Out West road trip, 4,200 Miles, 261 holes of golf in 16 days, pictorial review

[Richard Hetzel]

I just returned from a nice, extended golf road trip from Ohio to Utah and back. I played 18 new golf courses over 16 days and discovered that I REALLY like golfing out West! I only had 16 days for traveling, driving was my preferred mode of travel and my wife insisted on "some" sightseeing along the way, so Sand Hills and Prairie Club were ruled out and saved for another time without her. My top 5 courses played were Redlands Mesa (CO), Pinon Hills (NM), Links de Santa Fe (NM), Paako Ridge (NM), Wild Horse (NE) and Devil's Thumb (CO) was a close 6th. Some of these rounds were added on the fly, only because the courses were nearby our hotels and I could sneak more golf in. A few of these turned out to be pretty cool courses as well. My least favorite course, not arranged by me (by wife's friend in OKC) was the GC of Edmond. Nothing to like about that course at all. Moab GC in Utah was also a letdown for sure. Great spot for a course, but 60's old and boring with basic, round greens. With no other golf courses around for MILES, this would make for a great renovation/re-do. I was not able to squeeze in 2 of the courses that I wanted to play, Awarii Dunes and Swope in Kansas City. It was a very good, overall selection of golf courses and I saw a lot along the way. I also skipped Black Mesa because a local told me it was in terrible condition. Still bummed about that. I am bummed that I missed out on Swope as Mr. Kavanaugh highly recommended it, but he will be very happy to know that I paid for every single round of golf on this trip (the wife's too!). Devil's Thumb offered me a free round after my first 18 due to painfully slow play, but we were on our way to Denver after that round, or I would have played the front 9 again. We lucked out with perfect weather with the exception of a torrential downpour halfway through the 9th hole at Paako Ridge where we had a 30 minute rain delay. Enjoy the pictures!


These are the courses that I played:


Gateway National (IL) pics posted
Fort Leonard Wood (MO) pics posted
LaFortune Park GC (OK) pics posted
GC of Edmond (NE) pics posted
Commanche Trail (TX) pics posted
NM Military Institute (NM) pics posted
Links de Santa Fe (NM) pics posted
Paako Ridge GC (NM) pics posted
Pinon Hills (NM) pics posted
Hideout GC (UT) pics posted
Moab GC (UT) pics posted
Redlands Mesa GC (CO) pics posted
Cedaredge GC (CO)pics posted
Devil's Thumb (CO) pics posted
Battlement Mesa (CO) pics posted
Rifle Creek (CO) pics posted
Fossil Trace (CO) pics posted
Wild Horse (NE) pics posted



Gateway National Links (IL)






Fort Leonard Wood, Mo AKA Piney Valley GC (this course was super fun, played nothing like it looked from the street and had great zoysia fairways)







LaFortune Park GC - Tulsa, OK no tee time, we just stopped downtown and played 9 here on a whim. A bit overpriced for a muni and NO 9 hole rate at all, but a nice walkable golf course.







GC Of Edmond - Edmond, OK This was the worst course that I played out of the 18. It was recently a private course called Fairfax CC I think. From an architectural perspective, there was nothing to like here IMO.





Commanche Trail - Tomahawk Course - Amarillo, TX
Having never played in Texas, I was expecting a dried out muni. Not so here, very lush, flat and GREEN.







New Mexico Military Institute - Roswell, NM






Links de Santa Fe (AKA Marty Sanchez) This course should get MORE love, I really liked it.









Paako Ridge GC - Sandia, NM



















Pinon Hills - Farmington, NM










The Hideout - Monticello, UT
















Moab GC  - Moab, UT











Redlands Mesa - Grand Junction, CO
I really liked this golf course, I could play here every day and never tire of it.





















Cedaredge GC - Cedaredge, Colorado.
I played this as a quick 9 as it was close to where we stayed. I played the back 9 which was quirky, and tough. Great views and some really narrow, and tight playing corridors on the back. They sent me off the back for the views and my guess is that the front 9 was nothing special. However, I am glad I got to see it.














Devil's Thumb GC - Delta, Colorado: I really liked (most) of this course. There were 8-9 holes that were pretty flat and boring that offered absolutely nothing to the overall design. More creative bunkering as simple as the bunkers on Wildhorse would do the trick. The backdrops here around the Devil's Thumb itself really make the course. Would love to play here a lot more.
















Battlement Mesa GC - Parachute, CO










Rifle Creek GC - Rifle, CO





Fossil Trace GC - Golden, CO











Wildhorse GC - Gothenburg, NE

[Mike Sweeney]

Very cool off-beat trip.


