Cornerstone Club in Montrose CO

[George Pazin]

Anyone have an thoughts or insights? A friend who vacations in Telluride mentioned it to me and I had to admit I hadn't heard of it. Just wondering if any of the well-traveled on here had any experiences to offer.

Thanks, I'll hang up and listen.

[Andy Troeger]

Cornerstone is a Norman design that opened a few years ago. Its not really a mountain course, but the terrain is still pretty severe in spots. The course is very long and at pretty high elevation. The greens are very good--I rememer a pretty good amount of contour an interest, with large short grass aprons that allow a decent variety of recovery shots. The holes themselves are pretty good with some great long-distance views of the surrounding mountains. The fairways are generous. Its not very walkable due to the terrain--most of the routing is relatively compact but I seem to remember a couple of longer walks.

Its been a few years since I played it...if you're looking for anything more specific let me know. I think Digest ranks it #8 in Colorado and I feel that's about right from what I've seen.

[Daryl David]

From a business perspective, I believe Cornerstone was restructured and acquired recently by Silver Leaf Partners which has been rolling up financially distressed golf properties.  Not sure of its future as private club and housing.  Anyone know?

[Doug Wright]

George, my sense is that Cornerstone is a high end development in a very remote place left high and dry  by the recession. I've never played it and I never hear anything about it in Denver. Here is a Matt Ward thread from 2009. http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41382.0.html

[Andy Troeger]

I wonder if Cornerstone is a course that really needed to get more buzz from the ranking lists. Its so isolated and its true that since its opening year I haven't heard much about it. Its a nice place, but I'm not sure who it was marketed to--even Denver is a long trek and there are a lot of options in between Montrose and the city. Its just too far to be a weekend destination for most. I slightly prefer the golf course to Norman's Red Sky, but I wouldn't drive by Red Sky and keep going for a couple hours on a regular basis to see Cornerstone.

I am surprised it hasn't cracked the GolfWeek modern listing, especially the top 200. The Glacier Club comes in at 197 currently, and Cornerstone is easily better. But many of the other Colorado mountain courses are absent as well, including Red Sky and Lakota Canyon (which used to be listed). I like Cougar Canyon, but it also dropped out this year.

[Tim Gavrich]

I just had a look at the course on Google Maps and it looks like there is another course roughed out just to the west of it. Was there supposed to be a second course or is that course part of a different community?

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

The reason they are not on the list is they are not very good designs.

[Andy Troeger]

Tiger,
Care to elaborate? That kind of comment doesn't really explain much. All of them? Cougar Canyon and Cornerstone are a heck of a lot better than many courses that do make the 101-200 list, including Glacier Club. I kind of understand that Lakota Canyon and Engh in general are polarizing.