[Tommy Williamsen]

A few weeks ago I asked for some help finding a club for my son and his young family.  Denver has a lot of nice clubs but the initiation fees are pretty high for him.  The dues aren't the problem but $30,000 plus inotiTion fees are steep. The Ranch CC and the Canongate courses (Black Bear and Blackstone) seem to be pretty good deals. What can you tell me about the clubs? He really is looking for a place the entire family (girls 4&6) can enjoy.

[Matthew Petersen]

I played The Ranch a few times in corporate outings with my dad. It's a Dick Phelps design; he was very prolific in CO. Even as a teenager, this course pretty much bored me to death. I know they've done work on it since, but I don't know if that involved any GCA changes, or if it was just cosmetic stuff.

Black Bear is a design by our own Jeff Brauer, which I played when it opened as a public course called Canterberry. It was pretty good, but not necessarily significantly better than similar courses in the area like Saddle Rock or Murphy Creek, IMO. Then again, that was 15+ years ago.

Blackstone was built after I moved away from the area, but it looks great.

Black Bear and Blackstone are all on the significant southeast corner of the metro area. The Ranch is on the north side, in Westminster. Where your son settles may have a lot to do with this decision.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Tommy, I played Black Bear last year on a trip to Denver.  It is much improved maintenance wise since Cannongate took it over and has a nice clubhouse.  I believe they are nice stewards of my design up there, and they haven't removed a lot of bunkers etc., in the name of cost either.

It has some forced carries, mostly on par 3 holes, due to environmental regulations in place, but I played with my wife and sister in law and they were able to enjoy the course.  I suspect his family could, too.

[Bill_McBride]

Steve Lang is a member of the Woodlands complex in Houston, which is now owned by Canongate.  Steve may be able to offer some insight into the operating style, amenities, etc at Canongate courses. 

[Eric Strulowitz]

Steve Lang is a member of the Woodlands complex in Houston, which is now owned by Canongate.  Steve may be able to offer some insight into the operating style, amenities, etc at Canongate courses. 

I am a member of Eagle Watch in Woodstock, Georgia which is a Canongate property.  I have an "Infinity" membership, which gives me full reciprocal privileges at over 20 courses in the area.  I have played every Canongate property in the Atlanta area, and I can tell you that almost without exception, playing conditions are good to excellent, the clubhouses, pro shops, and food services are consistently good.  Every facility has a decent practice area, and their staff really takes the time to listen and address issues.  One thing I really like are the computerized tee times, the system gets better all the time.

The thing that impresses me about Canongate the most, and I can only speak for the Georgia courses, is that they do not seem afraid to spend money.  They have spent an incredible amount of money at my course, upgrading the greens, cart paths, taking down trees, etc.  It seems that something at my club is always being upgraded.  The members see it and appreciate it.  They seems to be a very professionally managed outfit, and my perception is that the clubs overall seems to be doing well with healthy membership levels.   

[Steve Lang]

  Hey all, I saw the Canongate reference and checked it out... here's my $0.02

The Canongate clubs are owned/run by Joe Guerra from Atlanta area, under his Sequoia Golf banner.... When Joe took over the Woodlands CC and split out the Canongate courses he met with the WCC members and was very forthcoming about his intentions, and has come to talk with us regularly about the state of the club and its place in todays spectrum of golf.   At WCC we have access to 5 Canongate courses around Houston, and all the network'd ones across the country...

In response to a direct question I posed to Joe, he relayed that he saw the value of the courses as being when he'd sell them in the future, thus his interest was to invest in them to make them worth more...  Sounded good but I started to seek membership at Champions as a plan B if it didn't come true.  Happy to say things have been great over last 5 years or so, and having the Insperity Invitational Champions tour event at the ol TPC, now called The Tournament Course..  has been very good for things in general and fully supported by Sequoia, e.g., new greens, new cart paths, and good supt's at all the courses! 

The Canongate memberships seem very reasonable, however I don't like the anti-push cart bias.    We told Joe that wouldn't fly at the WCC and Sheila advised she had a petition with 200+ members' signatures in hand if there was any question as to member interests in walking.  So far so good on that front at the WCC.

Hope that helps with some perspective, I'm  overall positive on Joe  & his Sequoia golf/Canongate plans.

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