August 2014

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B M W C H A M P I O N S H I P S P E C I A L

Tight Lies & Tight Lines in Jackson HoleColorado’s Oldest Mountain Course

The PGA TOUR’s Top 70 Players Take Center Stage at Cherry Hills

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coloradoavidgol fer.com4 Colorado AvidGolfer | August 2014

Cherry Hills Country Club hole #17

In Every Issue 8 Forethoughts No Tiger, No Cry. By Jon Rizzi

10 Off the Tee A Moscow Mule and Indian courses.

15 The Gallery The Avs tee off twice; Denver pumps up Tiger; Northeastern 18’s new owner; HealthONE Women’s Open; more.

72 The Games of Golf Jimmy Walker, Meet Jimmy Walker

Player’s Corner29 Profile

Vail PGA Director of Golf Alice Plain takes on MS. By Jon Rizzi

32 Lesson How to Putt a Breaker. By John Ogden

34 Lesson Adjust your swing for altitude. By Ben Welsh

36 Tee to Green Mount Massive turns 75. By Jon Rizzi

sidebets41 Fareways

Alamosa’s San Luis Valley Brewing Co., Pagosa Springs’ Boss Hogg and Ouray’s Mouse Chocolates. By Gary James

46 Nice Drives Lincoln MKC and Volvo V60 . By Isaac Bouchard

50That 70 ShowAs the BMW Championship brings the PGA Tour to Cherry Hills—and back to Colorado for the first time in eight years—we look at the event’s history, competitors, which holes will be pivotal, how to buy tickets and who benefits.

64Goin’ to JacksonWant to mess around? From world-class golf and trout-fishing to heli-skiing, hunting, riding, skating and much more, Wyoming’s Snake River Sporting Club overflows with outdoor options. By Jon Rizzi

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Forethoughts

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No Tiger, No Cry

Admittedly, the closest I’ve come to owning a BMW is my collection of Bob Marley and the Wailers albums. The band’s initials are the same as the auto brand’s, and that coincidence conveniently allowed Marley, who partly built his legend by denouncing Western materialism, to justify his ownership of a 1973 BMW Bavaria.

Bavaria descendants like the 640i will no doubt appear at the upcoming 2014 BMW Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club. More relevantly, so will the top 70 players in FedEx Cup points, many of whom hadn’t cut their milk teeth—much less been born—when Bob Marley died in 1981. Some of them, like Dustin Johnson, hadn’t yet turned professional the last time the PGA Tour staged an event in Colorado.

That event, The International at Castle Pines, took place in 2006, a year before the first FedEx Cup playoff. Jimmy Walker, in the midst of a mid-dling first full season on the Tour, missed the cut; Bubba Watson tied for sixth; and a European Tour rookie named Martin Kaymer didn’t get invit-ed. Further perspective: Keegan Bradley was at St. John’s University; Ricky Fowler was about to begin his senior year at Murrieta Valley High; Rory McIlroy was a 15-year-old upper-schooler in Northern Ireland; and Jordan Spieth was in middle school in Dallas. Chris Kirk, Patrick Reed, Brendon Todd—all winners of tour events this year—were considering prom dates.

Golf may be the “game of a lifetime,” and experience counts when it comes to competing at the highest levels, but the professional game is getting younger by the week. Every event seems to have a winner I only vaguely know. If not for the caddie bibs and standard-bearers, I’m not sure many of us would recognize Brendon Todd from Kevin Streelman from Harris English. Meanwhile, the familiar favorites like Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods make headlines for injuries and non-golf reasons.

Phil and Tiger have helped sell tickets, but they may not be in atten-dance at Cherry Hills. I hope either or both make the field of 70, of course. However, I’m just as anxious to see young guns like Rory, Bubba, Ricky, Adam Scott, Jason Day and Justin Rose negotiate Cherry Hills’ tight terrain of risks and rewards. “There’ll be a lot of game-day decisions,” FedEx Cup points leader Jimmy Walker told former Cherry Hills Head PGA Profes-sional Clayton Cole during a recent practice round.

Those decisions will involve whether to go for the green on Nos. 1 and 3, how to attack par on the 552-yard 5th and 520-yard 14th (both par 4s), what to do about those two sets of nasty cross bunkers and the island green on No. 17 and how to avoid the ubiquitous trouble on one of the most chal-lenging 18th holes in golf.

