I had the opportunity to play the Ravenna course on Monday (the club hosted a charity event to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a very good cause). The course had only been officially open for a couple of weeks, but that fact wasn't too evident out on the golf course.
The course is built right up against the foothills south and west of Denver, and in fact sits between the foothills and what is called the "hogback," which are rocky ridges jutting out of the ground just short of where the mountains begin. You can see one of the hogback ridges in Seth's photo of the seventh green, above. For those familiar with Arrowhead, this course is just a bit north of that course and development.
I mention where the course was built, since it had to have a lot to do with how the course was designed and constructed. The ground was not all ideal for golf. Some holes hug the mountainside, while others require crossing deep crevasses. It would have been MOST interesting to walk the property during the routing phase, to see the choices and the decisions involved.
Our shotgun start had us begin on the 7th hole, which turned out to be one of my favorites on the course. A short par 4, it intimidates at first, as the drive must cross a deep crevasse. As you can see from Seth's photo, the fairway curves around an expanse of trees and rocks, but what isn't as apparent from the picture is a tongue of fairway that extends straight from the green towards the tee, inviting a heroic go. The par-five 14th was also a favorite of mine, a downhill par five with a nicely rumpled, rolling fairway with a good-sized pond in front of the green. My decent drive and anemic second left me too far away to risk going for the green, but a well-bunkered layup area to the left gave me something worth shooting for.
Lots to list on the positive side – a good mix of long and short par 4’s; three of the par threes are downhill (the sixteenth is a deep dropshot par three with a surrounding bowl somewhat reminiscent of Jim Engh) while 11 is fairly long and uphill; lots of movement in the greens – it would take a number of plays to really know which parts of each one to truly avoid, given each days pin placement – and I wish I could remember which green has an almost Biarritz-like deep swale in the middle……it was great fun chipping from short of the green and watching my shot roll, disappear, and then roll up onto the back. I appreciated the large scale of the place, and while the course could likely not be considered minimalistic, an effort has certainly been made to meld the course with the overall landscape, including what appeared to me to be planting of fairway grasses in the native areas adjacent to the fairways. As that grows in, it will enhance the connection between the two areas. And for those who relish such things (I must list myself amongst you), it is just a beautiful, peaceful location. The reddish stone that peppers the course and makes up the majority of the hogback is formed into beautiful, interesting shapes, and the scale of the place is very grand.
My only complaints would be that in my opinion the course is not really walkable - you must cross the hogback twice over some rather steep cart paths, so only the most intrepid walkers would give it a go. The course also struck me as a little narrow, given that there’s basically fairways, a bit of rough, and then the natural grasses, arroyos, crevasses, etc. Your driver had better not be too errant, or you might lose a golf ball or three.
I enjoyed my round very much, and am interested in the opinions of others on the forum as they have the opportunity to play the course.