I visited the Ballyneal golf course in Holyoke, Colorado on Friday. For those of you who are curious, I'd like to offer a status report of the project, and a simple physical review of the final nine holes.
Ballyneal is located on a sand hills formation in northeastern Colorado. These are "chop" hills, a more abrupt and irregular set of dunes than the typical rolling sand hills on which the great Sand Hills Golf Club in Mullen, Nebraska is built.
This was my third visit to the site, and this time the hills were alive with wildflowers and small animals. We actually saw a small lizard chasing a mouse about twice its size. At this early stage, Ballyneal is the most natural golf course I have yet seen, and it is a most unusual environment. There are no trees and no water. There will be no need for boundary or hazard stakes. You either play the ball, or it is lost in the native areas, in which balls will be findable some of the time. The bunkers will use the native sand. The playing corridors will be wide to account for the windy environment.
For this Oregonian, a mild early summer day at Ballyneal was very warm, 85 degrees with some humidity. It had been 95 degrees the day before. Typical thunderstorms moved across the plains in the evening, both fascinating and intimidating. It will be important to stay well hydrated with water and Gatorade when walking this hilly course.
Holes 9-16 have been hydroseeded. Holes 17 and 18 are being prepped for seeding with soil amendments and a few final shaping details. Holes 1-8 are in various stages of rough design; that will change soon.
We have previously discussed that Ballyneal is a fine piece of land to build a golf course. Great sand, and highly irregular dunes on which Tom Doak had a myriad of options to choose the course routing. After careful consideration, Tom routed the course in a classic 36-35-71 configuration, with two par 3s on each nine, and a single par 5 (#16) on the back nine.
Here is a physical description of the back nine, based on my recent walkthrough. When describing the distance of each hole, I will use my estimate of the back tee distance. There will be at least three sets of tees.
All holes at Ballyneal have undulating fairways and greens, to a varying degree. All holes have various sand bunkers, which I won't describe in great detail here. The player will be challenged to hit uphill and downhill shots from uneven lies. He will require a good sand game, and be able to hit a wide variety of shots from closely mown areas to undulating greens. It will resemble links style golf.
#10 is a 490 yard par 4, slightly downhill, slightly left to right, but plays straightaway. Inbetween medium sized dunes. a good drive down the right side gives a good look at the green.
#11 is a 180 yard par 3, uphill. Big green, big area to miss on right side. Several small and severe bunkers for misses short and left.
#12 is a 380 yard, par 4, sort of straight and level. Speed slot over the left fairway bunker yields additional distance and a nice look at the green. Most drives will roll down to the lower right side for an uphill short iron over a large bunker to a sloped green. One of three "birdie" holes I see.
#13 is a 435 yard, par 4 , with a 480 yard "Tiger" tee. Very wide fairway. From the tee, the left side of the fairway looks like the play. An accurate tee ball between the left fairway bunker and two center bunkers yields a better angle to the green tucked behind a right greenside bunker. However, the left side of the fairway is low enough to leave a blind shot. A pick your poison hole.
#14 is a 400 yard, par 4, uphill, mild dogleg left. More undulating than most holes here. Good drive leaves uphill short iron shot to small green on knoll. Fairway drops off dramatically right of green. Another "birdie" hole.
#15 is a 210 yard, par 3. Downhill to large green in natural depression. Large sand ridge guards left side of green, and hides a large area in play left of green. The sand ridge also defines where a large upslope catches balls 30 or 40 yards short of the green.
Here I'd like to offer a personal opinion. It is my favorite so far, a beautiful and unique hole. It's presumptuous for me to call this a "punchbowl" hole, but that is it's general shape. I can say with great certainty that when I stand on the tee box, I see the low draw I want to hit, and I can't wait for the chance to try.
#16 is a 540 yard, par 5, uphill all the way, gradually turns left. More undulating than most holes here. After a big drive, the aggressive player might take a rip at the green, where a green-high miss on the left yields an easy play to a small green. "Birdie" hole.
#17 and #18 aren't quite done yet. I'll do my best here.
#17 is a 475 yard, par 4, a downhill, dogleg right. The wide fairway has a high left side and low right side, with a few bunkers down the right side. A very long drive down the left side could roll a long way over the big ridge and down to short iron distance. Medium sized, gently contoured green.
#18 looks like a 500 yard, par 4, but it may only be 450. Mostly level, slightly uphill and left to the green over a natural blowout dune. Flatter than most holes here. Tentatively, the green is large and subtle, guarded by bunkers front and left.
I thought the group would appreciate a simple hole-by-hole description. I was granted permission to do this. I thought it better to avoid offering a series of opinions, except for hole #15. I won't know how much I like Ballyneal until I play it several times. If this is deemed a valuable exercise, I will prepare a front nine description when appropriate.