I made my maiden voyage around CommonGround yesterday and, on behalf of Denver public golfers, I'd like to say thank you to Tom D and his team. What a treat. I expected good things from Renaissance, but my expectations were tempered by my memory of Mira Vista and by Tom's own statements. I was blown away by the course as a whole. Yes, it's subtle (for the most part), but there are a lot of really cool features there.
Some random thoughts: I really like the bunkering, often a low-profile cut in the fairway; the greens exceeded my expectations, both in the amount of contour and in the variety of sizes, angles, etc,; I thought I saw some MacRaynor-like features around some greens, but perhaps my imagination ran wild; and the conditioning of the course, including the greens, was excellent. Best of all, the course is unique. I can't think of a course, certainly not around here, that looks anything like it. It has some links-like characteristics in a parkland setting. And it's made for walkers.
There are a few places around the greens that seem to call for some shots along the ground that are made hard to execute because the fairway grass is a little long. One place I'm thinking of is the area left of #7 (I love the tie-in to #8 tee there). That could be due to the heavy amount of rain we've had here or perhaps one can't mow it too closely because of the grass or type of course (I'm speculating). The other question mark I had was with regard to some of the humps in the fairways that were left as rough, as hazards (e.g., on #8). I like the idea of a non-bunker hazard, but I didn't love the look of some of those humps--maybe they will grow on me.
As far as holes that made an immediate impression, I noticed #2, #4, #7, #8, #11 and #16. I played the last few holes in the twilight/darkness so I need another look at the back 9, in particular. Another surprise was just how good the views are--we had lovely views of the Denver skyline and expansive views of the Front Range; the views are much better than at City Park, for example, which aren't too shabby.
To me, CommonGround jumps right to (or, at the very minimum, near) the top of the list of Denver public courses, surpassing the likes of Murphy Creek, Buffalo Run and Fossil Trace, and possibly Riverdale Dunes as well. I have a new home course.