For fans, the decisions will revolve around which up-and-coming player to follow or which holes to watch (Tip: Try the par-3 15th, since any hole-in-one results in an Evans scholarship; Hunter Mahan’s ace in last year’s BMW sent CommonGround caddie Melyzjah Smith to CU). Each day will involve groups starting on holes 1 and 10, so factor that into your spectat-ing strategy. However you choose, to quote Bob Marley, “get up, stand up” and go to the BMW Championship. —JoN RIzzI

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Both Cherry hills and the MosCow Mule enjoy a rather spirited history. And as the 92-year-old club prepares to host this year’s BMW Championship, it’s fitting that this classic vodka cocktail serves as the signature drink.

The BMW will be Cherry Hills’ 12th national champi-onship, a run that began with the 1938 U.S. Open. The Moscow Mule dates back to the early 1940s and, served in its bespoke copper mug, became a high-profile drink order for Hollywood stars during the “vodka craze” that was sweeping the nation at the time of the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills.

Today the club is honored to carry on the 109-year-old tradition of the Western Open, now known as the BMW Championship. Clubhouse Director Terry Anderson says the “members still favor the classic drinks like vodka and specialty wines.”

Cocktail with a KickBy Marina Beach

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Cherry HillsMoscow Muleingredients:• Fresh lime • Ice• 2 oz. Breckenridge Vodka• Barritt’s Ginger Beer (to fill)

direCtions: Squeeze three fresh wedges of lime in a large copper mug. Fill with ice. Pour at least 2 oz. of vodka. Fill rest of mug with ginger beer. Stir to mix.

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Native Rough

With football season about to kick off, controversy contin-ues to swirl around the nick-name of the NFL’s Washington franchise. After the U.S. Patent

and Trademark Office revoked the Washington Redskins trademark in June, a number of news-papers banned use of the word “Redskins” in reference to the team.

Could golf course names suffer the same fate? While it’s highly improbable that such legendary

golf clubs as Shinnecock Hills and Seminole—both of which feature a left-facing Native American in their logos—would ever encoun-ter censure, what of

the 143 United States courses with “Indian” in their names?

Right here in Colorado we have Indian Peaks, Indian Tree and the

Sleeping Indian nine at West Woods. Indian Tree’s logo profiles a Native American in the leaves, while Pueblo Country Club’s sports a right-facing profile of a Ute.

If any of the above warrants a Native American protest, shouldn’t devout Christians object to Devil’s Thumb Golf Course in Delta? Should they refuse an invitation to play Pine Valley Golf Club, the top-rated course in the world, because the bunker on number 10 is famously known as the Devil’s Asshole?

And although it’s far-fetched, were we back in the McCarthy era 1950s, true-blue patriots wouldn’t be caught dead at a place called Red Sky, Red Rocks, Redlands Mesa or Tiara Rado.

Even the Country Club at Castle Pines would find itself under HUAC scrutiny. Why? Its initials—CCCP—are identical to those of the former Soviet Union.

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August 2014 |Colorado AvidGolfer 15coloradoavidgol fer.com

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The members of Colorado’s di-vision-winning NHL franchise will slap around the golf ball before the season gets underway.

on September 15, the team will tee it up at the 18th Colorado Ava-lanche Charity Golf Classic at The Ridge at Castle Pines North. A foursome at the event, costs $4,000, includes four guests and an Avalanche player, coach or celebrity, and recognition as hole sponsor in tournament signage and program. Individuals can enter for $1,000. Proceeds benefit the community programs of the Colorado Avalanche sup-ported by Kroenke Sports Charities. Last year’s edition raised $88,000 in service to those in need. Your group could include Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy, Nathan MacKinnon,

Matt Duchene or even recent acquisition Jarome Iginla. Contact Deb Dowling ([email protected]; 303-405-1100)

AN AvAlANCheof golf

MARKING THE 18TH: The Ridge will host the team’s annual charity event September 15.

for more information.Less than three weeks later, on

Wednesday, october 1, the day before they face off in a preseason hockey game at The Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, the Avalanche and Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings will play in a celebrity golf tour-nament at The Broadmoor. The $3,000 per-foursome entry fee will benefit the USA Hockey Foundation and covers breakfast, lunch, cocktail reception and a ticket to the october 2 game. A special guest from either team. Could one of them be Philip Anschutz, the intensely private owner of both The Broadmoor and the Kings? lakings.com/preseason; 310-535-4466.

STICK HANDLER: Matt Duchene shows his skills.


Tiger’s Got a Brand New Bag

the space that once trumpeted Titleist, Buick and AT&T now advertises musclePharm. As seen during last month’s British open, Tiger Woods now sports on his golf bag the logo of the Montbello-based performance-

lifestyle nutrition company. The deal runs for four years with a two-year option. MusclePharm also sponsors NFL players Eric Decker and Colin Kae-pernick as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger. The com-pany is the official supplement provider for Ultimate Fighting Championship and USA Wrestling. “one of the keys to success as an athlete is making sure you are fueling your body properly, which is at the core of MusclePharm’s mission,” Woods said in a re-lease. “I look forward to working with MusclePharm to help people achieve their peak physical form.”