More information please:

• Range of temperatures experienced? It looks like a variety of elevations.
• Doak score rankings?
• Off-course commentary on cool towns?

[Richard Hetzel]

Very cool off-beat trip.


More information please:

• Range of temperatures experienced? It looks like a variety of elevations.
• Doak score rankings?
• Off-course commentary on cool towns?

Temps for golf were typically well over 90-95 degrees (up to 107*). At higher elevations (over 6,500ft) it cooled off nicely in the evenings. The hottest places were Roswell, NM, Moab, Utah and Grand Junction, Colorado. Golfing in over 100* with little humidity really was not too bad considering that I golfed in Florida in June with a lot of humidity. Much easier out West! Morning rounds were typically fairly cool, you could wear a windbreaker no problem. I was only able to play early in the morning when my wife slept in and I golfed alone. Santa Fe was really nice and hot during the day, with a nice cool down at night. We liked it there quite a bit. We visited some neat museums along Rte 66, a few cool little towns were Cuba, Missouri and Cedaredge, Colorado which we really liked. Cedaredge was similar to a place I lived as a kid (Lake Luzerne, NY in upstate NY near Lake George). Let me dwell on the Doak rankings for a bit and I'll type them in a bit later.


If you don't mind undergoing a background check, we found the museum (Engineer, MP and Chemical) on Fort Leonard Wood pretty interesting. The course is actually open to the public, you just have to go through the BS of getting on base. I found my old basic training barracks that brought back some memories. I am glad that my final memories of FLW are now of playing the golf course and not of some drill instructor screaming at me.



If you are near Delta, Colorado I HIGHLY suggest a stay at the Cedaredge Lodge. Awesome place to stay.




We climbed Wilson's Arch on the way towards Moab. Pretty awesome views from up there.

Of course I had to stop at 4 Corners National Monument and stand in 4 states at once.
The drive from Farmington to Four Corners was cool and we checked out the Shiprock along the way as well.


I played golf EVERY SINGLE DAY, with the exception of the day we spent at Mesa Verde National Park. That place needed at least a whole day, if not more.



I really enjoyed driving out in the desert and the scenery never gets old, a ton to look at.
We actually liked Roswell, NM. It was a fun place to spend a few hours, and the Alien stuff is the town's marketing schtick to get you there. The Alien Museum is only $4 to enter.

The drive from Santa Fe to Paako Ridge (Turquoise Trail) is really scenic.




I really loved the wide array of architecture in and around Santa Fe. Cool stuff.



And of course, my lunch at The Big Texan was more enjoyable than my round of golf at Commanche Trail in Amarillo. We did not attempt the 72OZ challenge either!


We stopped at Cadillac Ranch on our way to Roswell. The paint fumes are bad within 100 feet of this!

We took back roads from Amarillo to Roswell, and all you see are HUGE cattle farms (feed lots) and long trains that stretch on forever.








Having never been to Oklahoma before, I thought that downtown Oklahoma City was pretty neat at night, with a lot of dining options and things to do.
Here are a few shots of our ride though Utah. THis never gets old!

[Chris Pearson]

Love this thread.


Kudos to you and your lady for such an ambitious trip! There's absolutely zero chance my wife would go for a golf-16-out-of-17-days road trip


I couldn't agree more with your sentiments about Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe—it's one of the best municipal courses I've played anywhere in the country! Lotta cool shot values, no ridiculous gimmicks, and a far more playable layout than some of the other "high desert" routings on your adventure.


Black Mesa's deterioration should infuriate everyone here. I suspect you would have found it to be one of the top 2 routings on your trip, and I've seldom seen a course that begs for replays as much as BM does.


Thanks for the recap and great pictures...I've gotta figure out how to make my own trip like this!

[Richard Hetzel]

Love this thread.


Kudos to you and your lady for such an ambitious trip! There's absolutely zero chance my wife would go for a golf-16-out-of-17-days road trip


I couldn't agree more with your sentiments about Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe—it's one of the best municipal courses I've played anywhere in the country! Lotta cool shot values, no ridiculous gimmicks, and a far more playable layout than some of the other "high desert" routings on your adventure.


Black Mesa's deterioration should infuriate everyone here. I suspect you would have found it to be one of the top 2 routings on your trip, and I've seldom seen a course that begs for replays as much as BM does.


Thanks for the recap and great pictures...I've gotta figure out how to make my own trip like this!

