Colorado - Colorado - USA

CGC has my vote for one of the most underrated golf courses in the US. This time around I had the great pleasure of playing several rounds of golf here. Condition was absolutely brilliant, as firm and fast as you can imagine making for a great links like experience. Given the high elevation the course plays very long on the card but combined with the firm conditions it was playable even from the 7,604 yds back tees.

The best 1 shotter award goes to the 154 yds 2nd hole. This one is an instant classic with a crazy difficult and guarded green. A 9 iron will usually do the trick here but don’t miss as it makes 3 a real challenge. Everyday I played we had to deal with very strong winds which immensely added to the fun and challenge.

My favorite par 4 would be the drivable uphill 8th hole playing at 311 yds. Now many say, 300 yds is not drivable but I watched my playing partner on day 2 drive this hole with his 3 wood with a strong tail wind mind you. He is 76 years old, did I mention that?

On the back 9 there 15 and 16 are crazy back to back par 5’s. Both represent scoring opportunities with good shots and both are definitely risk reward holes. 15 requires a semiblind drive down the left center in order to benefit from the downslope and enable yourself a realistic shot at hitting the green in two. However, to pull off this heroic shot you have to take on the small canyon right before the green. On the tee of 16 you face a split fairway. Play left to be safe and have a wider landing area. Right side allows a tiger line and a good shot at this green in two with the ability to utilize the strong backboard that throws the ball left to right. This green is befitting of a reachable 5 and I’m still humbled to admit that I made two 3 putt pars out of 3 rounds. Did I say the green was crazy?

CGC is the kind of course you have to visit but beware one round is just not going to cut it. Talk the member into letting you stay for a week!

There are 5 excellent holes at CGC and worth the price of admission alone to this exclusive club. The playability of the course is fantastic, allowing golfers to throw up shots or run them around the ground at their discretion.

Unfortunately I think several of the other holes are repetitive and the valley holes aren't the most inspiringly routed. Additionally the par 3s are too risk/reward without any bailout areas which seem a bit too severe to me.

That being said, the conditioning of the course is fantastic and if you get a chance definitely play this track!

The Coore-Crenshaw partnership developed a course primarily targeted for single-digit players. Despite the natural challenges of adjusting to playing at altitude, the site for each hole is as natural as it gets and these 18 holes are a true marriage to the rugged topology. Many of the holes have forced carries over long grass, uneven land, widespread areas of vegetation and fescue, untouched terrain and the iconic explosive bunkering. The holes just fall along the landscape emphasizing the minimalistic nature that the architects bring to their portfolio. The routing places an importance on landing your tee shots on the correct side of the many fairways that pitches from one side to the other. My favourite memory is that each side has short par 4s that run straight up the steep hills, the 8th and 13th, and are often regarded as the most exciting holes to play. I’m happy to report that the majority of the membership walk the course and carry their own bags. This isn’t a lush manicured course (and it was never designed to be) as it presents very firm and fast conditions in the dry desert climate. The diversity of the holes is most notable as you really hit every club in the bag multiple times and driver is certainly not always the play on par 4s. Higher handicap golfers will struggle with the forced carries, the contoured slick greens and the evident number of blind tee-shots whereby finding the correct landing spot is the only way to prevent running into the many hazards lurking in hidden spots. With so much land, the course takes you in many different directions as you trundle your way across the most natural looking course I’ve seen in years. Fortunately the architects discovered a smattering of tee boxes on each hole and certainly offer multiple routes to the hard-to-hold putting surfaces. On every hole, my host was very specific on where to land the ball on almost every shot, which further solidified the demanding nature of this layout. Having grown up on an Irish links course, I often found myself flighting the ball down to land it short and let the release out to the hole. I was very impressed with the number of greens that looked large, but played small – in a way that challenged you to hit to a section of the green to allow the ball to funnel. This is a pretty raw test of golf and I look forward to testing my skills here in the future. I’ve no doubt this young club will play host to countless USGA events.