute. • Reach overhead and then reach hard away. Your head should reach in the same direction as your arms/hands, even though it won’t move. • Keep your lower back flat the whole time. • Breathe • Learn how to work hard but be relaxed at the same time • Work up to 1 minute–but start with as long you can go as cleanly as you can. Do after a workout or a round and before you go to bed.
THORAX/SHOULDER SEATED ROTATIONS (1-3 sets of 6 reps each move, each side) Sit on a chair or other wide seat. Make sure your sit bones stay flat and the crown of your head works to the ceiling throughout exercise. With good posture, reach forward with one arm in a “Spider-Man” wrist position and the opposite arm reaching strongly behind you with your elbow as high as your shoulder joint. Reach forward and backward with each arm, keeping nose and belly button facing forward. Be sure to turn the sternum as far as you can (smartly of course), which will help the arms reach a bit farther.
Dee Tidwell owns Colorado Golf Fitness Club in the Tech Center and has twice been named a Golf Digest Top 50 Golf Fitness Instructor. He is a TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) professional, ELDOA Trainer and has coached two PGA Tour winners and countless amateur, high school and college golfers. coloradogolffitnessclub.com; 303-883-0435 COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
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Player’s Corner GIFT GUIDE
Presents for Pops Whether he’s old-school or a gadget geek, Dad will appreciate these golf-inspired gifts. By Suzanne S. Brown
TOASTING A LEGEND The name of golf great Bobby Jones lives on in courses, clothing and such tournaments as the Masters, which he co-founded in his home state of Georgia. And now, Jones’ spirit continues…in spirits. The Clover Whiskey brand is made up of aged single-barrel, straight whiskeys, and includes a couple of types of bourbon and a rye. Jones, who won the golf Grand Slam in 1930 and is regarded as the best amateur ever to play the game, was said to drink three fingers of the best local whiskey after every round he played. Into each competition he always carried a four-leaf-clover token given by his mother as a good luck charm, so it became the symbol for the whiskey brand as well. At first, only select golf courses and resorts stocked The Clover, but it has now found its way into restaurants and clubs across the country. The Clover Single-Barrel Straight Bourbon Whiskey and The Clover Single-Barrel Rye typically sell for about $50 per bottle, and The Clover Single-Barrel Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey is around $70. thecloverwhiskey.com
WRIST ASSURED Golf is a game of yards and inches, slope ratings and angles. Keeping score and tracking your handicap. Increasingly, players are using smart watches to help them get a handle on all the numbers. Garmin offers several styles of wearables that, when combined with the company’s app, offer a plethora of information to the golfer. With more than 40,000 courses loaded onto the device, the ApproachS42’s watch tracks the player’s location with GPS and displays the course layout and distances to the green, as well as noting hazards, doglegs and more. The ApproachS42, $300, has a full-color, easy-to-read touchscreen, with such features as the ability to move the pin on the green with a drag-and-drop feature. Using the app, a player can upload scorecards, review performance and complete other functions. A good-looking wristwatch off the course, it also offers fitness tracking features and operates on a single charge for 15 hours in GPS mode and 10 days in normal mode. buy.garmin.com
SHIRT TALES For the golfer who isn’t afraid to express a little personality on the course, William Murray Golf gives him ample opportunity. This collection, from actor Bill Murray and his brothers, has a range of shirts, shorts, pants and accessories that often borrow from characters in Murray’s movies, including Caddyshack and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. From the latter film comes the For Esteban polo shirt, $80, named for the character eaten by a “jaguar shark” that oceanographer Zissou (played by Murray) searches for. Or check out such Murray button-downs as the pastel Go Figure, $85, printed with Polaroids depicting the escapades of the gopher and Carl Spackler (Murray) in Caddyshack. While lighthearted in mood, the designs are performance-oriented. The buttondown is made of four-way stretch fabric that’s moisturewicking and offers UPF 50+ protection from UV rays. williammurraygolf.com
RETRO REVIVAL Sneakers that look like they escaped from the 1970s are all the rage, whether they’re worn for work or playing a round of golf. Low-profile silhouettes, mixes of materials like suede and fabric, and muted color combos mark a departure from the flashy, neon-hued footwear athletes are wearing in other sports. Adidas’ Adicross Retro Spikeless Shoes are versatile enough to go from the course to the clubhouse and beyond while also having the performance features a guy needs. The spikeless design has a grippy Traxion outsole for stability, a ripstop textile upper and comes in muted shades of off-white and gray, or blue and white, $90. adidas.com
Suzanne S. Brown is the former fashion editor at The Denver Post. COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
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Side Bets FAREWAYS
Open for Dinner A surprisingly diverse range of dining options awaits in and around Green Valley Ranch during the CoBank Colorado Open. By John Lehndorff
EBERT’S TERRACE After watching dozens of holes of Colorado Open competition out in the wind and sun, you can head from the greens directly into Ebert’s Terrace at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club. The restaurant is open to the public for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. “Early arrivals can grab eggs Benedict or a green chile bowl at Ebert’s before the action begins,” Ebert’s Terrace Sales and Marketing Manager Kelly Tuley says. From 11 a.m. on, the lunch and dinner menu include everything from a rib eye steak French dip coloradoavidgolfer.com
with au jus to a Southwestern salad crowned with cilantro vinaigrette dressing and a skewer of blackened shrimp. The menu’s big bestsellers are the sweet tea fried chicken and the Denver Burger topped with bacon and roasted chilies, Tuley says. The newest entrée is Colorado Wagyu skirt steak in chimichurri sauce with tomato corn salsa. Tuley recommends making dinner reservations for tables on the expansive deck overlooking the course and a Rocky Mountains vista. “It’s spectacular at sunset,” she says. 4900 Himalaya Road, Denver, 303-957-4096, ebertsterrace.com DICICCO’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT (3.1 miles from GVR Golf Club) DiCicco’s reminds visitors of every movie scene or song set in an East Coast Italian-American restaurant. The enormous two-level eatery on Tower Road is elaborately painted and decorated and Italian opera soars in the background. Warm bread, cold salad, hot soup and red wine are a given. Pasta in all its shapes and sauces takes center stage, as do veal and chicken preparations
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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF EBERT’S TERRACE
WHEN THE CoBank Colorado Open takes place July 29 to August 1, it will mark the 18th time Green Valley Ranch has hosted the annual state championship. A few years back, dining options in the emerging area 13 miles southwest of Denver International Airport hadn’t quite caught up to the level of the event, which now ranks as the richest state open in the country. But that’s changing. Green Valley Ranch and the nearby area boast a surprisingly wide range of nibbling and sipping destinations, especially now that COVID-19 restrictions have lifted.
PAR FOR THE PALATE: Ebert’s Terrace overlooks the decisive 18th green at Green Valley Ranch, where pre-round breakfast options include a plate of mouthwatering eggs Benedict.
such as Marsala, Parmigiana, Cacciatore and Piccata. For special occasions: rib eye steaks with bleu cheese sauce and a side of gnocchi. 6701 Tower Road, Denver, 303-574-1956, diciccoscolorado.com GREEN VALLEY RANCH BEER GARDEN (0.1 miles from GVR Golf Club) This summery place is built for gatherings with an 8,000-square-foot garden area and pavilion with picnic tables. Brews on tap range from Coors Light to Copper Kettle Mexican Chocolate Stout brewed June 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF GREEN VALLEY RANCH BEER GARDEN
Fareways
SUDS AND SACKS: As fun as it sounds, Green Valley Ranch Beer Garden pours craft ales, bakes its own pretzels and hand-grinds craft burgers—all enjoyed in a lively indoor/outdoor setting that reminds you it’s easier to get a beanbag in a hole than it is a golf ball.
in Aurora. Beer-friendly appetizers include fried cheese curds, smoked pork nachos and a pretty “Maui-Style” seared tuna salad. The Beer Garden prides itself on doing things in-house including baking pretzels, grinding beef cuts for burgers, and hand-cutting potatoes for fries. Note: There is no tipping; gratuities are included. 4995 Argonne St., Denver, 303-375-7880, gvrbeergarden.com
MONDO’S PIZZA (2.3 miles from GVR Golf Club) True New York-style thin crust rules at this mostly take-out pizzeria. Fans recommend the specialty pizzas like the white (no tomatoes!), the al pastor, jalapeño popper and BBQ chicken. Mondo’s also features salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes. 3751 Tower Road, Aurora, 303-375-7834, mondospizzaco.com OLD HICKORY STEAKHOUSE (3.2 miles from GVR Golf Club) If you haven’t toured the Gaylord Rockies Resort near Denver International Airport, then a visit to the on-site steakhouse will provide an opportunity
SKY RANCH
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Sky Ranch Golf Course, located in Sterling, CO, is the premier golf course in the northeast region of Colorado. Founded in 1916, the course is the oldest in northeastern Colorado and one of the first five courses in the state. With its unique traditional character and newly renovated clubhouse you will enjoy every minute of your golf round, dining or event!