We haven’t had many peeks into Woods’ form since his back surgery, but the media’s Tiger ob-session (ESPN3 devoted its British open broad-cast exclusively to him) means plenty of airtime for the bag caddie Joe LaCava lugs around. And with the possible exception of Dustin Johnson, no golfer on the PGA Tour boasts more superb con-ditioning than Woods.

“We are excited to work with Tiger to bring more attention to nutritional science and how it can enhance strength and overall athletic per-formance, and most importantly, fuel athletes safely,” said MusclePharm Founder, Chairman and CEo Brad Pyatt, a former NFL receiver who also coaches the football team at his alma mater, Arvada West High School. Pyatt incorporated the publicly traded company in 2006.

Expect to see Woods touting the benefits of MusclePharm in print, on television and online. Calling the collaboration “fun and authentic,” Woods’ agent Leigh Steinberg said his client “is helping MusclePharm reach a whole new demo-graphic.” musclepharm.com

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The Sterling Affair

For more than 80 years the facility on the hill at 17408 Highway 14, 128 miles northeast of Denver, was known as sterling Country Club, a thriving private club with a far-reach-ing reputation for tight fairways, puny greens and a highly competitive three-day Labor Day Invitational. But after a 2001 fire prompted the construction of a bigger clubhouse, member-ship flagged, and by 2005, a group of members bought the club and renamed it Pawnee Pines

Country Club. Five years of limited success followed, until a philanthropic member, Frank Walsh, purchased the club and donated it to Sterling’s Northeastern Junior College, which changed the facility’s name to Northeastern 18 and opened it to the public.

The college had no experience in operat-ing a golf facility, and after Walsh passed away last December, the college, in accordance with his stipulations for the facility, turned over ownership of the course and restaurant facility on July 1 in exchange for more than $700,000 in scholarships. The Lebsock Family—seven

BIG CAT: A Colorado company keeps Woods pumped.

WATERING HOLE: Three simulators, like the one used by Fred Funk, and customized golf décor highlight The Sand Bar at Pelican Lakes Golf & Country Club in Windsor.

Original Sims There must be something in the water in

Windsor—and as anyone who’s played Pelican lakes Golf & Country Club knows, there is no shortage of the wet stuff in the community known as Water Valley. Shortly after announcing Fred Funk would be designing his first course, RainDance, for Water Valley CEo Martin Lind (July 2014 issue), Pelican Lakes installed three state-of-the-art golf simulators inside its new sports grill, The Sand Bar. Members can now play rounds at 80 different courses.

“There is nothing like this bar anywhere else in the state, or perhaps the nation,” says Lind.

“People will be able to play Pebble Beach when it’s snowing outside, and that’s an amenity you can’t find anywhere else.” The Sand Bar has named two of the simulators after Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Those stand next to one an-other, while the Fred Funk machine occupies its own, intimate room for private parties.

In addition, The Sand Bar boasts 19 TVs, cus-tom tables and booths and eight beers on tap, in-cluding the club’s very own beer, Pelican Lakes La-ger. It pairs well with small pizzas and panini—fare you won’t find at the more upscale Pelican Lakes Restaurant upstairs. Nor will you find Sand Bar drink concoctions such as the Ty Webb and Tin Cup. watervalley.com; 970-674-1100

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of whom attended Northeastern—took over this month. “In honor of Frank Walsh, Northeastern Junior College and the northeastern Colorado community, our family is pleased to assume own-ership of this property which has been a huge and important part of Sterling for many years,” said Brad Lebsock, the son of David and Cheryl Lebsock. “We have appreciated how careful NJC has handled this transition. We, as a family, feel very committed to keeping it open as a public golf course and restaurant and making it available to this entire area.”

Changes have already begun. Fred and Carol Borra, former owners and managers of The Bro-ker Restaurants in Boulder and Denver, have taken over the club’s Plainsman Grill, and plans include remodeling the clubhouse interiors to ac-commodate larger events. This month the course will host the Colorado Junior Golf Association Fall Series event; the annual Labor Day Golf Tournament will take place as it always has; and the Colorado 3A Boys State Golf Championship will go off in September.

And by the end of the year, new merchandise will probably appear in the golf shop, displaying the historic club’s fourth name and logo in the past de-cade. 2.njc.edu/northeastern18; 970-521-6889

Ladies FlightThe BMW Championship won’t be the only

exciting golf happening in Colorado around La-bor Day. on August 27, 28 and 29 at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, 144 top female golfers will com-pete in the 20th edition of the HealthoNE Colo-rado Women’s open. The event, which has become extremely popular among collegians and players on the LPGA’s developmental Symetra Tour, provides a great opportunity to glimpse the future of wom-en’s professional golf.