At the VERY END, she asked to go home a day early. Because she never complained at all the whole time, I gave in without argument (smart move I know). All I missed was Swope Park and some Kansas City BBQ. She was quite the trooper. She even played 6 times, but she figured out that when she just drove the cart and I played alone (or with others), I actually played much better. I am a lucky man that she likes to golf, and helps to feed my addiction for new courses. Fossil Trace was my 500th golf course.


I could play a 3 course rotation of Marty Sanchez, Pinon Hills and Redlands Mesa the rest of my life and be very, very satisfied. Not playing Black Mesa bummed me out, but so did not playing some other courses in Nebraska as well. Hopefully, there will be more opportunities.

[Brad Tufts]

GREAT recap!

I've played a few of these (Redlands, Paa-Ko, Wild Horse, Gateway, Fossil Trace) and they are all fun in their own ways.

I actually work with NMMI as a client, so I will have to check out their course during one of my visits.

As a New Englander...driving around the desert never gets old for me either!

[Thomas Dai]

Wow! Epic sounding trip and post. Some amazing terrain irrespective of the golf. Thanks for sharing.
Imagine you needed a vacation to get over the trip!
atb

[John Mayhugh]

Safe to say you may be the only person to ever play this particular lineup on a trip.  Really entertaining look at the country and how golf terrain varies.  Thanks for posting it.

[Kalen Braley]

Richard,


Very very jealous.  This looks almost exactly how I would envision an ideal trip/roaming the country side.


A few comments:


-  Totally agreed on Redlands Mesa, super fun course.  I know Jim E's stuff gets mixed reviews here, but its never boring!!
- The Hideout may not win any awards, but its one of the most interesting courses i've ever played.  But I know its pretty remote for just about everyone!
-  I know your itinerary could have went a thousand different ways, but I think you would have also liked Black Mesa in NM and Lakota Canyon in CO.
- I really want to give Fossil Trace a go, I'll be out there in October for a LAX meeting and hope I can squeeze it in!


Thanks again for posting this.  I think this really captures a big part of the essence of what GCA should be about! 

[Richard Hetzel]

In regard to The Hideout, I heard a lot of negative stuff about the playability of the course and that I should skip it on my trip altogether. In reality, I am glad that I played it, and was more disappointed in Moab Golf Course that I played later that afternoon. If I had more driving time, I would have spent more time in Utah and driven down near the St. George area. Next time, I will. Hideout was tough, but not so severe that I wouldn't want another go at it. It is a good golf course. Like most golf courses, it would certainly play easier the second time around and most of the time, on any golf course, if you hit a bad shot you are penalized. There are 2 extremely penal holes on the back nine, numbers 12 and 13 that ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE the perfect tee shot left, that will then hit the hillside and roll down to the fairway. I was lucky and had par on 12, on 13 I had a triple with 2 lost golf balls. Hole 14 kind of makes up for it with an pretty easy par 5 that offers up a birdie opportunity.  The Hideout is definitely not cookie cutter and not boring. A few bland holes, but overall, a very GOOD golf course. I was the very first person off at 6:55 am and I was finished by 9am as my wife was waking up. For $42 (with cart), you cannot beat this place. I can certainly post all 18 of The Hideout in a separate thread later if anyone would like.

[Matthew Petersen]

Looks like an absolute blast of a trip.


My wife and I drove from Denver through Moab back to Phoenix a couple weeks ago. I had planned to stop and play Redlands Mesa on the way but the weather was not cooperating. Wind blowing so hard it was difficult to keep the car on the road, and blowing a lot of dust around. And 100 degrees as well! The wife was not interested in riding along in those conditions and I couldn't blame her!


From I-70 you can see the cliffside holes at Battlement Mesa and it looked like a perilous place to be in that wind.


Agree that Moab, an amazing spot in this world, deserves a better golf course.

[Kalen Braley]

Richard,


Agreed on all counts!  Hideout does have some blind shots and a good dose of quirk, but I love funk on the course in generous doses. I played it years ago and my wife rode shotgun and seemed to enjoy the scenery as well.  Just a shame its so remote or would probably get a lot more play.


As for Moab, I've never bothered with it as I've always gone 4X4'ing in my other visits. Kind of a pity because with the terrain and backdrops they could have built something more on par with Sand Hollow in that spot.

[Keith Grande]

Richard, sounds like a splendid trip, but your priorities are not in order...passing up Kansas City BBQ AND Swope???

[Evan Fleisher]

What a great trip...awesome for you two to be able to spend that much time together on a cross-country roadtrip!  Thanks for sharing all the details and pictures, Richard!