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Fareways to be wowed by all the fun tucked under one roof. Old Hickory Steakhouse is old-school with an à la carte menu featuring top cuts of beef, pork, lamb, bison and fresh seafood, plus butters and sauce enhancements. Generously portioned side dishes like grilled asparagus and creamed spinach fill the table. Impress your guests with a chilled seafood platter overloaded with lobster, shrimp, oysters, clams and Alaskan King crab. Dress code is “smart casual,” i.e., no shorts and flip-flops. Gaylord Rockies Resort, 6700 N. Gaylord Rockies Blvd., Aurora, 720-574-1476, gaylordrockies.com
CORIANDER TASTES OF INDIA (1.4 miles from GVR Golf Club) The beauty of this classic Indian eatery is that you can satisfy everyone in your dinner entourage if they are: a) vegan, b) dairy-free, C) glutenfree, or d) a total carnivore. Don’t miss the saag paneer (cheese cubes in creamy spinach) or the array of charcoal-grilled meat, seafood and fish kabobs with chutneys. If you like it fiery, start with tandoor oven-baked coriander bullet naan layered in garlic, serrano chile and chopped cilantro, and then sweat over the chicken vindaloo. 4968 Tower Road, Denver, 720-216-0301, corianderdenver.com
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF OLD HICKORY STEAKHOUSE
MOONLIGHT DINER (2.4 miles from GVR Golf Club) With its shining chrome exterior, you can’t miss the Moonlight Diner, a recreation of classic diner sporting memorabilia, an early rock soundtrack and a breakfast-all-day menu. It’s the kind of place where you can side your pressed sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy or onion rings and top it off with an ice cream soda, a beverage originally created in Denver. 6250 Tower Road, Denver, 303-307-1750, moonlightdinerco.com
CHAMPION’S DINNER: The Rockies Gaylord Resort’s swank Old Hickory Steakhouse dishes up classic cuts and a winning atmosphere.
PHO KITCHEN 88 (1.1 miles from GVR Golf Club) Besides noodle bowls, egg rolls,
banh mi sandwiches, spring rolls with pork and big bowls of consistently good pho, fast casual Pho Kitchen 88 features spicy Cajun-Asian seafood boils and juicy char siu (Chinese BBQ pork) buns. Seating is limited. 18630 Green Valley Ranch Blvd, Denver, 720-328-6092 LOS ROBLES MEXICAN RESTAURANT (2.3 miles from GVR Golf Club) You can tell how popular Los Robles has become based on the steady flow of carry-out orders heading out the door of this off-the-beaten-track location. The family-run eatery does a great job with the usual burritos, tacos and fajitas, but be sure to explore the well-made alambres, sopes, moles and seafood dishes ranging like camarones al mojo de ajo. 5910 N. Tower Road, Denver, 303-373-3915, losroblesmexicanfood.com BLUE BAY ASIAN CAFE (1.1 miles from GVR Golf Club) Blue Bay’s giant roster of dishes can satisfy diverse cravings and diets. However, hiding in plain sight on the menu are mouthwatering chef’s specials such as crispy duck, creamy honey walnut shrimp and fiery Thai mango chicken. 18607 Green Valley Ranch Blvd, Denver, 303-307-0222, bluebaydenver.com
John Lehndorff is the former dining critic of the Rocky Mountain News and food editor of the Daily Camera. johnlehndorff.wordpress.com
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Go to Pyramid-Putters.com to see the short demo video with Blair O’Neal.
IT’S LIKE AUTO-CORRECT FOR YOUR PUTTER Pyramid grooves steer mishits back online.
What if there was a way for you to immediately sink more putts? A way that allowed you to hit the “sweet spot” of the putter every time… Doubling and even tripling your ability to putt? Well, that’s the exactly what our club designers have done using the “Gear Effect”. SWEET SPOT MILLING No Skidding or Bouncing... When you hit the center of the face on THE PYRAMID PUTTER, the horizontal grooves give the ball top spin. This means your ball will not skid or bounce off line... and this keeps it tracking toward the hole. This also helps with speed control because a consistent roll gives you a consistent speed.
TOE MILLING No More Pushed Putt s... Hit a putt with a ‘typical’ putter and you will usually push the putt. But the special toe milling on THE PYRAMID PUTTER keeps the ball tracking on the intended line.
HEEL MILLING No More Pulled Putt s... Hit the ball on the heel of the traditional putter and you will pull the putt. However, the milling on THE PYRAMID PUTTER keeps putts hit toward the heel moving straight.
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Side Bets NICE DRIVES
Creative Car-Buying With trucks and SUVs in short supply, consider these sweet alternatives from BMW, Genesis and Mazda. By Isaac Bouchard
BMW 330e
THIS YEAR’S promised “return to normal” certainly didn’t materialize in the auto business. While demand is as high as ever, shortsighted thinking last year led most automobile companies to cancel orders for critical components—most crucially, microchips. Medical and electronics companies snapped up that chip supply. And with the semiconductor industry unable to replenish stocks at most car companies, the net result is lower inventory levels than at any time since the Great Recession. That means the most popular types—trucks and SUVs—are in many cases the shortest in supply. It also requires those shopping for a new vehicle to think creatively—not unlike a golfer who finds himself stymied by a tree or short-sided in a bunker and comes up with an inspired way to save par. COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
2021 BMW 330e XDRIVE
EPA: 75MPGe, 28MPG gasoline only 0-60mph: 4.9sec (est) Price as tested $59,645* Until we achieve a national charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, plugin hybrids can always be topped up with good old petrol on road trips, yet handle the daily commute in pure EV mode. A great example of this electric subspecies, the recently updated BMW 330e, delivers uncompromised economy and performance. While the 2-liter engine and motorgenerator, with combined outputs of 288hp and 310lb-ft, are also available in the 5-series and X3, they work best in the 330e, whose lighter, slippery body allow it to cheat the wind better
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at high velocities and get around town with the shove needed to get it up to speed. The 330e has quick reactions—especially when you summon the nitrous-like Xtraboost function, giving a 40hp jolt, good for up to 10 seconds. The BMW also routinely goes 20 miles on pure electricity. Blending power sources gives amazing results, like Denver to Colorado Springs in only 45 minutes, with an average economy of 38mpg. The test vehicle was trimmed out in M Sport regalia, and its adjustable suspension almost recreated some of the magic of the stellar 3-series of decades past. Iron-fisted body control allowed the BMW to be tossed about with abandon, and the steering faithfully communicated tire grip. BMW is on the leading edge of useful, intuitive tech, both in its the powertrain and interfaces that combine touchscreen ease with coloradoavidgolfer.com
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Nice Drives the brilliance of iDrive logic. Material quality seems to have slipped from the halcyon days of the E46 and E90 3-series, but room is excellent (this gen 3 is a big as an older 5), and the sports seats are supportive and comfortable for long distances. Its combination of progressiveness and punchy performance makes the 330e plugin more captivating than the gas-only models.
2021 TOURNAMENT SERIES LINEUP
June 14th, 7:30 am $110/player, Scramble
Genesis G80
August 9th, 10:00 am
2021 GENESIS G80 2.5T ADVANCED
$125/player, Shamble
EPA Ratings: 22 /30/25mpg 0-60mph: 5.7sec Price as tested: $56,995
Taking a page from the Toyota playbook that so successfully launched Lexus in 1989, Hyundai has created its own upmarket brand, Genesis. Five models are available through stand-alone dealers: two crossovers called GVs and three sedans, of which the G80 test car is the midsize. The smaller G70 has won numerous awards as a valid rival to the iconic BMW 3-series, the larger G90 is the plush flagship. So where does that leave the G80, a classically conceived luxury liner? This Genesis’s design is as bold as things get, with perhaps the largest grill available today. Stacked, slit-like, rectangular LED lighting front and rear repeats in the form of fender vents, and a fastback roofline like the last generation Audi A7 and artfully flared flanks also draw the eye. The design language comes courtesy of recruits from companies like Bentley, and elements of the venerable British firm’s machinery echo in the G80’s flowing fenders and detailing. The Genesis interior is extremely appealing in its simplicity and sophistication, and the astonishingly high-quality material shames almost everything at the car’s price point. The nicely executed standard leatherette trim is more appealing than the real hide in many competitors. Credit Genesis for rethinking controls and interfaces. Some are very successful, such as the diamond-textured, barrel-like rollers that control volume on the steering wheel and center console, and the climate control interface, whose lovely graphics and clear controls are a textbook example of how to execute a human-machine interface. Others need honing, such as the shallow, backlit “bowl” that can be used as a trackpad input for the large, 14.5-inch center screen. That said, the 21-speaker Lexicon audio system ranks among the best in class and the G80’s driver aids work as well or better than those in top Euro-rides. It seems Genesis is trying for the same blend of old school, refined progress that defines cars like the Mercedes Benz E-Class, and in some ways, they have the Germans beat. Road noise is conspicuously absent and the primary ride of the G80 is supple and long-limbed. But smaller, sharper bumps do upset the ride more than they should. Steering precision lacks the interaction that makes one yearn to drive the Genesis harder, and the 2.5-liter turbo’s 300 horses and 311lb-ft of torque allow it to hit 60mph in 5.7 seconds, the large, heavy vehicle betrays its four-cylinder design by being a bit uncouth when pushed hard. However, one thing beyond reproof is its value. A nicely equipped version runs in the mid-$50s, and even fully kitted out, it doesn’t crack $70,000. Continued on page 48 coloradoavidgolfer.com
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September 1st, 1:30 pm $125/player, Scramble
Registration fee includes: 18 Holes of Golf, Cart, Range Balls, Amazing Meals & Awards Ceremony Beer Tastings and On-Course Fun Incredible Gift Bag Opportunities to WIN Great Prizes & more!