Scheduled during a Symetra off-week, the open will attract such aspiring professionals as defending champion becca huffer, former DU standouts Katie Kempter and dawn shockley, Littleton’s Ashley tait and Big Break champion and CU alumna emily talley. other Symetra stars include Anya Alvarez, madeleine sheils and elena robles. At press time, Morgan Pressel’s sister, Madison, and Tiger Woods’ niece, Cheyenne, were scheduled to play but had not committed. Standout amateurs include Colorado Women’s Golf Asso-

ciation Match Play and Junior Stroke Play Champion Jennifer Kupcho of Jefferson Academy and numer-ous collegiate players from Colorado and Wyoming.

“The HealthoNE Colorado Women’s open has become a must-play event for young ladies trying to compete against the best in the country who aren’t yet qualified for the LPGA Tour,” says Kevin Laura, CEo of the HealthoNE Colorado opens. “Symetra Tour players along with Cactus Tour and other devel-opmental tour players see this event as a great field, great purse, fun format and professionally run option to gauge their game against those vying for a place at the LPGA table.”

A number of more experienced players will also be in the mix, although many of Colorado’s leading pros—Sherry Smith, Stefanie Ferguson and Elena King—will be competing August 24-27 in the LPGA Teaching & Club Professionals Championship at Château Élan Re-sort in Georgia.

Admission to the HealthoNE Colorado Women’s open is free to the public, and the event employs a Pro-Am format similar to that of the AT&T Pebble Beach Na-tional Pro-Am. For more information: coloradoopen.com; 303-486-8800.

NAME THAT COURSE: The recently sold Northeastern 18 in Sterling.

RISING STARS: Huffer (top) and Talley

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ROLL PLAYERS: Bandon’s Punchbowl Putting Course, co-designed by Denver’s Jim Urbina

The Village Green CommonGround Golf Course has always

been about breaking barriers and bringing more people to golf. The Colorado Golf Association partnered with renowned architect Tom Doak on the design of the golf course so that all golfers could enjoy the classic strategic elements of the game. Numerous programs endeavor to expose youth and families to golf. And with the opening of a new 18-hole Putting Course this spring, CGA executive director Ed Mate is looking to make ac-

cess to the game even easier.“You know, you can putt for pretty much

your entire life,” Mate says. “So we feel like we are taking away the age barrier. You don’t need any equipment—Ping has given us putters you can check out from the golf shop—so we’ve removed that barrier. You don’t need much time. That’s another barrier. The CommonGround Putting

Course is truly furthering the mission of opening the game to everyone.”

When it unveiled the 22,000 square-foot Putting Course designed by Eric Iverson, Com-monGround contributed to a trend led by golf meccas Pinehurst Resort, with its rollicking This-tle Dhu Putting Course, and Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, which opened the 2.5-acre Punchbowl Putting Course in May of this year. of course, these putting courses have their roots at the home of the game, Saint Andrews, where the Himalayas Putting Course has served as home to the St. Andrews Ladies Putting Club since 1867 (the

green is open to the public).

Denver resident Jim Urbina co-de-signed the heaving, rolling Punchbowl at Bandon. Urbina also has a long and fruitful relationship with Common-Ground. He sees a trend developing, and he likes it.

“I think we as a game do it all backwards,” Ur-bina says. “The first thing we ask new golfers to do is the hardest thing of all—hitting full shots.

We don’t get to golf ’s greatest appeal—the social interaction with golfers—until we’ve lost half the people who try to learn the game. These putting courses, they get you right to the fun part. Any-body can putt, and you can be playing games and having fun within minutes. And yet you’ve got a framework for the game—the hole is the same size, you get a feeling for movement around a course.

It’s a great way to spend time together. People are laughing and having fun.”

Urbina also echoes Mate’s belief that putting eliminates an age barrier. “You know, my dad is well into his 80s. He can’t really make his way around the golf course anymore. But he can come out here and putt, and I brought him out here. That we could share that time together, still play-ing golf and still rooting for each other and razz-ing each other—what could be better than that?”

While Thistle Dhu and Punchbowl have clear-ly marked “holes,” complete with tee markers that change from day to day, Mate and his staff are letting the CommonGround Putting Course find its own niche in the community.

“We’re watching how people use it,” Mate says. “I love the idea of an 18-hole Putting Course, but I also love to see people out there, just playing Horse or whatever, winner picks the next hole. or just seeing a family knock it around in the eve-ning. It’s all about having fun and connecting with golf, making it easy for people to find their way in. If this Putting Course is doing that, then we’re doing something right.” —Tom Ferrell

FLATSTICK FUN: CommonGround’s new Putting Course.

