Roaring Fork Club (Pics)

[Peter Ferlicca]

Roaring Fork Club is a Jack Nicklaus designed course in Basalt, CO that opened in 1999.  Basalt, CO is just north of Aspen, and south of Glenwood Springs.  This club has A LOT of amenities, world class fly fishing (supposedly the best in Colorado), awesome looking cabins that offer timeshares for the members, hay rides for the kids, I could just go on and on.   The club has 425 members and is a hopping club to say the least, I played it today on Labor Day and there were tons of things going on all around.  The golf course was a decent course that was laid out on some very odd property.  Highway 82 splits the golf course, holes 1-5 and 17 and 18 are on the clubhouse side of the property (higher up to the left of the highway), then holes 6-16 are on the lower side of the property down by roaring fork river.  Some holes are very good and some holes were just jammed in there.  The par 3's were pretty good with good variety, some good par 4's, and IMO the par 5's are the weakness of the golf course, they lack any strategy.  Well, here are the pics.

I forgot to take home the scorecard so I don't have the distances

Hole 1 Par 4



Hole 2 Par 5 (An uphill sweeping right par 5, the only good 5 IMO)




Hole 3 Par 4



Hole 4 Par 3 (A long par 3 over 250 yards)



Hole 5 Par 4 (The mountains are just starting to bloom, its amazing the pictures don't do justice, it was bright orange)



Hole 6 Par 4 ( The best hole on the golf course, hit over the roaring fork river and then over a stream to the green)



Hole 7 Par 4 (A long tough par 4 that sweeps left)



Hole 8 Par 3



Hole 9 Par 5 ( A pretty plain straigtaway par 5)




Hole 10 Par 4 ( Downhill tee shot to a uphill green)



Hole 11 Par 4 ( The worst hole on the course, and downhill tee shot and then a green perched WAY up the hill)



Hole 12 Par 3 (A good looking par 3, distance control in crucial)



Hole 13 Par 4 (A short par 4, where the green is really thin requires a perfect wedge shot)



Hole 14 Par 5 (Another straightaway par 5)




Hole 15 Par 5 (Another straighaway par 5, but it is really thin guarded by trees on both sides)



Hole 16 Par 3 (A great par 3, where the river is just to the right of the green)



Hole 17 Par 4 (A LONG par 4 that sweeps left)



Hole 18 Par 4 (A uphill tee shot, and then you hit over the pond to a thin green) Labor Day party going on at the clubhouse

[Tommy Williamsen]

Thanks for the pictures.  I played Roaring Fork the year it opened.  The clubhouse was yet to be finished but toured it with the GM.  It looked as though it would fit in with the place very well.  I was a little disappointed with the course.  It had some very good holes but alos some very questionable holes on the far side or the property. The greens were very small as I remember and scoring was difficult.  The 18th was pretty spectacular.  I thought JN did a good job using the terrain and was not a bad walk, except when we had to cross the highway.  At the turn we were given some fly fishing poles and a lesson.  I am surprised that there are so many members.  It seems to me tat the club sold quarter interest in the cabins but charged a pretty hefty price. 

[Matt_Ward]

PFerlicca:

Thanks for your comments and pics.

I played the course a few years back and liked it -- not that much to warrant a return visit though.

Be curious to know how you would stack the layout up against other area mountain courses you might have played.

Agreed with your comments on the lack of strategy in regards to the par-5 holes.

Thanks ...

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