PLUS ONE DOZEN CALLAWAY GOLF BALLS! coloradoavidgolfer.com/ tournament-series
June 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
Nice Drives Continued from page 47
2021 MAZDA3 2.5 TURBO PREMIUM PLUS EPA Ratings: 23/31/26 mpg 0-60 mph: 5.6 sec Price as tested: $34,945
At the end of the last decade, Mazda’s new CEO set a goal: the company would become a premium brand by the mid-to-late ’20s. Average transaction price is already up $4,000, and many showrooms and facilities are being redesigned to be as nice as those from premium players like Audi. The Mazda3 2.5 Turbo is a great example of what’s afoot. The new version is a full-frontal assault on the Audi A3, with which last year’s version was often cross-shopped. Its skin is sleek and the trim discreetly upscale; the hatchback a radical looking thing with a uniquely radiused tail. The Mazda3 interior is beautifully turned out, most everything a giant leap above the quality of mainstream rivals, including Audi. The clean and simple cockpit aesthetic reflects investment in better materials, like switches that give good satisfaction as you twist, prod or push, and lovely leather that adorns the wheel and shifter. Front seat comfort is superb, but the sloping hatch roofline makes entry to the supportive back bench tight, and the view out claustrophobic. (A mechanically identical four-door version provides more rear-seat space.) The 2.5 Turbo has a stout 250hp and a massive 320lb-ft of torque, twisting its way through a responsive AWD system. It only takes 5.6 seconds to hit 60mph, and the car is effortlessly fast at all times. The 6-speed transmission is smooth and unobtrusive but not as fast-shifting as the best from competitors, and Mazda really needs to allow it to go into top gear in Sport mode. This is not a hot hatch, though; refinement is too big a part of the mix, and this generation of Mazda3 doesn’t have the at-the-limit discipline nor
Mazda3
interactivity of earlier versions. However, it resists wind and road noise as well or better than most mainstream rivals. Perhaps as Mazda’s new, aspirational place in the automotive firmament becomes more secure, its talented designers and engineers will reintroduce their legacy of driver connectedness and fun. Mazdas consistently rank among the most reliable and least expensive cars to run. Meanwhile, it’s wonderful to see the small company from Hiroshima realizing its aspirations while offering such superb value.
Automotive Editor Isaac Bouchard owns Denver-based Bespoke Autos (isaac@bespokeautos.com; 303-475-1462). Read more of his automotive writing, reviews and recommendations on coloradoavidgolfer.com and bespokeautos.com.
PRIVATE LOT IN CATAMOUNT RANCH $1,395,000
#5789580
• Located on an award-winning golf course • Steamboat’s best-selling development • 360º views from Flat Tops to the Ski Area • Catamount membership included • 5 minutes to world-class skiing • One of the last remaining lots • Low yearly dues, easy build DARLINDA BALDINGER & CHLOE LAWRENCE C: 970.846.7192 S T E A M B O AT L O CALBRO KE RS .CO M
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2021
“This two-day tournament is truly spectacular! Experiencing the event is memorable; not to mention all the great prizes and player gifts. I look forward to participating every year!” –Marc Steron
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The Country Club at Castle Pines featuring Two Days of Golf Pairings Party before the Event Cocktail Reception and Dinner Party after Day 1 On-Course Food, Cocktail Stations, Player Gift Bags and much more Competitive and Non-Competitive Flights A Chance to Win a Two-Year Lease on a BMW
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A two-day Colorado Golf Experience like no other!
Colorado Section
PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) is a year-round program designed to keep interested veterans playing golf in order to embrace their wellbeing. PGA HOPE includes an introduction to the sport of golf, golf instruction, playing opportunities and social events.
Home for a Hero
Since 2016, Colorado PGA REACH has presented keys to seven (7) Combat Wounded Veterans. The recipient of the 2021 home will be presented at the Colorado PGA REACH Invitational on July 21, 2021, at The Golf Club at Bear Dance.
PGA REACH Invitational
The Colorado PGA REACH Invitational is the Foundation’s largest annual fundraiser and has become a “can’t miss event!” The all-inclusive experience will again be hosted at the home of the Colorado PGA, The Golf Club at Bear Dance. Register to play using the QR code!
We have partnered with Mile High Golf Trail, a team that is dedicated to consistently providing an award-winning and diverse golf experience for every patron, everyday. Play one (1) round at each of these 4 Award Winning Properties for $249! Bear Dance | Plum Creek | Colorado National | Riverdale
Proceeds from Mile High Golf Trail Fore Pack Purchases help fund our Home for a Hero. https://www.milehighgolftrail.com/product/trail-pass/ Colorado PGA REACH is the 501(c)(3) charitable foundation of the Colorado PGA. To learn more about the MILITARY PILLAR of Colorado PGA REACH, visit us online at coloradopga.com or call 303-681-0742
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Grand Elk Golf Club
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Getaways GRAND COUNTY • STEAMBOAT SPRINGS COLORADO SPRINGS • NORTHERN COLORADO PRESENTED BY
GOING WAY OFF-COURSE Golf only begins the journey
GET OUT! Where to head in the High Country
GR AND ELK Koelbel’s Second-Home Sweet Spot coloradoavidgolfer.com
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Getaways | Grand County
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Getting the Grand Tour Welcome to the capital of sweet second homes and first-rate fun. GRAND ELK
Denver real-estate titan Buz Koelbel has had a lifelong love of Grand County, where he learned to ski and fly-fish as a boy. As a resident of Koelbel & Company’s 520-acre Grand Elk second-home community in Granby, you can pursue those activities, plus golf on the Craig Stadler-designed Grand Elk Golf Club, biking and hiking on miles of trails, boating on Grand Lake and Lake Granby and much more—all within minutes of your doorstep. Spacious ranch-style and main floor master villas along the course start in the $700s, while the new Village at Arrowhead features 32 grand oneand two-story designs on sizable golf course sites. koelbelatgrandelk.com
A GATHERING SPOT The rustically elegant clubhouse at Grand Elk Golf Club provides Grand Elk residents with tee times and lessons, as well as access to a spa, outdoor pool and the Grand Elk Grille, where lunch and dinner choices range from burgers and tacos to garlic seared halibut and maplechipotle pork shoulder. grandelk.com
Grand Elk Golf Club
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
Grand County is home to Grand Lake, Colorado’s largest and deepest natural lake, and 7,000-acre Lake Granby, a reservoir that’s the state’s third-largest body of water. The former attracts sailboaters and kayakers with its views of Rocky Mountain National Park and the moose in the shallows. The latter appeals to jet-skiers and all forms of boaters, as well as fishermen casting for mackinaw and kokanee salmon. Both offer swimming spots, as well as marinas for watercraft and SUP rentals. The shores of both lakes feature campsites, in addition to abundant dining and lodging options. visitgrandcounty.com
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BUYING THE RANCH Watch for big changes and upgrades at Granby Ranch. On May 5, the entire ski and golf property sold for $29 million to Missouri-based GR Terra, which “will commit to investing the time and resources for Granby Ranch to realize its full potential,” according to a press release. Touchstone Golf should continue to run the golf course as improvements in lodging and hospitality take place. granbyranch.com
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF O2CREATIVE.COM
Granby Ranch Golf Course
RANCH BLESSING
MOUNTAIN ARTWALK Why not get some culture while exercising in the great outdoors? The Winter Park Art Trail is a free art trail along the scenic Fraser River Trail between Winter Park Resort and the Headwaters Center. Walkers, runners, and bikers can enjoy this display from July 2nd through Labor Day and vote via QR Code for their favorite work, making the winning artist $1,500 richer. playwinterpark.com/art-trail
Situated across U.S. 40 from Grand Elk, the 7,123-yard, par 72 Granby Ranch Golf Course opened all 18 holes 20 years ago with a layout by Seattle-based architect Mike Asmundson, who passed away last June. Renovations by Nicklaus Design followed. The nines could not be more different: The front navigates through native grasses and wetlands along the meandering Fraser River, while the back tightropes the ridgeline of the property’s ski resort, featuring precipitous elevation changes and views of mountains and wildlife. golfgranbyranch.com
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
JAZZ IT UP! After a year of not being able to experience live music, aficionados get to welcome back the 38th Annual Winter Park Jazz Festival July 17-18 at the Rendezvous Event Center in downtown Winter Park. This year’s lineup is still taking shape, but it already features Bel Biv Devoe, Peter White, Julian Vaughn, Avery Sunshine and Elan Trotman’s Marvin Gaye Tribute (pictured). playwinterpark.com/jazzfest
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ELANTROTMAN.COM
Teeming with wild trout, the Fraser River beckons flyfishers. Access the currents on foot or mountain bike via the Fraser River Trail, USFS campgrounds or road turnoffs. Outfitters include Grand County Fishing Company, Winter Park Flyfisher and Mo Henry’s Trout Shop. After a day on the river (or the golf course), have a cold one at Never Summer Brewing in Granby or Winter Park’s Hideaway Park. For more golf, go to Pole Creek (Tabernash) or Grand Lake Golf Course. Dining options abound. visitgrandcounty.com
PHOTOGRAPH BY JONATHAN MESSINGER
GRAND OPTIONS
coloradoavidgolfer.com
GRANBY RANCH GOLF COURSE Experience the serenity of mountain golf at Granby Ranch Golf Course. The 18-hole course is perfect for families and avid golfers alike. Playing at 8,100 feet, the course features unparalleled Rocky Mountain views, abundant wildlife, and the Fraser River. A round at Granby Ranch Golf Course is more than just golf. We invite you to join us for an adventurous Colorado mountain experience.
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www.golfgranbyranch.com | jwilcinski@golfgranbyranch.com 970. 887.2709 | 2579 Co Hwy 894, Granby, CO 80446
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Getaways | Steamboat Springs
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF HAYMAKER GOLF COURSE
GOOD WALKS UNSPOILED
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PERIODICSTEAMBOAT.COM
A latticework of trails of varying difficulty make Steamboat a hiker’s paradise. Try Fish Creek Falls, a 7.6-mile hike straight from town that rewards you with views of 280-foot waterfalls along the way. Another heart-racing option is Thunderhead, which climbs nearly four miles to the top of the gondola. simplysteamboat.com
A FUNGIBLE FEAST Catamount Ranch Golf Club may be private, but its restaurant, The Periodic Table, isn’t. It changes culinary themes every summer and winter, spanning the globe. The current cuisine theme? European Riviera. periodicsteamboat.com
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
MAKE SOME HAY
Set on 233 acres in the lush Yampa Valley, Haymaker Golf Course opened in 1997 and remains one of the state’s best public courses. This challenging 7,308-yard Keith Foster layout features wide fairways, native grasses, wetlands, rock walls, deep bunkers, fiddly greens and stunning views of Mount Werner and the Flat Top Range. You’ll spot elk, eagles and blue herons, but no on-course real estate. haymakergolf.com
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PRESENTED BY SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF ROLLINGSTONE RANCH GOLF CLUB (LEFT); WAKE (RIGHT)
SURF’S UP!