PUTTER & SON: Architect Jim Urbina and his father, Art.

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Golf by Numbers52

Things to Consider at the Moment of Im-pact” subtitles Golf ’s Inner Game, a compendium of swing thoughts, tips and anecdotes generated by Snowmass Village’s boone schweitzer, the ec-centric mind behind the successful Trashmasters Golf Tournament (which has generated nearly $2 million in scholarships since its 1993 inception). Each nugget appears on a page of the pocket-sized book, popping up like so many thoughts as you address the ball. Among them: “Stay loose”

and “It’s not a gimme if you’re still away.” Schweitzer says his “swing has more issues than People magazine,” and flipping through his breezy bagatelle, you can understand why. golfsinnergame.com; 970-923-2700

19 holes of match play decided the first broad-

moor invitation played since 1995 at the Colo-rado Springs resort. The Denver-based team of Chris Hunt and Dave Lee scored a one-up vic-tory over Brad Grogg and Mike Allred of Colo-rado Springs. “The reintroduction of this storied event could not have gone better,” Director of Golf Russ Miller said of the four-day competi-tion. “I look forward to making it an annual affair.” broadmoor.com

75 years ago, with confectioner Chet Enstrom

as chairman, the first rocky mountain Open took place at Grand Junction’s Lincoln Park Golf Course. The tournament has gone off every year since then, making it the state’s longest continu-ously running open golf tournament.

This year’s edition will take place August 14-17 at Tiara Rado Golf Club and Bookcliff Coun-try Club. Yet only a month earlier, a group led by Enstrom’s grandson-in-law, the Enstrom Candies president and owner Doug Simons, bought the event from the Western Colorado Golf Founda-

tion. Supporting the foundation’s scholarship mis-sion but not the way it ran the RMo, Simons’ group will pay the WCGF $30,000 over the next three years for all rights to the tournament. “We naturally want to provide scholarships for wor-thy golf athletes and students,” Simons says. “But you have to nurture the golden goose first, not squeeze it to death.”

That nurturing has begun. Enstrom’s, which had title-sponsored the last few RMos, will cease in that role in order to rebuild the RMo brand, which Simons believes will attract multiple spon-sors, as well as support from area golfers. He has established the RMo as a 501(c)(4) and has quickly assembled a blue-ribbon board. Plans in-clude reinstituting a pro-am and creating other events around the tournament. Monument oil president and Colorado Golf Hall of Famer C. Paul Brown, who won the 1987 event as an ama-teur, will serve as honorary chairman. “It’s time to take the tournament to the pinnacle level it de-serves to be,” he says. “It has a great tradition that we are passionate about continuing.” rmogolf.org

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4high-school students from Jake’s Place, the

not-for-profit junior golf mentoring facility founded by PGA Professional doug Wherry and housed at Lone Tree Golf Club, have received scholarships to play collegiate golf. Colorado Girls 5A champion michelle romano (Rock Canyon High School) will attend the University of Colorado Colorado Springs; Julia Kim (Rangeview) is heading to the University of Illinois at Chicago; Chris Korte (Re-gis Jesuit) will play for the University of Denver; and Kobe Padilla (Cherry Creek) is heading to the University of Colorado Boulder, to which he earned an Evans Scholarship and intends to make the men’s team roster.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these kids,” gushes Wherry, a one-time Cherry Creek and University of Texas El Paso star golfer who started the non-profit academy after his professional competitive career stalled. Wherry was inspired by his mentor Jake Warde (after whom he named the academy) and Arnold Palmer, for whom he ran junior board-ing school golf program in Florida. “Mr. Palmer pulled me aside during a staff meeting, grabbed me by the lapel and said, ‘Doug, it’s up to you to pass on the traditions of this wonderful game to the next generations…Promise me you will do this for me and all those who came before me.’ Jake’s Academy was born that day.”

Along with PGA professionals Tom Carricato

and Dustin Miller, Wherry mentors competi-tive junior golfers not only to become accom-plished enough to receive scholarships to compete on the collegiate level; it also incul-cates life lessons such as self-respect, integrity, honor, honesty, focus and discipline. ”our cur-riculum develops and enhances junior golfers fully by teaching golf skills, physical fitness, mental development and success training, eth-ics and social skills,” Wherry says.

other Jake’s alumni now competing in college include Gus Lundquist (University of Louisville), zach Tripp (UCCS), Nick Berry (Colorado School of Mines) and Andrew

Romano and Jack Cummings (University of North-ern Colorado). jakesplacegolf.org; 303-541-9159.

