Vail and
Colorado Golf Courses ... by Sapna
Does
Colorado have golf courses? It's like asking...are there needles on a
pine tree? When you start searching Colorado maps and resources the first
thing you notice are the great number of golf courses in the state of
Colorado.
In the
mountains, the Aspen area is sparse in the number of golf courses
compared to the Vail area, This might have something to do with former
President Gerald Ford giving attention to Vail over Aspen. As you might
remember, former President Ford was a big golf fan and player. Although
not a tournament-class player, he had fun playing as long as you weren't
in his line of fire with a stray golf ball. For the younger people...
Gerald Ford had a bad habit of hitting bystanders.
What
about the Denver area? Wow, a whopping number of golf courses are listed,
over 40 featured ones alone. It makes you wonder if there's any room for
a city.
Colorado
Springs is no slouch. There are about 40 golf courses around that area
too and the weather tends to be nicer due to a little thing called the
Palmer Divide near Monument. The divide is about 3,000 feet above Denver
and 2,000 feet or so above Colorado Springs. Storms coming from the north
tend to stall on Palmer Divide and so your golf outing is less likely to
be interrupted. Storms from the west are different. Better get off the
golf course before lightning decides you're its next target.
The
Fort Collins area shows about 30 golf courses and the Pueblo area about
10. Pueblo isn't as big into golf as its northern neighbors. Possibly
because of its working class roots as a steel town and the surrounding
agricultural areas. For some reason, steelworkers and farmers usually
find better things to be doing than golfing.
The
Grand Junction area has about twice as many golf courses than the Pueblo
area. Do you suppose tending orchards in Grand Junction (peaches,
cherries, apples) gives them the desire to play golf more?
The
Grand Lake area is also thin with golf courses. But what golf courses
there are there have to be good. Just being in the area is
fantastic...what with the huge (by Colorado standards - this isn't
Minnesota) Grand Lake and gorgeous Rocky Mountain National Park nearby.
If you
want to get away from the maddening crowds and experience the Rocky
Mountains at its best, check out the Telluride area. Gasps of awe are
guaranteed in this part of the Rocky Mountains.
A word
of warning though. If you were from a lower elevation state I'd suggest
using an electric cart. Playing golf five to nine thousand feet higher
than you're used to, can make 18 holes feel like a 30-mile marathon.
There is a good thing though. Your golf ball will travel farther than
you've ever hit before thanks to that thin air.
That
being said, whenever you golf in Colorado, you're bound to have a good
time. The weather is great (over 300 sunny days per year) with a gorgeous
scenery that can't be beat anywhere else in the world.
Top
|
