Old Baldy Club, Saratoga, WY

[Tom_Doak]

While I was at the Renaissance Cup, an old friend from Nebraska mentioned this as one of her favorite golf courses in the region.  I'd never heard of it.  Looked up on their web site, says it was designed by Henry Hughes in 1962, sounds like an intriguing place but no decent pictures of the golf course on their site.

Has anyone played it?  Is it a hidden gem, or just a good course by Wyoming standards?

[Marty Bonnar]

Sounds like one I should certainly be a member of...!

Is there an Old Fatty Club anywhere?

FBD.

[Scott_Burroughs]

From above on 7/21/94:




The few pics on the club web site hint at a lot of elevation change.

http://www.oldbaldyclub.com/

[JohnV]

I checked with a friend of mine who lives in Wyoming and his reply was:

 Old Baldy is an old private club. Very Good. Not as good as a couple other Wyo. courses.  Powder Horn is the best.

Not much info, but it could be worth visiting.

[Tom_Doak]

Scott:  Thanks for the photo.  I am not a fan of their planting plan, and hopefully the routing is better in 3-D than in 2-D.  But the road through the edge of the pond is certainly interesting.

John V:  Have you been to Powder Horn, or has anyone else here?  I always see it on the GOLFWEEK list and wonder if it's that good.  The designer of the course, Dick Bailey, was formerly a partner in the Highlands Management Group and co-developer of Desert Highlands and Forest Highlands ... I should have thought of him for that developer -and-architect thread the other day.

[George_Williams]

I remember driving up there from Texas in 1972 with a buddy of mine so he could get lessons from Bob Tosky.  The club was built by a guy who at the time was CEO of National Airlines (NLE). It was a summer getaway for him & his buddies.  Very private with only a few members.  They would fly fish in the morning, play golf & fish again in the evening.  Curt Gowdy was there when we were.  I remember that they had steak all 3 meals of the day!  The course was not too memorable- pretty open- trees were small or not yet planted, but in excellent condition.

[Larry_Rodgers]

Old Baldy was developed by the Stor family as their western get away. As the story goes, Mr Stor wanted to play golf one day at the Saratoga Inn and was refused because someone thought he was just a local rancher. He informed them that he would show them what a real golf course would look like and built the club up the hill from the Saratoga Inn.

The houses are away from the course and they have a great fourth of July party. Bobby Jones personal secretary was a memeber there up until 3 years ago.

We designed and worked closely with Chris Hart the GCS on the irrigation renovation 2 years ago. It is about 4 to 5 hours from Denver and a very nice drive the backway through Kremling & Rabbit Ears Pass

[Matt_Ward]

Tom D:

Old Baldy is a fine layout -- for Wyoming courses.

If you really want a sleeper try the layout at The Golf Club at Devils Tower. The new nine was designed by Kevin Atkinson of Phelps / Atkinson and Kevin did do a substanial modification of the existing nine. There are also plans for a new 3rd nine on the immediate radar screen.

In regards to Powder Horn -- it's well done but if anyone thinks the course merits inclusion in Golfweek's top 100 they are straining to find a clear western alternative when others in the state -- such as Rochelle Ranch go without little notice or fanfare or one can even include the likes of Red Rock in Rapid City, SD.

[Dave_Wilber]

Tom,

Saratoga isn't far from Granby, where I grew up and Kremling, where I was born..as Larry points out. I like the place. I love Chris Hart, the superintendent there. It is pretty unique.

I worked on the Powderhorn with Dick Bailey. I think I like his work at Whitehawk Ranch better, but that might just be a site differential thing. The Powderhorn is worth seeing, but I'd put Old Baldy before it on the travel schedule.