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ROLLING THE STONE
Opened in 1974 as the Sheraton Steamboat Golf Club, Rollingstone Ranch Golf Club treats golfers to views of the Yampa Valley and Flat Tops Wilderness and challenges them with slick greens that break away from Mount Werner. Fish Creek snakes through seven holes, while lakes appear on two others. Mature pines and aspens frame every fairway on this Troon Golfmanaged course. rollingstoneranchgolf.com
If you think boarders only come to Steamboat in the winter, think again. Devoted to introducing and advancing the sport of wake surfing, WAKE uses the most advanced boat technology to create a man-made wave large enough to catch and ride. WAKE operates out of Stagecoach Reservoir Marina and schedules two-hour sessions for all levels of riders. The company also welcomes wakeboarders and wake skaters. Hang ten 20 minutes from downtown Steamboat, eh brah! wakews.com
DISC OV ER
rollingstone ranch golf club
A spectacular 18-hole course, designed by Robert Trent Jones II, features incredible views of the Yampa Valley, while Fish Creek winds its way through
To experience Rollingstone
seven of the holes. The 66 bunkers and large, undulating bent grass greens
Ranch Golf Club, please visit
make this a truly championship-caliber course to be enjoyed by players of all skill levels. Year-over-year, Rollingstone Ranch has received multiple CAGGY awards
RollingstoneRanchGolf.com or call 970.879.1391.
from Colorado AvidGolfer, including “Best Mountain Course.”
steamboat springs, co | 970.879.1391 | rollingstoneranchgolf.com coloradoavidgolfer.com
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June 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
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Getaways | Colorado Springs
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Second to None Colorado’s second-largest city is unrivaled in allure. NEW HEIGHTS Perched 3,000 feet above The Broadmoor on the site of founder Spencer Penrose’s Cheyenne Lodge, Cloud Camp delivers 360-degree views from its main lodge and dinner for up to 32 guests who can stay in one of seven lodge rooms, 11 cabins or a glamping suite with hot tub. Arrive by Escalade, mule or foot. broadmoor.com
CASTING CALL A private, five-mile stretch of the famed Tarryall River located 75 minutes west of the resort serves as home to The Broadmoor Fly Fishing Camp. Expert guides, comfortable lodging, stellar cuisine and wilderness hikes enhance the angling experience. broadmoor.com
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LORD OF THE SPRINGS
PHOTOGRAPH BY PREMIER AERIALS
It doesn’t get any better than The Broadmoor. Since opening in 1918, the resort has continued to set an international standard for impeccable service, unparalleled luxury and unique guest experiences that range from golf on two championship courses to playing tennis and pickleball, a choice of 12 restaurants, indulging in spa treatments, ziplining through canyons, flyfishing, hiking, mountain biking, bowling, falconry and… broadmoor.com
ALL ABOARD!
After shutting down in 2018, The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which first summited “America’s Mountain” in 1891, is back on track with new tracks, new trains, a new depot and new cog. The train made its first official climb May 27, and The Broadmoor, which spent an estimated $100 million on the project, is offering Ride & Stay packages through October 31. The three-hour round trip includes time at the new Pikes Peak Summit House. Bike rentals are available for a self-powered descent. cograilway.com
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
RACE TO THE CLOUDS
June 27 marks the 99th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb—a 12.42-mile race of 156 turns and 4,720 feet of elevation gain that France’s Romain Dumas covered in less than eight minutes in 2018. View the race’s colorful history at The Broadmoor’s Penrose Heritage Museum. ppihc.com; elpomar.org
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TWO ICONIC COURSES.
ONE LEGENDARY DESTINATION.
The Broadmoor Golf Club has hosted some of the greatest golf legends of all time. Join the ranks on two iconic, championship courses then relax each night with The Broadmoor’s unmatched hospitality and spirit of the American West. UNLIMITED GOLF PACKAGE • Classic accommodations (upgrade options available) • Unlimited golf for each person on the package • Cart rental included on first round of golf • Personal locker, club storage and range balls • Suites available at 25% off of published rates • Rate starts at $695.00 per night based on double occupancy Visit broadmoor.com to plan your trip. Offer valid May 2 - October 31, 2021. Limited availability. Not applicable to groups. Rates do not include applicable taxes and fees. Available for Sunday - Wednesday nights.
855.319.5588
BROADMOOR.COM
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Getaways | Colorado Springs
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SHOOT ITS AGE Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, Garden of the Gods Resort and Club has aged with extraordinary grace. Its 27-hole Kissing Camels Golf Club remains an exquisite amenity for guests, who can hoof it with a hands-free ClubCar Tempo Walk and enjoy post-round beverages and stellar views of the club’s namesake redrock formation from the clubhouse’s refurbished grille. More glorious eyefuls await at the 90,000-square-foot main lodge’s Grand View Restaurant and Rocks Dining Room, Lounge and patio—all of which serve sublime fare from locally sourced ingredients. gardenofthegodsresort.com
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF GARDEN OF THE GODS RESORT AND CLUB
COTTAGE INDUSTRY
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
Every one of the Garden of the Gods Resort and Club’s 56 guest rooms and suites faces the red rocks, with a walk-out terrace or patio to bring them even closer. You can also make yourself at home in one of the plush cottages, casitas or villas that comprise the resort’s new Vermilion community. gardenofthegodsresort.com
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A HIGHER STRATA In the eight years since local business leaders Judy Mackey and Brenda Smith bought the Garden of the Gods Resort and Club, they’ve made good on their commitment to becoming a state-of-the-art wellness destination. The impressive, 31,000-square-foot STRATA Wellness Center features more than 20 physicians, therapists and clinicians who collaborate on personalized, holistic, well-being programs for each client in a calm Zen-like ambiance that suggests a spa, not a clinic. gardenofthegodsresort.com/wellness coloradoavidgolfer.com
P L AY H A R D /
rest easy
Discov er the Be n efits of Me mb ership More than ever, life is not meant to be rushed. It is something to savor. To sip. To enjoy. We invite you to claim your home-away-from-home with a Garden of the Gods Club Membership. Choose a membership category fit just for you. Enjoy world-class activities, amenities, social calendar of events and parties, luxury accommodations, and countless other exclusive benefits including STRATA Integrative Wellness and Spa. Become part of our social community and leave no sense unturned. That’s why we built Garden of the Gods Resort and Club surrounded by natural wonders in a one-of-a-kind setting.
An intimate club experience with abundant space for distancing with spectacular red rock views when dining indoors or outdoors.
OUR MEMBERSHIP TEAM IS HERE FOR YOU. PLEASE CONTACT TRACEY KALATA AT 719-520-4980 OR TKALATA@GARDENOFTHEGODSRESORT.COM
3320
Mesa Road
Colorado Springs
CO
80904
|
gardenofthegodsresort.com
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Getaways | Northern Colorado
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The North Star Point yourself in the right direction toward Red Feather Lakes.
The Golf Club at Fox Acres
CRAZY FOR THE FOX
Developed by Ray Stenzel with a course designed by fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer John Cochran, The Golf Club at Fox Acres encompasses more than 450 acres in Red Feather Lakes, a 75-minute drive northwest from Fort Collins. You’ll find the 6,500-yard course, which sits 3,000 feet above Denver, a blissfully hermetic experience. It threads through the pine forests and around many of the property’s 15 fishing lakes. Grab a bite at the Fox Grille, bed down in one of 16 Stay & Play club rooms, and then take an early-morning hike through a flowering meadow where deer graze. Consider catch-and-releasing trout on-property or simply bask in the idyllic splendors of nature. golfclubatfoxacres.com
PEACE SYMBOL Rising among wooded hillsides, the 108-foot-tall Great Stupa of Dharmakaya crowns a meadow at the Shambhala Mountain Center in Red Feather Lakes. COVID still prevented entry at press time, but even the view from outside is worth the trip. shambhalamountain.org COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forest and its Cache de Poudre Wilderness boast some of the most scenic and accessible hiking trails in the area. Roosevelt favorites include Dowdy Lake (2.3 miles), Blue Lake (10.3), and North Lone Pine (8.9). Mt. Margaret (7.2) tops the list of Cache de Poudre trails, followed by Lady Moon and Molly Moon (6.5). fs.usda.gov
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ALLTRAILS
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CHRONICLEPROJECT.COM
HAPPY TRAILS
ROUGHING IT Get a taste of “authentic Colorado” at Beaver Meadows Resort Ranch. Stay in a cottage, cabin or condo, ride horses, play disc-golf, hike, mountain-bike and eat around a campfire or in a cool 1940s log cabin with rib-sticking good food. beavermeadows.com
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Molly Moon Trail
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UNPARALLELED SERENITY
Golf Memberships Social Memberships Open to the Public Homes for Sale or Rent Lots for Sale Stay & Play Packages 16 Guest Rooms Corporate & Couples Retreats Dining, Bar & Social Spaces Fishing, Hiking, Tennis & Fitness
Located less than 2 Hours North of Denver & Avoid I70 w w w . g o l f c l u b a 7t 0f o0 xCao cu nr tey sR.ocaod m6 7 J ,
9 7 0 . 8 R8e d1F e.a2t h e5r L7a k e4s , C O 8 0 5 4 5
dkennedy@golfclubatfoxacres.com
Vision
Quest BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU and his Colorado-based trainer GREG ROSKOPF are on a journey to break barriers and reach places no other golfer has gone before.
