Photos of Denver CC

[Scott_Burroughs]

Last fall, I was able to join fellower GCAer Doug Wright at
Denver CC, the course just SE of downtown that has had a
mishmash of architects work on it:

James Foulis (1903)
Donald Ross (1914-1922)
William Flynn (1923-1924)
Harry Collis (1925)
William Diddell (1957-1959)
J. Press Maxwell (1963-1965)
Ed Seay (1975-1978)
Bill Coore (1985-present)

I didn't take that many pictures, and several of those were
mostly of features of the course, not "hole views".

Here is the (shrunken) aerial to follow along the holes:


This shot was taken on the 4th hole (far left of aerial),
showing that the fairway is mowed at height all the way to
the bunker edge, with no rough fronting, preventing balls from
entering.  Nice, 3-sectioned green on this hole:


The pretty par 3 5th:


The nice, short par 3 7th, green and bunkers re-done by Bill
Coore.  Notice the sharp left-to-right and back-to-front tilt
of the green, following the land nicely:


Like on the 4th, there is no rough fronting this fairway bunker on the 9th:


A few of the holes at DCC have bunkering that reminded
me of Riviera (I'm sure Tommy will refute me), and I liked how
the bunkers went right up to the green on the par 4 15th
(middle right of aerial, above maintenance buildings), even
cutting into the fringe:


Same here on the short par 4, button-hook 16th (near upper
right of aerial), the bunkering abuts the green:

[ForkaB]

Thanks, Scott (and Doug)

That is how bunkers ought to be designed and maintained!

[Brad Swanson]

DCC is a really fun course smack in the middle of town.  I really enjoyed the collage of architectural styles, and thought the par 3s in particular (#5, #7, #12) were quite good and #6 is a great mid length par 4 with oodles of angles to consider. My host was a pretty nice guy too.  Seeing these pictures, I realize in just a short while I've completely forgotten what blue sky looks like.

<EDIT>  Looking at these pictures a second time, I think DCC might benefit from some tree clearing.  Maybe our resident DCC expert could chime in on this??</EDIT>

Cheers,
Brad Swanson

[ed_getka]

DCC was a complete suprise to me the first time I saw it with Doug. The amazing thing to me was that for the number of architects that have laid their hands on it over the years, it is quite cohesive. Other than some 1960-70's prototype par 4 on the back nine that doglegs left around a lake, that just jars the senses. Sort of like that par 3 at Garden City.
   DCC along with Plainfield are the two places I would join if I lived in the area and had the means. Both seem like great family clubs.

[Doug Braunsdorf]

Are all the fairways cut out to the bunkers?  That is a really nice touch--and I think many players would prefer to be in a fairway bunker than rough.  Comments?  

That 5th hole really reminds me of Flynn-the shape of the green and bunkering.  Wayne, if you're reading this, was that Flynn?

[Chris_Clouser]

I got to tour the course last fall with Doug as well.  There are some really good holes out there.  The shot of the 4th also shows something I liked a lot about the course.  The bones of some of the old holes around the course still exist.  Notice the grass filled bunkers to the left.  When I first saw it I thought that was incredibly neat.  

Also hole 16 was extremely nice and provides a great risk-reward tee shot.  I also couldn't believe how small the 15th green was.  I'm not sure but this was one of the Ross greens that remains today on the course.  It's a nice course and you can probably pick out some of the different styles as you go through.  I knew one of the Maxwell holes right away without even looking at anything or Doug telling me.  Some good old Diddel greens as well.

Doug,

If I remember right, the 5th was actually done by Press Maxwell.  I may be wrong, but that's what I'm thinking.

[Brad Swanson]

Chris,
   I believe #5 is a Maxwell hole.  I really like it though, its a fun green, as is the 4th (another Maxwell green too?)

Cheers,
Brad Swanson

[Doug Wright]

Scott,

Thanks for posting these photos. If Paul Richards is lurking perhaps he could put up a few more from his round there last spring.

A couple of replies:

Yes Brad the course is overtreed--it's my pet peeve there. The good news is a number of the pine trees as well as some of the deciduous trees caught a disease and died last year and were removed. Where they are gone it's great--light, air all that good stuff. But the past few weeks they've planted a lot of new little trees   At least it will take a few years before they mean anything--maybe in the meantime I should sneak out some night with my favourite treekiller. When a club has a "Tree Committee" (I'm not kidding) this is what happens.     Needless to say I'm on neither the Green Committee nor the Tree Committee. Billie V, you're right--trees are a BIG deal in this formerly dusty prairie cowtown.

Doug B, there are a number of fairway bunkers that are cut into into the fairway and no rough around them like those Scott shows on 4 and 9. I do like that aspect. Note that the cross bunkers on 9 (there's a twin to the one depicted cutting into the left side of the fairway) are about 60-70 yards short of the green on this 100 year old original Foulis 430 yard par 4. They're a neat feature, and must have been fearsome way back when.

Doug B, the par 3 5th is a Press Maxwell green. Some very fine little rolls and pin positions on this green. As has been reported on other threads, Flynn did a complete set of awesome plans for DCC back in 1923 (I have a set thanks to Wayne Morrison), but they weren't implemented because the membership/Board thought the course would be too difficult. In fact, Flynn is credited with only one part of the current course: routing of the 4th hole that's in Scott's photo. Scott gives us a glimpse of both the 15th and 16th greens. It's interesting that in his plans Flynn said to leave these two Ross greens alone.

As Ed suggests, the course does hang together quite well despite the number of different hands on it. My favourite holes are the short 2d; the 4th Scott depicts and Billie V likes(the tiered green, which IMO is one of the best on the course, was done by a member William McCartney back in the 1930s); the short par 4 6th Brad mentions (Brad, the "Committee" just put two bunkers in the left LZ, making the tee shot tougher--unfortunately if you're in the bunkers you're left with a 120 yard punch shot to stay under the aforementioned trees... ; the varied par 3s, and the longish 11th and 18th. The 14th around a lake sticks out like a sore thumb as Ed says.

It's a short course at this altitude, but I do enjoy playing it. We held the Western Junior tourney last summer. Only a couple of kids broke par over 72 holes, so it can hold its own.

I'm sitting down with our pro next week to finally comb through his archive of DCC course history stuff. I've heard it's pretty complete, so if I get any other insights I'll pass them on.

Best,

[Scott_Burroughs]

The course did play longer the day Doug and I played, because it was wet from several inches of rain a couple of days prior.

It was nice meeting another of the seemingly numerous tall GCAers.