2consecutive trips to the NCAA Division I re-

gionals in his first two years as men’s golf coach is the goal of University of Northern Colorado’s roger Prenzlow. The Boulder native took the job after spending more than 30 years in Wyo-ming—first as the men’s golf coach at the Univer-sity of Wyoming and then as the GM and director of golf at old Baldy Club. UNC returns all but one player from last year’s America Sky Conference Championship squad. uncbears.com

Get inside stories and more at coloradoavidgolfer.com CAG

A PIECE OF JAKE: Wherry preps students for college golf and life at Jake’s Place.

GREELEY GOOD: The conference champion UNC Bears.

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August 2014 | Colorado AvidGolfer 29coloradoavidgol fer.com

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Moving briskly aroundthe golf shop at Vail Golf Club, Alice Plain conveys a relaxed energy and con-fident authority that befits

her role as PGA Director of Golf at one of the busiest courses in the Rockies. She strikes up easy conversations with regulars and supervises her staff with a collegial ef-ficiency that’s ultimately reflected in the club’s 4:07 pace of play—an edict that even applies to golfers riding the popular Golf Bikes she introduced at the course this year.

The 47-year-old Plain often rides her bike to work and two years ago complet-ed the Triple Bypass. She skis and plays

hockey throughout the winter and ac-tively embraces the outdoor life that drew her to Colorado more than 20 years ago. Watching her play golf—which she did col-legiately on the Oklahoma State University golf team and professionally on the Futures Tour before becoming a PGA member in 1993—you’d never know she suffered from multiple sclerosis.

What started as numbness in her legs in December 2005 soon began to manifest it-self with blurred vision, fatigue and other symptoms of the disease that attacks the central nervous system and interferes with the transmission of nerve signals between the brain, spinal cord and other body parts.

Six months of MRIs, spinal taps and other tests later, she officially became one of the approximately 400,000 Americans with MS. Official estimates vary on how many Coloradans are afflicted—from one in 550 to one in 800—but the incidence is signifi-cantly higher here than in any state outside the Pacific Northwest.

Plain, however, clearly hasn’t allowed the disease to define her. Despite not being able to feel her legs some days, she contin-ues to pursue her passion for teaching the game she grew to love as a girl in South Bend, Indiana. And after figuring out that stress exacerbated her MS symptoms, and that she could no longer relieve that stress

Alice Through The looking glAssAn MS diagnosis has only fueled Vail Director of Golf Alice Plain’s passion for life—and for helping others do the same. By Jon Rizzi


by exercising seven days a week, she learned to filter it in different ways. One way, she says, is by always walking and not keeping score on the golf course. “The only competing I do is in charity events,” she says, “and that’s fine. I’m just happy to be outside.”

To accept just what she could accomplish on any given day is an approach Plain credits to working with the Avon-based Can Do MS program in 2008. Started in 1984 by Jimmie Heuga, the Olympic skier who would not let a 1970 MS diagnosis prevent him from living a full life, Can Do MS provides classes for individuals afflicted with MS—and their partners—in exercise, nutrition and mental motivation to improve the physical condition and outlook on life.

“Jimmie was a huge inspiration for me,” Plain says of Heuga, who died in 2010. “I’d see him on his trike bike and Sit-Ski all the time. He truly changed the minds of neurologists who believed people with MS should limit their physical activity, and the Can Do MS program was extremely helpful to me and my partner, Shelli, to have a map of how to live life down the road.”

Plain obviously sees golf as part of that life. She’s learned, for instance, that a wider stance and “walk-through” follow-through helps her better maintain balance. And because she loves to teach, she is committed to helping other “adaptive athletes” find joy in the game.

At Beaver Creek Golf Club this May, for exam-ple, she worked the entire day with Lori Bryant, a single-digit handicap who had quit the game she loved to play with her husband and sons shortly after being diagnosed with MS two years ago.

“I get tired a lot, my mobility is not very good, I have a lot of stiffness and a lot of numbness and can’t move my body very well,” Bryant said before her encounter with Plain. “I’m looking for how I can consistently strike the ball again.”

Understanding firsthand Bryant’s situation helped Plain connect with her student, and by the end of the daylong one-on-one lesson, Bryant was striking the ball with power and accuracy. “There were probably ten things I learned from Alice that we are going to practice back home,” Bryant ef-fused at the end of the day. “It was awesome.”