[Richard Hetzel]

Richard, sounds like a splendid trip, but your priorities are not in order...passing up Kansas City BBQ AND Swope???

We'll get back to Kansas City soon, Swope will be the first visit on the agenda.

[Sean_A]

Richard


You are an animal.


Ciao

[Dan Herrmann]

Loved everything about this thread!  THANK YOU!


@Richard Hetzel - What vehicle did you use?    When Laura and I drove out from Philly (twice) to play Dismal River in Mullen, NE, we drove my BMW 328i once and a rented Volvo SUV the other time.   I found my BMW to be a lot more fun to drive, but it didn't have a ton of space.    We always were on the lookout for hotels with laundry facilities.

PS - When we returned the Volvo, the guy at the counter asked, "Where the heck did you go?" with a smile on his face.   I think they lost money on that rental...

[Richard Hetzel]

Dan,


We opted for our Mazda 6 over our Toyota Sequoia. We traded space for gas mileage; the Mazda averaged about 35-38 mpg. The Mazda 6 was fine, albeit a bit cramped with all of our stuff jammed into the back seat. We thought about a rental, but decided not too since we like driving our car and it will be passed on to my son in a year or two anyway...my next golf road trip will be in a motor home!

[Jim Franklin]

Very cool. I take it there are no kids at home.

[Stewart Abramson]

Rich, I enjoyed reading about your trip. Too bad you weren’t able to visit Swope Memorial. It’s a nice old course and is distinctive when compared to the courses that you did get to play.  I was on my own journey during the same time frame as your trip although my trip was much less ambitious. I played in CO, KS, OK, AK and MO, starting at Common Ground in Denver and ending at Swope Memorial. Many visitors to KC expect to find flat land like the plains, but KC is really different and Swope in particular is  on a parcel that’s like a roller coaster with eight holes that have pretty steep uphill or downhill shots and half of those are both uphill and downhill. I was there the day after KC had seven inches of rain and parts of downtown were closed. I was surprised that the course didn’t show many ill effects other than a few bunkers that had standing water or were a bit muddy. Here are a few photos of some of the holes I liked best at Swope. The par 3's and par 5's were quite good.The preview function doesn't seem to be working, so I can't tell if the photo links are working. If they aren't I'll try to fix.https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/albums/72157683845894732/with/35579779004/ - Photos of all 18 holes


Swope Memorial #4 from tee 
 Swope Memorial #5 dogleg left par 5 from tee
#5 is 1 451 yard par 5 dogleg left with an uphill tee shot. It's a hole that some long hitters probably don't like because in most cases the second shot s not one where you hit as far as you can, but rather take a shorter club and place it for a good third shot so can negate some of the length advatage. I don't know if there's been a thread on GCA discussing par 5's that ask for a short second shot. There's a hole like that on my home course and I'm curious to know thoughts on this type of hole and characteristics that make such a hole better or worse.
Swope Memorial #5 green is to left beyond trees 
Swope memorial #5 approach 
Swope memorial #9 from tee par 5 up-down &up 
From the ninth tee you can just see the top of one of the center bunkers at the top of the hill. Long hitters can fly the bunkers and get a  roll down the slope before facing a steep uphill approach. Everyone else flirts with hitting into the cross bunkers.[

[Stewart Abramson]

Swope memorial #9 i cross bunkers at credt of fairway





Swope memorial #9 right of fairway cross bunkers



Swope memorial #10



Swope memorial #11 from tee



Swope memorial #11  approach

[Stewart Abramson]

Swope Memorial #14 from tee



Swope Memorial #17 from tee par 5




Swope Memorial #17



Swope Memorial #18 from tee zoomed

[Richard Hetzel]

Very cool. I take it there are no kids at home.

There are four kids still at home!!!! BUT, I only have them 55% of the time and the ex wife 45% of the time. It was her 2 weeks with the kids so that allowed me to take this trip. Well, that and my wife!
 

[Richard Hetzel]

Stewart,


Thanks for kicking me while I was down! I as so looking forward to Swope. The good thing, my wife has agreed to go back there in the spring or summer for a long weekend, so I will get to play 18 when I probably would have only been able to play 9 holes anyway! Thanks for pics! No BBQ pics?

[Jim Franklin]

Very cool. I take it there are no kids at home.

There are four kids still at home!!!! BUT, I only have them 55% of the time and the ex wife 45% of the time. It was her 2 weeks with the kids so that allowed me to take this trip. Well, that and my wife!
 

Awesome trip and your new wife sounds like a keeper.