By ANTHONY COTTON Photograph by E.J. CARR
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
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STRETCHING LIMITS: What DeChambeau and Roskopf do is prepare the golfer’s body “so he can go out on the course and put all the force on his body that he wants and not get injured.”
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POWER PLAYER: In March at Bay Hill, DeChambeau won his eighth PGA TOUR event. His 370-yard drives, tight approaches and clutch putting helped vault him to the top of the FedEx Cup rankings.
BY THE TIME you read this story, if Bryson DeChambeau has his way—and, let’s face it, asserting himself has never been his problem—he will have caused your jaw to drop. Of course, on some level, that declaration is something of a sucker’s bet, akin to saying the sky is blue or water is wet. Over the last couple of years, whether via his play on the PGA TOUR, or his running commentary away from the course, about the only person more adept at generating headlines than the 27-year-old is a recent retiree to Florida who’s been known to dabble a bit in golf. COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
In this case, DeChambeau is excited about a breakthrough he thinks he’s made in one of the driving forces in his life— becoming the world’s best golfer, which, perhaps to your surprise, DeChambeau admits isn’t the guy in the mirror wearing the Ben Hogan brim. “There was a moment in time, right after I won the U.S. Open, then shot a 63 in the first round of the Shriners (Hospitals for Children Open, his next event following his major championship triumph at Winged Foot) where I felt like I was the best in the world,” he says. “But I mean, if you’re talking the world rankings and the best players in
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the world, it’s Dustin Johnson, right? And, you know, Justin Thomas is right up there—I feel like those guys are ahead of me for sure.” But if he’s right about his new discovery, that’s about to change. And while he isn’t particularly forthcoming on the specifics, he does allow that the potential game changer occurred during a recent visit to Colorado. “Yesterday, we figured out something monumental that could be revolutionary to the way I’m producing speed and power,” he said one day in late April. “This could help me get to a whole other level—and we just figured it out yesterday. “I can’t explain it, and I can’t really talk coloradoavidgolfer.com
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PGA TOUR
about it, but I will say it’s along the lines of speed and power… We’ve been building strength; now we’re going to start building power, and…they’re two completely different trains of thought… “I’ve always been inquisitive and trying to find the best way to do things.” It’s no coincidence that DeChambeau’s rise up the World Golf Rankings overlaps with his treks to the Centennial State. The common, somewhat pejorative label of DeChambeau being something of a mad scientist stems from that inquisitiveness, and his never-ending willingness to explore how best to apply disciplines like physics into activities many of us do every day, with nary a thought about the hows and whys—be it doing a reverse leg curl on a machine, or moving a golf club around the body and down into the ball. Fortunately for him, DeChambeau has found a kindred spirit, not in a laboratory, but rather in a surprisingly cramped space in Englewood. After the two met through mutual acquaintances, Greg Roskopf, the founder and owner of Muscle Activation Techniques, has become an integral part of the golfer’s journey, convening twice a month with DeChambeau, the two nerding out on an exploration of the far reaches of physical possibilities. “We’re never going to be happy with the status quo—we’re going to question and challenge everything,” Roskopf says. “Every time he comes here, he’ll say something, even in a casual conversation, that makes me think, that challenges me.” “I think what attracted me most to Greg was that he wasn’t stuck in the normal modalities of physical therapy and how to recover your body,” adds DeChambeau. “I’ve been to plenty of chiropractors, plenty of physical therapists, and when someone referred Greg to me, I thought I’d see what he was about; he answered the questions that I had about recovery and how do you get your coloradoavidgolfer.com
body to perform better. “It was all about treating the nervous system and not just treating the muscles. And I was like, ‘I’ve never thought about that.’ And as I started going through it, I started feeling immediately better—every time I went to him, it was just…it wasn’t anything specific, but it was like I was becoming more like a kid again. And that’s the best reference I can give to it—my body just felt younger.” STRAIGHT, NO CHASER According to Roskopf, there are 43 movements in the human body; the work he and DeChambeau are doing seeks to train the golfer’s body, both muscularly and neurologically, to maximize those movements by breaking down the body, then immediately building it back up again, gaining strength— and the ability to add and tolerate force—in the process. With a palpable sense of awe in
way to do it. Whether that’s good or bad for the game, I don’t know, but it’s just not the way I saw this golf course being played or this tournament being played.” Some six months later, in the throes of a “slump” that would see him go without a win on the PGA TOUR from November of 2019 to May of 2021, McIlroy admitted that part of issue was a swing change that came about because of a quest of his own—chasing more distance in an effort to keep up with DeChambeau. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t anything to do with what Bryson did at the U.S. Open,” he admitted. Asked about the comment, a slight smile crosses DeChambeau’s face, followed by an audible smirk. “Gaining distance is a very difficult endeavor and one that in the golf industry, we don’t truly know how to do through a
“We prepare his body so he can go out with an ‘S’ on his chest…and put all the force on his body that he wants and not get injured.” his voice, Roskopf speaks of one marathon training session where DeChambeau went from maxing out at 90 pounds in one rotational exercise to hitting 150 pounds, and doubling the amount of force he subsequently was able to generate. That’s the reason why DeChambeau is reaching jaw-dropping numbers in areas like clubhead and ball speed—in 2016, he was averaging 295 yards off the tee; by 2020 that figure was a Tour-best 322 yards. Going into last year’s U.S. Open, all the talk was about how brutal Winged Foot played in 2006, the last time it welcomed the national championship. As it turned out, DeChambeau bullied the course—averaging almost 326 yards off the tee, he hit just 23 fairways over the 72 holes, but it didn’t matter, in essence turning the tournament into a pitch-and-putt (that’s not to denigrate his short game—DeChambeau averaged more than a stroke gained on the putting greens). In the five previous U.S. Opens at Winged Foot, only two out of 750 competitors broke par over 72 holes—the best a four-under-par 276. DeChambeau finished at 6-under 274. “I don’t really know what to say because that’s just the complete opposite of what you think a U.S. Open champion does,” Rory McIlroy said afterwards. “Look, he’s found a
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systematic process,” he said. “We know how to systematically get better with your golf game—we don’t know how to systematically get better with how far you’re hitting it. “It’s an unknown thing for the most part.” Roskopf says the problem most players have is that they’re focusing on the wrong things. “Golfers are saying ‘I want to work out and increase my (swing) speed,’ but what they’re really doing is working out and breaking themselves down. Brooks Koepka works out a lot—he’s always injured…and if they break themselves down, nobody’s there to fix them—that’s why 90 percent of the people who work out are injured; they overload their bodies and tighten up, the movement gets more restrictive and they compensate, but that’s like driving your car with bad alignment—the harder and faster you drive, the quicker it’s going to break down. “When you overload muscles through any type of activity, the first thing the body does is tighten up—the second thing it does is shout out in pain, saying ‘We’re unstable and weak here.’ What we’re doing here is preparing his body so he can go out on the course with an ‘S’ on his chest, he can go out and put all the force on his body that he wants and not get injured. June 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
“Nobody else in the world is doing this—Bryson has something that no one else has. There are a few other golfers who have jumped on board…” “But not at this level,” DeChambeau interjects. “Like he says, I feel like I have an ‘S’ on my chest.” LIVE AND LEARN Or perhaps it’s a scarlet letter; as McIlroy alluded to, there are some who question whether DeChambeau’s approach is good for golf—a sentiment that applies both on and off the course. Quick to let his emotions show, DeChambeau has also been willing to jostle the status quo in other ways, courting the golf gods’ furor with utterances like how the 2020 Masters, played in November on a course far more forgiving than it usually plays in April, would “play like a par-67 for me.” As it turned out, that wasn’t the case. Citing dizziness and a stomach bug, DeChambeau finished in a tie for 34th. Playing in the final round with 63-year-old Bernhard Langer, DeChambeau averaged 315 yards off the tee to his partner’s 250, but it was Langer who finished with the better score, shooting a 71 to DeChambeau’s 73. In the aftermath, DeChambeau says he
learned a lesson—but not the one you might expect. “I was saying what I felt, but to me, those comments were harmless; I wasn’t trying to say to the golf course’s that easy, I was just saying in my mind, that’s what I’m trying to make it play as, so that I can shoot 15-under, or 16-under (Dustin Johnson won at 20-under),” he said. “There was no malice intended; it was more of like, that’s my mindset so that I can go shoot a low number. “I mean, when I was growing up, I’d always play from the red tees, the shortest tees, so I could learn how to shoot 58, 59—that’s kind of the way I always had my mindset, to learn how to score. And so, I didn’t realize it would be that much of a controversy; it was more of my thought process of saying, ‘Hey, I want to make this feel like it’s easier in my brain.’ “I mean, I could have as easily said it would play as a par-76 … I think people just misunderstood that a bit and that’s okay—I mean, as I move forward, I’m learning how to react to certain questions and how to say certain things so that, you know, people don’t get offended, people don’t get frustrated and be like, ‘Why did you say that—you don’t
need to say that.’ I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I’m learning as time goes on.” NAMING NAMES Turn on Golf Channel, and chances are it won’t take long before Chris Como, DeChambeau’s swing coach, pops up on the screen. While the latter says the work that’s being done involves a multi-faceted approach incorporating strength and mechanics, it’s clear that, while chicks— and distance-loving guys—may dig the long ball, treatises on applied physics and the neuromuscular system don’t necessarily make for appointment television viewing. As far as Roskopf is concerned, that’s perfectly fine. “One of the reasons why we’re kind of private about all this is that we don’t want people to think they know what we’re doing and try and play around with it because they’d probably make people worse, rather than better,” he says. “So as far as being out of the spotlight, I’m fine with that. Bryson has probably gotten more vocal about it the last couple of years; there are players on tour who Bryson talks with, and he tells them, ‘Hey, you need to do this.’” Continued on page 86
PHOTOGRAPH © USGA/KOHJIRO KINNO
WINGED FEAT: DeChambeau’s assault on one of golf’s toughest courses in the 2020 U.S. Open resulted in adulation, irritation and invidious emulation among his peers.