Her husband, Randall, more than seconded that emotion. “You have to spend a lot of time trying to find your new normal,” he said, tearing up. “And our normal before had been playing golf together all the time. And today was a sign that that normal

could come back. So I was real pleased with that.”Plain also draws motivation from the PGA

H.O.P.E. (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere), a six-week program the PGA of America has launched to support veterans by introducing them to the therapeutic and rehabilitation benefits of golf. PGA Professional David Windsor from Florida’s Adap-tive Golf Academy led the local training. “He really got me jazzed,” she says. “He had great ideas about working with people with all kinds of disabili-ties—veterans with prosthetics, missing limbs, and PTSD, as well as people of all ages afflicted with arthritis, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis and other physical conditions.”

One of the adaptive aids Windsor suggested and Plain has employed is the tall tee—“kind of like kids use in tee-ball,” she says—which she fashioned by cutting down a golf shaft and inverting the grip to create a pedestal from which a seated golfer (in a wheelchair, for example) strikes a ball with a short-shafted driver. “I can’t tell you how much fun it is for people to hit the ball off this thing,” she says excitedly before striping one down the range.

By finding her “new normal” and giving back to others with disabilities her gifts as a golfer, teacher and person, Plain serves as “an inspiration to all of us,” says PGA Colorado Section Executive Director Eddie Ainsworth. “The leadership she brings to our industry through her professionalism and positive attitude always makes her a joy to be around. What a great lady.” CAG

Jon Rizzi is editor of Colorado AvidGolfer.

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GETTING THROUGH: A slightly wider stance and Playeresque walk-through finish helps Plain stay balanced.

SIT AND HIT: Plain demonstrates the tall tee.

Can Do Ms: mscando.org, 970-926-1290

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MAking Your own BreAksHow ball position can help you sink those bending putts. By John Ogden

John Ogden is the Head PGA Professional at Cherry Hills Country Club, site of the 2014 BMW Championship. Among his many awards is the Colorado Golf

Hall of Fame’s 2012 Golf Person of the Year. Find more lessons and helpful tips at coloradoavidgolfer.com . CAG

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Front foot ball position forleft-to-right break

Center ball position for right-to-left break

One OF the biggest Challenges the PGA Tour pros will face at this year’s BMW Championship is how to deal with the greens at Cherry Hills Country Club. It is rare ever to have a straight putt from inside 10 feet on the William Flynn-designed course.

A great way to keep those difficult left-to-right and the right-to-left breakers is to adjust the ball position in your stance to help keep the ball on line. Try these techniques the next time you play. You will find yourself holing more breaking putts.

leFt-tO-right breaking putts: Move the ball slightly forward in your stance. This enables the putter face to release earlier and help the ball stay on line and not miss on the low side of the hole.

right-tO-leFt breaking putts: Move the ball slightly back in your stance. This enables the putter not to release as much and not miss on the low side of the hole.

lesson 1

Front foot ball position forleft-to-right break

Center ball position for right-to-left break


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rockY MounTAinlowWhen the tee is already high, there’s no need to add elevation. By Ben Welsh

gOlFers FlOCk to the mountains not only to play amid the stunning beauty of dramatic peaks and rushing rivers, but also to see the ball fly farther at altitude. But altitude also presents the greatest challenge. Though the air is thin and the ball may travel farther, the winds can be

more unpredictable than they are on the Front Range, and when hitting from elevated tees, the ball is in the air a long time, allowing the wind to move it more than expected.

There’s also much more math involved in club selection. Most PGA Tour play-ers say that the ball flies about 10 percent farther in Denver than at sea level, so up here in the mountains, I say about 15 percent longer than at sea level. So, your 150-yard club at sea level may go 165 up here, or from Denver, your 150 club may go 157. Then, you have to take a guess at how high you are elevated above the landing area, and how much yardage to subtract. Easy, right?

Take the 10th hole at EagleVail (below), a 197-yard par 3 that drops 185 feet from tee to green. From experience, I know the elevation makes this 197 play

more like 155-160 and the wind often blows left to right. My 155 club is 9-iron, but I will pull 8-iron and make an abbreviated swing to control the trajectory and spin, cutting through the crosswind. Here’s why and how…

The best strategy for golf at altitude is controlling the ball’s trajectory; flight-ing it lower than usual. The simplest way for the average golfer to control trajec-tory is just to take one more club than anticipated and make an abbreviated swing. This will allow the trajectory to be a little flatter, cutting through the wind rather than ballooning up in the air and blowing offline.

Similar to a true “knockdown shot” to hit the ball under a tree, you want not only to abbreviate the finish but also the backswing (photo 1). A shorter back-swing slows the swing speed and reduces the amount of spin on the ball, also preventing the wind from affecting it. This why we take an extra club. A shorter follow-through (photo 2) with a slightly quieter wrist action should keep the shot lower and on line. Do not change your ball position. Keep it simple and just try to hit a lower, more penetrating shot.

lesson 2

Find more lessons, helpful tips and videos at coloradoavidgolfer.com. CAG

Ben Welsh is the PGA director of golf at Eagle Vail Golf Club in Avon. He sits on the Colorado Section PGA’s board of directors. [email protected]; 970-790-1210.

