It's interesting when I travel throughout the USA because I get to see a broad range of courses from different locales in different settings and in different categories (private, resort, daily fee, taxpayer-owned layouts, etc, etc).
I have to say that the movement being made in Colorado is indeed impressive from the standpoint of its success of golf course development in the broad category areas I just mentioned. A number of states have shown success in one area or the other but few, if any, can match -- let alone surpass -- what the Centennial State has in its current roster and what is planned to happen immediately down the pike.
Yes, people have spent a good bit of time discussing the nature of Ballyneal -- myself included. You also have the much anticipated arrival of Colorado GC by C&C and the considerable fanfare attached to the new Norman layout (Cornerstone) opening up sometime next year. Nicklaus will also have a new public layout opening in the Trinidad area as well.
I'm also not going into full depth on the private side with places like Castle Pines, Pradera, Cherry Hills and a host of others.
In addition, the public side of the ledger in the state is very good -- in fact -- one can argue it's the deepest listing of
courses that people can access without taking out a second mortgage to play them -- and many of them have got some serious architectural heft. All of the game's major architects are involved in some form or the other in the state and because of the desire to live there the amount of available money for development is clearly present. It also helps that Colorado is second only to Massachusetts in the percentage of people with higher education degrees and the desire to live there is still arousing interest.
Among the top tier public include:
Lakota Canyon Ranch & Redlands Mesa by Jim Engh
Norman's Red Sky Ranch layout in Wolcott
Devil's Thumb & Antler Creek by Rick Phelps
Riverdale Dunes by Pete Dye w assist by T Doak
Bear Dance in Larkspur
Murphy's Creek in Aurora
Haymaker in Steamboat Springs by Keith Foster
Raven Club at Three Peaks in Silverthorne
Highland Meadows in Ft. Collins by Art Schaupeter
On the resort side you have a wide range of facilities
headlined with The Broadmoor. This doesn't include a wide range of facilities that dot the mountain area -- both east and west slopes.
There are a few states with greater sheer volume of courses -- most notably the assembly line of places called Florida (minus the very, very small handful of places worth noting). But I don't see any state that has the resources ($$ most notably), land and architectural diversity that Colorado provides.
There are also other states which excel in one category (private) but really have a very thin top line for public facilities when measured against their private stock (NY & Pennsy) come quickly to mind.
The only other state, I believe, that has the potential to rival Colorado is the movement afoot you see in the Tar Heel State. The topography is quite varied and the quality of golf in the different categories is indeed impressive.
I'm sure there will be plenty of disagreements -- what would life be without them
.
Looking forward to hearing what people say.