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A View from
the Ridge
From TEE TO GREEN, The Ridge at Castle Pines North sets a daily-fee gold standard. by JON RIZZI TAKE YOUR SHOT: Framed by lush vegetation and mountain views, the par-3 17th makes one of the 18 compelling cases to come play “The Ridge.”
COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
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“This is a place people bring clients to play, and
they come back again and again.”
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE RIDGE AT CASTLE PINES NORTH
CAFÉ SOCIETY: Pandemic restrictions prompted a less formal, outdoor “café service” model at The Ridge’s Park Place restaurant, resulting in greater efficiency and more attention on the fare of new executive chef Vincent Burns.
THE RIGHT SPOT: The Ridge’s patio and adjacent lawn welcome tournament participants and 19th hole revelers; informal cornhole matches and formal wedding rehearsals; corporate outings, special events and drop-in diners. Located at 1414 Castle Pines Parkway. 303.688.4301; playtheridge.com.
THE TRAILBLAZER Has it really been almost 25 years since “The Ridge” opened in Castle Pines? Back then, the region was synonymous with elite private golf. Then along came something new—a high-end public course, managed by Arizona-based Troon Golf, featuring a richly appointed lodge-style clubhouse, solicitous staff, thrilling Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course and a patio serving food as tasty as its mountain views. Competition soon arrived, as did a recession and pandemic. Through it all, The Ridge at Castle Pines North has remained the benchmark for daily-fee golf on the Front Range. “We’ve had to adjust, just like every business,” says PGA General Manager Daniel Kane. “2020 was a fun grind.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY DRINKER/DURRANCE GRAPHICS
GAME-CHANGER Among the 2020 adjustments Kane made was converting the course restaurant, Park Place—named for retired LPGA player Grace Park, whose family owns The Ridge—from table service to café-style service. “You order food at the bar, bring your beverages to a table on the patio and a server delivers your order,” Kane explains, adding the quality of the food and the efficiency with which it now arrives eclipse any sense of inconvenience or inattention regular customers might have initially felt. “We managed the expectation.” Naturally, their expectation of the course—and Kane’s— is as high as ever. “This is a place people bring clients to play,” Kane explains, “and they come back again and again.”
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Exquisitely kept by superintendent Nick Eberhardt, the layout careens through 7,013 yards of dense pine forest, meadows bordered by ponds and bluffs wreathed by Gambel oak. Players can now traverse it all via a ClubCar equipped with GPS and The Shark Experience—a hi-def, multimedia feast of premium content, music and more that the Denverbased coder, Edison Interactive, has beta-tested at The Ridge. The Ridge has also resurfaced tees and expanded the size of its practice range—where Bryson Hotchkiss and Andy Connell give lessons—and players can receive highend custom clubfitting at an onsite True Spec Studio. EVENTS AND TOURNAMENTS Tournaments, which account for 7,500 of the 32,000 rounds annually played at the Ridge, are “our wheelhouse,” Kane says. Attendees love the generous custom sponsor packages, myriad buffet options and attractive pricing, but also the personal commitment to making the day as effortless for the organizers as it is memorable for the players. That same dedication goes into hosting wedding rehearsal dinners or family celebrations, which transpire on the patio lawn against a mountain backdrop. “No matter the occasion, we always aim to deliver extraordinary experiences,” Kane says. “Compared to 20 years ago, this area now has so many more people and so many more options for fun, but if you’re looking for a relaxed place with great golf and views, come be a ‘member for a day’.” June 2021 | COLORADO AVIDGOLFER
THE LONG GAME: A 30-year-old rookie whose father also played on the PGA TOUR, McCumber understands the need for balance in his swing and in his life.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TRAVISMATHEW
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Tyler Being
Tyler
Free-spirited surfer, snowboarder and rising PGA TOUR star TYLER MCCUMBER has traveled his own path to Lyons, where he recharges at the gateway to the Rocky Mountains. by ANDY BIGFORD
ESCAPING TO THE mountains for snowboarding, mountain biking and hiking is how countless Coloradans recharge their batteries after a long stretch of work. Tyler McCumber is no different: Returning from a demanding month-long business trip in March, during which he banked more than $200,000 in winnings, he flew nonstop from the Dominican Republic to Denver, dumped the bags and laundry at his new streamside home in Lyons and drove to Summit County for a week of snowboarding. McCumber grew up in the golf epicenter of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., but seems to embody what the Colorado lifestyle is all about. In many ways, he’s also the most intriguing anomaly on the PGA TOUR, where he was ranked 58th in the FedEx Cup standings after his four-event March tournament swing. The announcement a year ago of his relocation to Lyons, the small town (population 2,144) nestled against the mountains on the banks of the St. Vrain River, initially appeared to be… some kind of mistake. Why would an up-and-coming Tour player leave one of the golfiest places on the planet for a golf course-free northern Colorado town that’s best known for its Planet Bluegrass music festivals and as a Rocky Mountain National Park gateway? Even his father coloradoavidgolfer.com
Mark McCumber—a 10-time PGA TOUR winner, golf course architect, broadcaster and lifelong Floridian—was initially skeptical. As it turns out, Lyons makes perfect sense as the ultimate home base for what the 30-year-old describes as “taking a breather from the mental taxation of the PGA TOUR.” And it may well be the strategy that helps vault him into the top tier of the world’s best golfers. THE NATURAL Tyler McCumber has always been different, a free and open thinker, multitalented, dedicated, and freakishly athletic. Growing up with a famous golfer as a father, in the shadow of TPC Sawgrass, he surfed and played the go-to positions in baseball (pitcher, catcher, shortstop, leadoff hitter). Mark never pushed his son into golf, and Tyler showed little or no interest, save for swatting a few balls with his dad at Sawgrass. At the age of 13, he tried golf, and in his first junior tournament proudly finished with a 101-99 two-day total. When he asked his dad how long it would take to get “really good” at this complex endeavor, Mark said he wasn’t sure, but that he’d know in a couple of years if
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TRAVISMATHEW
SPRY AND GINGER: Blessed with a lithe, powerful body that uncorks 316-yard drives, McCumber has earned close to $1 million in his first year, putting him right in the middle of the money list. Although he works with a fitness trainer and swing coach in the year-round golf mecca of Florida, he finds his escape hatch in Colorado.
it was the right fit. Two years later, at age 15, Tyler won the Florida State Jr. Amateur (and, eventually, the Florida Amateur and Florida Open). Following an All-American career at University of Florida, Tyler turned pro in 2013 and steadily worked himself up the professional ladder. He won six tournaments worldwide, three times each on the PGA Latin America and Mackenzie Canadian tours (one victory was in Edmonton, at a course Mark designed). He secured his PGA TOUR card in 2019 via the Korn Ferry Tour. Along the way, Tyler continued being Tyler, not allowing himself to be defined by golf: It’s what he does, not who he is. In 2017, wanting to take a breather and see more of the world after shoulder surgery, Tyler spent six weeks hitchhiking through Australia and New Zealand with just his backpack and surf board, staying mostly in hostels. (He kicked off the adventure COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
by playing in the Australasian Tour’s Vic Open, so this did qualify as a business trip.) Utilizing the traditional late-Novemberfull-December break from the professional golf grind, he’s also visited Europe, seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland, hiking in Switzerland and backpacking in Italy. His game plan is always the same: Meet new people and soak in their cultures. The bucket list features trips to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, the temples of Southeast Asia and surfing the West Coast of Africa. Tyler’s 60-degree Titleist Vokey wedge is engraved with a surfer and the words “Eh Brah.” Before he landed TravisMathew as his clothing sponsor, he played in Volcom Stone, the cult-like, eco-friendly apparel brand grounded in the youthful board culture. He’s handled the hair-raising downhill mountain biking trails at Whistler, surfed 15-foot waves in Puerto Rico and once jumped out of an airplane. His fly-fishing indoctrination
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came on a 10-day float of Utah’s legendary Green River. At the onset of COVID, he found himself stranded with friends in Costa Rica for three months, making the best of the situation by surfing and playing golf shirtless every day. Golf Digest called Tyler “the toughest player on Tour” after an incident in which he painfully tore the nail off his left index finger on the eve of the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles. After an 11thhour surgery, he played through unimaginable discomfort to open with a 67-68 on his inaugural visit to feisty Riviera, earning a spot in the last group on Saturday. Tyler, who learned to snowboard last winter, wisely wears wrist guards to protect himself against a common injury that would be ruinous for a golfer. On his early April visit to board at Arapahoe Basin, he ended up bruising his ribs instead. After traveling to Hilton Head in South Carolina for the next Tour stop, he withdrew from Harbour Town and returned to Lyons to rest up. He has no regrets. “Sometimes I push it past where I should, just like in golf,” Tyler smiles. “Life is short,” he adds. “You can’t live in a bubble.” Even Mark has come fully around on Tyler’s Colorado lifestyle, and he often reflects on all the similarities he shares with his son—and the differences. Mark also found unplugging from golf as essential to his success. One of the McCumber family’s favorite Tour stops in the 1980s and ’90s was The International at Castle Pines, with the opportunity to explore the nearby mountains. Mark wanted to return for annual family ski trips, but he always had mounting expenses and couldn’t risk the injury. It’s different with Tyler. His escape hatch in Lyons “makes all the sense in the world,” Mark now says. Especially when you understand how and why it happened. MCFAMILY TIES The immediate and extended McCumber family is extremely tight—and talented, particularly in the fields of golf and music. Tyler’s two older sisters continue to live within a few miles of Mark and his wife Paddy in Ponte Vedra, and Mark and Tyler talk on the phone and FaceTime regularly. Looking for off-time proximity to big waves, Tyler first left the Jacksonville area family nest (home to some five generations of McCumbers) to live briefly in San Diego. The surfing was good but only on the rare occasions when waves were up, and he never coloradoavidgolfer.com
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Explore today’s exotic cars and reminisce models from the past. Savor specialty cocktails paired with delicious bites from renowned local chef and restaurateur Frank Bonanno. Relax in exquisitely decorated lounges by some of Colorado’s finest purveyors such as Howard Lorton, Carla’s, A Classic Design and more. Support Bags of Fun with silent and live auctions throughout the evening. Enjoy entertainment and a live demonstration from Chef Andrew Forlines with Mountain High Appliance at Vehicle Vault, one of the most unique auto museums in Colorado. Please contact Soiree Event Planning at 720.892.0200 with any inquiries.
