Green Valley Ranch -- Denver, CO

[Doug Wright]

Wyatt, what are your top 2-3 from your list below, which I abridged to remove CommonGround, Bear Dance and the Ridge (the latter 2 are more CCFADs) for comparability purposes. Also, I'd like your separate views on Highland Meadows...

Black Bear
Buffalo Run
Fox Hollow
Westmoor
Highlands Ranch
Murphy Creek
Plum Creek
Riverdale Dunes
South Suburban
Wellshire
Willis Case

[Greg Chambers]

Doug,

I'm not Wyatt, but from that list I'd go with Buffalo Run, Westmoor, and probably Wellshire for sentimental reasons.  I'd add Omni Interlocken if it qualifies.

[Matthew Petersen]

I play GVR a couple times a year, and I am in the middle about GVR. It is a perfectly fine course and a decent value, around $35-$40 walking. From what I’ve seen of Perry Dye (haven’t seen too much, actually), it is a pretty good offering.  Last year I played GVR and CommonGround on the same day, and there really is no comparison from an architecture standpoint. Unlike many suburban courses, GVR doesn’t suffer from encroaching houses though they are increasingly present with noisy development happening now after a slow start out there. I like the combination of longer and  shorter par 4s (except for #16).  The greens aren’t too interesting, which is a negative for me. Another negative—which applies to both #10 and #16 as well as some other holes like #17-- is that the ESAs (off limits environmentally sensitive areas) are way too close to the greens. Miss #10 or #16 (or #1) by a few yards left of those greens and you’re in the ESA.   I used to totally dislike #10 but now not as much as I figured out the landing area on the drive is more forgiving than it appears. The trees on #2 and #7 are fine; #16 is just a terrible hole, completely out of character with the rest of the course. That’s probably my biggest beef with GVR; kind of like Legacy Ridge in the north Denver suburbs, the layout seems disjointed and inconsistent with a couple very bad holes. I could say the same thing about Riverdale Dunes, which I prefer over GVR, but there are more really good holes at Riverdale Dunes than at GVR. Also, since I know the schizoid history of Riverdale Dunes (Young Tom Doak +/- Perry Dye + Pete Dye, oh my) I’m inclined to give it some slack.

Wyatt, your list is good. However, South Suburban and Willis Case in your top 15? Really? In many ways, City Park is better than those two, including having greens every bit as interesting as South Suburban…   

PS to Brad Swanson—were there any others playing in the GVR Club Championship in 2001?       

Hi Doug,

So pleased you chimed in!

Odd for the conversation to turn to City Park, South Suburban, and Willis Case on GCA. Nice departure actually.
I like SS due to the variety of greens presented. Most likely due to the more varied terrain surrounding Dry Creek while City Park basically utilizes one ridgeline. The repetitive nature of the back to front tilt at CP continues throughout. With the exception of 6 and 16, the greens at CP are either severely pitched back to front or dead flat.

I also favor Willis Case over City Park because of the driving challenge. WC while shorter and less demanding overall, is a really neat and gentle routing that makes use of many reverse camber holes (blame my affinity for Perry Maxwell here). The greens are fine, maybe not the challenge that CP presents, but I think Willis Case more than makes up for it in short Par Fours, whereas City Park only has one really good short four (the 8th). There is no denying the cityscape and mountain views that City Park has to offer, among other things. We really do have an enormous amount of fantastic public access golf in this town.

As for GVR, I guess the biggest issue I have with it stems from playing it so much. It presents the same challenge regardless of season or wind direction. I guess I just get bored there. There is nothing egregious about the golf course, it's just not one of my favorites in town.

I hope we can revisit a few of these together soon.

Wyatt

Wyatt,

I really agree about Willis Case. I loved the rare rounds I played there (wasn't on my side of town at all). Short but not a course that ever made me feel like it needed more or that I was frustrated with options off the tee. Fun routing.