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COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF TYLER MCCUMBER
found a golf facility that was a proper fit. At about this time, when Tyler was playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, his older cousin, Josh McCumber, caddied for him and helped him learn the ropes. Josh played professionally for a decade and after being an AllAmerican at Florida, where he memorably held off Tiger Woods to win a major collegiate event in Chicago in 1995. En route to a West Coast tournament, Josh suggested they make a stop to see family in Boulder, where his sister and brother (Tyler’s cousins) live. Josh’s parents are Jim and Joy McCumber; Jim has worked closely with his brother Mark for decades and they designed some 30 golf courses together, while Joy was a concert pianist with the Jacksonville Symphony. Their daughter, Beth McCumber Wilberger, lives in Boulder, while son Kort McCumber resides 15 miles west in the eclectic former mining village of Gold Hill. Both are accomplished, professional musicians who played DI golf (Kort for the Universities of Virginia and Florida, Beth for Florida State). For his part, Tyler learned basic guitar chords as a teen from his father before advancing to Internet tutorials and open mic nights—occasionally even joining the pros onstage. Tyler toured the area north and west of Boulder with Josh, who led him to the new TPC Colorado course in Berthoud. The TPC, which opened to rave reviews in 2018, hosts annual Korn Ferry events and has designs on eventually becoming a regular PGA TOUR stop, something that has been absent in the state since the final International in 2006. The club has all the accoutrements, including an elite practice area, to more than qualify as a home base (at least eight or nine months of the year) for a PGA TOUR player—especially one who hails from the TPC mothership. The orientation tour also led west to the mountains, where in the foothills the cousins stopped by the side of a scenic mountain road for a necessary break. Tyler peered through the trees and across the river to spot a cozy home with a “For Rent” sign out front, and the deal was done. His new Lyons digs are on the banks of the St. Vrain and adjacent to a campground, 30 minutes from TPC and less than an hour from DIA (with its nonstop flights to most Tour stops). Lyons emanates an outdoorsy, artsy, craft-beer-music vibe with a hint of the Old West, and he’s developed an affinity for the food at Julie’s Thai Kitchen and the renowned refreshments at the original Oskar Blues. During the long COVID winter, he built a backyard firepit with a flagstone patio and bench seating, and posts Instagram videos of wildlife wandering through the property. He’s excited this summer to see things starting to return to semi-normal, giving him the chance to experience nearby Planet Bluegrass and trips to Red Rocks. He’s also seen the “other side” of mountain living— October’s townwide evacuation for wildfires and the spring snowstorms that sent him to practice his short game indoors at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie. Smoothing the whole Colorado transition is his current caddie, Taylor Stone, a Colorado State alum who shares Tyler’s ample enthusiasm for the area. Continued on page 86
TYLER UNPLUGGED: Since moving to Lyons, McCumber has fly-fished with buddies on Utah’s Green River, snowboarded at Loveland and dogged it for three months with friends who live in Costa Rica during the COVID shutdown. Between Tour events and practicing his short game, he’ll get in some mountain biking, hiking and a concert at Red Rocks.
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Most golfers know the amusing phrase from Caddyshack, but real life can truly be stranger than fiction. That’s what happens when you skyrocket to a World Golf ranking of 27th in just two years like our 2020 Champion Will Zalatoris. If you had the pleasure of watching “Willy Z” compete at TPC Colorado last year, you are fortunate to have witnessed the start of his meteoric rise in the golf world.
Don’t miss your chance to see the next Will Zalatoris. Several admission plans are available starting at $18 or enjoy the NEW, extraordinary Clubhouse all week for just $75. Those 17 and under are admitted free. Buy now before prices increase. Visit our website for complete details. As for the Happy Gilmore reference… just Google Will Zalatoris Happy Gilmore for an interesting read.
JULY 5-11, 2021 BERTHOUD, COLORADO
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WINGMEN: Surrounded by club members, media and tributes to their craft, Bill Coore (left) and Ben Crenshaw show their joy during the dedication of the space that bears their names and honors their work.
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Earning Their
Wing
During the past year, Colorado Golf Club transformed 4,850 square feet of its clubhouse into a museum-quality homage to the club’s course designers, BILL COORE and BEN CRENSHAW. In late April, the pair finally got to see it. By JON RIZZI | Photographs by CHIP BROMFIELD coloradoavidgolfer.com
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“IT’S EXTRAORDINARY…I’m totally speechless.” So said Ben Crenshaw on April 26 upon seeing the Crenshaw Boardroom at Colorado Golf Club for the first time. For a man given to making dramatic statements—consider his poignant “I had a 15th club in the bag today” tribute to the late Harvey Penick after winning the 1995 Masters and his “I have a good feeling about this” prophecy of the 1999 U.S. Ryder Cup team’s historic victory—this one wasn’t quite as colorful. But there was no reason for it to be. Crenshaw expressed all the sincerity, humility and gravitas of someone literally overwhelmed by one of the most thoughtfully curated, artistically executed and tastefully rendered tributes ever mounted in a golf clubhouse. The Crenshaw Boardroom serves as the centerpiece of Colorado Golf Club’s Coore & Crenshaw Wing, a sweeping tribute to the dynamic architectural team behind the layout that has already hosted the 2010 Senior PGA Championship, 2013 Solheim Cup (LPGA) and the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur since opening in 2007. As described in framed panels lining the impressive Coore & Crenshaw Hallway, Colorado Golf Club’s place in history extends beyond those championships to a centuries-old golf-architecture pedigree that Coore & Crenshaw can trace directly to Old Tom Morris through Coore, who worked with Pete Dye, who bonded at Fort Bragg and Pinehurst with Donald Ross, who learned from Old Tom. The pair’s reverence for the history of course design expresses itself in each of the 30 courses they’ve designed (among them Sand Hills in Nebraska, Cabot Cliffs
on Cape Breton Island and Bandon Trails and Sheep Ranch in Oregon) and classics they’ve restored or renovated (including Pinehurst No. 2, Prairie Dunes and Riviera). “None of the courses we’ve designed has anything like this,” Crenshaw marveled while looking around the Boardroom before dinner. “For the membership, it’s really something else. It’s a departure from other clubs. It shows what they deem important.” “We have a real appreciation of heritage and history here,” Tom Ferrell, Colorado Golf Club’s membership and marketing director, said. “Any club that considers itself a culture-driven club should think seriously about telling its story.” A golf historian who also founded the Coore & Crenshaw Society, Ferrell headed up the research, penned the text, gathered photography and even commissioned a rendering from Bill Coore of a now-extinct hole in Lexington, N.C. that sparked his boyhood interest in course design. The club also enlisted the talents of Arvada-based fine artist Robert Fletcher, whose drawings of Old and Young Tom Morris and miniature busts of architectural icons Morris, Ross and Charles Blair
Macdonald gaze into the hallway. Fletcher’s work shines most brilliantly in the high-ceilinged Crenshaw Boardroom, which celebrates the World Golf Hall of Famer’s playing career. Amid items such as a caddie bib from one of Crenshaw’s 20 Open Championships and his 1999 Ryder Cup captain’s tour bag, full-length paintings of the five individuals who had the greatest influence on him—Penick, Coore, Jackie Burke, Bobby Jones and Charlie Crenshaw, his father—surround the black-oak table at the center of the room. “Tom Ferrell casually asked what people in my life were most influential… and here they are!” Crenshaw said, surveying the boardroom. “I had no idea this is what it would be like.” “You know, this may have our names attached to it,” Coore added. “But this is a tribute to Bob Fletcher.” The room’s dominant canvas immortalizes Crenshaw’s captaincy of the 1999 U.S. Ryder Cup team, showing each player on the winning squad in action. A smiling Crenshaw, Cup in hand, centers the work, and to his right grins basketball legend Michael Jordan—whose presence some of the
LINKS TO THE PAST: The Coore & Crenshaw Hallway meticulously traces the influences behind of the pair’s course-design philosophy to Old Tom Morris, Donald Ross and Pete Dye, as well as C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor and a nod to a man named Donald Jarrett.
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CASE STUDIES: The Boardroom colorfully exhibits prized objects from Crenshaw’s two Masters wins and ’99 Ryder Cup triumph.
“We wanted to see all of golf and how it had impacted Ben’s life. From the memorabilia to the artwork to the books on the shelves, everything in that room has a purpose. My personal opinion is that 100 years from now, if someone can see the world of golf through Ben Crenshaw’s eyes with the same lens that we see it tonight, then that’s important.” —Colorado Golf Club President Matt Kellogg
MEN OF INTEGRITY: CGC’s Tom Ferrell (above) explains the value of displaying the club’s Golf Course Vision Statement; left to right, GM Bob Kunz, Ferrell, PGA Professional Graham Cliff, Ben Crenshaw, artist Bob Fletcher, Bill Coore, Member Chris Pitaniello, Superintendent Steve Eller and CGC President Matt Kellogg smile beneath Fletcher’s commemoration of the victorious 1999 Ryder Cup team.
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INFLUENCERS: The honorees flank Fletcher, whose portrait of Coore joins those depicting Crenshaw’s other “greatest influences”—Charlie Crenshaw, Jackie Burke, Bobby Jones and Harvey Penick.
“I cannot adequately put into words what is displayed, and how handsomely it’s displayed. My golfing life is all there for people to see: the things that have touched my life, the things that I studied, the very wonderful things that have happened. I cannot, cannot thank you enough for it.” —Ben Crenshaw
players credit with inspiring them during the competition. A case near the entrance to the boardroom holds original items from that event at Brookline—a program, the flag from hole 17 signed by Justin Leonard, a promotional banner and even the memorable shirt the captain (and team) wore on Sunday—as well as a photograph of Ben fatefully wagging his finger at the media on the Saturday before the singles matches. A similarly populated adjacent case commemorates Crenshaw’s 1984 and 1995 Masters victories. Among the objects hangs the patterned blue shirt he wore that Sunday in ’95 when he crumbled, overwhelmed by sinking the winning putt just days after burying Penick, and the bib worn by caddie Carl Jackson as he consoled the emotional Masters champion. Fletcher’s stunning bronze of that iconic moment stands nearby in faithful tribute. During the dedication dinner, which took place in the remodeled and COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
rechristened Bill Coore Ballroom (“Because Crenshaw said. “It’s so beautifully done. I’m such a social gadfly,” Coore quipped The workmanship is extraordinary, and the during a postprandial Q&A with golf media artistry is beyond extraordinary—if there is personality Matt Ginella), Colorado Golf such a thing.” Club President Matt Kellogg and Fletcher unveiled a second casting of the statue and Jon Rizzi is the editor of Colorado AvidGolfer. presented it to an obviously moved Crenshaw. “Ben,” Kellogg said, “we want you to take part of this room with you.” Spearheaded by Ferrell, Kellogg and CGC member Chris Pitaniello, who sat next to Crenshaw at dinner, the project cost more than a halfmillion dollars and was completed during the pandemic by reclaiming some underused conference and administrative space. Members attending the dinner saw the proceeds benefit Crenshaw’s Save Muny Conservancy as well as the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado. PARTING GIFT: With the original on display at the club, this “It’s so beyond anything I could casting of Augusta caddie Carl Jackson consoling an emotional Ben Crenshaw went home with the 1995 Masters champion. ever have expected, even hoped for,”
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DeCHAMBEAU
Continued from page 70
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PGA TOUR
As it turns out, a number of players have indeed approached Roskopf and started to work with him, and while they haven’t seen the explosive success that DeChambeau has, there’s certainly been evidence that the process is working for them as well—most notable among them Australian Matt Jones, who tied for 26th at the Masters, just weeks after winning his first PGA TOUR event, The Honda Classic. Because of his growing clientele, Roskopf says he’s now able to watch golf tournaments, even when DeChambeau isn’t playing in them. Just don’t expect him to become a fixture out on the circuit. “I don’t want to travel and be at all the events; I have a life, I have a family,” he says. “And there are a lot of people around here who depend on me; that’s probably my biggest stress right now, how do I manage the demand—I’m charging $600 an hour and I still have a waiting list of people who I can’t get in. “It’s a difficult problem, but I guess, it’s really a good one to have.” WEEKLY STANDARD: Right after winning this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, DeChambeau again found himself in Sunday’s final pairing with Lee Westwood at the Players, with both finishing behind winner Justin Thomas.
McCUMBER
Continued from page 78
His now-vaccinated parents will finally get to visit this summer; Mark wants to dial in his fly-fishing with Tyler, and even talks of buying property in the state. ON THE JOB Tyler McCumber is just 5 foot 11 inches and 175 lbs., but driving is the best part of his game; he’s ranked 16th on the Tour at nearly 310 yards a pop. He’s always been a strong, flexible fitness junkie: When he started his ascent in seventh grade from bogey golfer to state junior champion, it began with daily, early morning trips to the gym. He now works closely with Dustin Swinney of LYNX in Jacksonville, who has a roster of PGA TOUR players. Tyler follows the Swinney daily protocol and returns to Jacksonville regularly for testing and check-ups. At his Lyons home, he built a gym in the garage and installed artificial turf (he has yet to add the net and set up his Trackman). Mark helped steer Tyler to Florida-based swing guru Rick Smith, the highly respected teacher who’s helped several major champions and is known not for a “system” but for letting individuals follow their natural COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
tendencies (within reason). But what Mark likes most about his son’s game can’t really be taught: “He’s better when the pressure is on. He enjoys the spotlight.” Tyler broke through at the Corales Puntacana PGA TOUR event in the Dominican Republic in September 2020, finishing second to Hudson Swafford and collecting $420,000. He finished T6 the next week at Sanderson Farms in Jackson, Mississippi, earning $201,300. The results helped boost him into the field for the 2021 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass March 11-14, site of Mark’s signature win 33 years’ previous (he also won the 1994 Tour Championship). Homebound by COVID for the past year, unable to visit Tyler at his new Colorado home or on the Tour, the proud parents were ecstatic to finally see their son. Mark wasn’t expecting much: Sawgrass is notorious for chewing up and spitting out rookies, even those who grew up there. Tyler shot 72-69-72-70 to finish a solid T22 and earn $135,000. During his April renewal in Lyons, Tyler wasn’t comfortable making full swings following the snowboard/rib injury, but practiced his short game regularly, worked
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Anthony Cotton is the former editor of Colorado AvidGolfer.
out, and more importantly, rejuvenated his mind. He capped off the break with a threeday mountain-biking adventure in Moab with his new girlfriend (he’d met her at A-Basin, and this was her 25th birthday). Then he flew out of Grand Junction to Charlotte, N.C., to compete in the Wells Fargo PGA TOUR event at Quail Hollow. Beyond plenty of mountain biking, hiking, and music, Tyler’s 2021 goals are clear: Win on Tour, qualify for the majors, make the Fed Ex Cup Finals (last 30 standing) and establish himself in golf ’s top tier. He’s particularly intrigued by the thought of winning a tour event in Florida (maybe the Players?) to complete his Sunshine State Slam along with the state junior, amateur, and Open hardware he collected years ago. He probably hasn’t even considered another intriguing scenario, in which his new home course, Colorado TPC in Berthoud, eventually lands that coveted PGA TOUR event—and Tyler wins the title in his adopted home state to a local gallery’s roars. Colorado AvidGolfer contributor Andy Bigford lives in the mountains above north Boulder, about 15 miles from Lyons. coloradoavidgolfer.com
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Blind Shot THE UNSEEN GAME
Right Up Hogan’s Alley PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF HOGAN PHELPS
ENTREPRENEURS ARE encouraged to think outside the box, but budding businessman Hogan Phelps likes what he sees inside the box. And he’s banking on golfers liking it, too. Phelps is the founder and CEO of ForeBox, a box subscription service featuring golf products from GOLFTEC, UnderArmour and other high-end brands. “I’ve always loved golf, and getting new stuff is one of my favorite things,” Phelps, a 9 handicap at Columbine Country Club says. “I saw that golf boxes usually contained only clothing or tools, so I decided to combine the good things with cool, useful, top-of-the-line stuff I would select and hand-package for people to buy for themselves or give as gifts; then it morphed into a subscription service with personalized service.” Phelps ran the numbers on sourcing, shipping, marketing, pricing, margins and other variables, and on May 7 he pitched his detailed business plan to a group of successful entrepreneurs. His tight, passionate and highly polished presentation belied his tender age. Phelps is 14 years old, and his pitch came at Aspen Academy, a private pre-K to 8th grade school in Greenwood Village that requires all eighth-grade students to capstone their final year by developing their own business or service and then present it to potential “investors” in an annual “Shark Tank” competition. This year, after two rounds of presentations, only six of the original 54 students remained for the finals. Phelps made the cut. “In the final, one of the sharks asked, ‘When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you think of?’ That was easy. I said, ‘I think of golf and the project.’” Alas, he didn’t win, but as the entrepreneurial golf-loving son of two golf-loving entrepreneurs (Hogan has a sister named Palmer), the incoming Heritage High School freshman has no plans to shut down ForeBox. He currently has three subscriptions and has sold 14 individual boxes. To grow those numbers, he has introduced different subscription options and is looking to partner with more vendors and market online to a wider range of customers. If the easiest part of ForeBox was merging his interest in business with his passion for golf, the toughest part was “keeping on top of it while trying to keep up with school and everything else,” he says. “Business takes a lot more work than it seems.” forebox.wixsite.com/foregolf-1 —JON RIZZI COLORADO AVIDGOLFER | June 2021
HAWKING HIS WARES: A self-described “young passionate entrepreneur who has fallen in love with the game of golf,” 14-year-old Hogan Phelps wants to spread that love to subscribers of ForeBox, a personalized box of hand-selected quality items (left and bottom). His business plan, product and pitch earned him a coveted spot in the finals of Aspen Academy’s annual Shark Tank competition.
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