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who’s counTing? Is Mount Massive, Colorado’s oldest mountain course, really turning 75? By Jon Rizzi

THEy sAy nuMbErs Don’t liE. But the “459” that the scorecard has as the black-tee yardage on the sixth hole at Mount Massive Golf Course short-changes this Par 5 by 76 yards. Not that

it much matters. At 9,640 feet above sea level—more than 500 feet lower than downtown Leadville, just four miles east—even a 3-wood can get you on in two from the elevated teeing area. Besides, watch-ing your tee shot hover against the snow-shrouded fourteener from which the course takes its name amounts to a transcendent experience.

They say numbers don’t lie. But the “1939” published as the nine-hole course’s birthdate is a “stretch,” says General Manager Craig Stuller, who has also served as Mount Massive’s superin-tendent since 1989. “It’s a fuzzy number,” he says.

“People had been playing here on sagebrush and sand greens since the early Thirties.”

So even though it’s easily Colorado’s oldest mountain course, there’ll be no 75th Anniversary Gala at the course designed by Adolph Kuss?

“Actually,” Stuller says, “We credit Kuss because he was an important Lake County commissioner for 12 years and was a Leadville City Councilman and a member at Mount Massive forever. The reality is, a lot of people have their fingerprints

on this course. Really, nobody designed it. It just happened.”

This means no two greens were built by the same person. “Some are rather plain and some have double tiers and breaks,” Stuller says, adding that a number of teeing areas are bigger than some greens, which average a scant 2,000 square feet and are protected by a grand total of 13 bunkers.

The entire nine-hole par-36 tips out at 3,043 yards. But small putting surfaces, minimal sand and

short holes do not make for a cupcake course. With less ground to maintain than most superin-tendents, Stuller keeps the course—especially the greens—in spectacular shape. “I have high main-tenance standards,” he says. “Just ask my crew.”

And those conditions come into play more often than not. The course, which opens with a wide open 400-yarder before winding for six holes through stands of lodgepole pine spared by the dreaded beetle kill, favors the ground game more than the usual aerial attack. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust your distance on the blind 148-yard second, or try to cut the corner on the No. 1 handi-cap third—a 390-yard dogleg left. But if you don’t drive the wee greens, bumping it on often affords a better chance at birdie than a high flop does.

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Mount Massive further distinguishes itself from other mountain courses by having no homes lining the fairways. A nonprofit organization owns the course, which mandates “low-cost recreation for locals while promoting economic di-versity by providing an attractive ame-nity for tourists.”

Lake County residents pay $325 per year for unlimited golf, seniors $310. “We live on tourist play,” says Stuller, who reports a prime time (9-3) nine-hole round costs a mere $22; 18 is $40. If you insist on riding, add $7 per nine holes. However, the course’s lack of elevation change and distance between greens and tees precludes the need for a cart—yet another point of distinction between it and other mountain layouts.

Whether its age is 75, 80 or 13 (the course fi-nally installed state of the art irrigation in 2001) doesn’t amount to much. Neither does its quasi-feud with Copper Creek over which is North America’s highest course. (“There used to be a gentleman’s agreement,” jokes Stuller, who pre-viously worked there. “Now the gloves are off!”)

The number that certainly doesn’t lie is 20,000—that’s how many rounds the course sees during a season that lasts from mid-May to mid-October. The appeal lies in Mount Mas-sive’s affordability and accessibility. As Stuller puts it, “We’re the difference between Ski Coo-per and Vail Mountain.” CAG

Jon Rizzi is editor of Colorado AvidGolfer. For more information: 719-486-2176; mtmassivegolf.com.

hAppY BirThdAYM Ount Massive’s exact “birth year,” like that of former PGA Tour player Tom Shaw (who suddenly aged four

years to become eligible for the Champions Tour), was at least 75 years ago. A number of other courses are

celebrating more verifiable anniversaries this year:

90Sunset Golf Course (Longmont)

50Dos Rios Golf Club (Gunnison)Grand Lake Golf Course (Grand Lake)Lake Valley Golf Club (Niwot)

40EagleVail Golf Club (EagleVail)Hollydot Golf Course (Colorado City)Inverness Golf Club (Englewood)The Ranch Country Club (Westminster)Rollingstone Ranch Golf Club (Steamboat Springs)

30Country Club of the Rockies (Edwards) Grandote Peaks Golf Club (La Veta)Las Animas Golf Course (Las Animas)Meridian Golf Club (Englewood)Plum Creek Golf Club (Castle Rock)Southridge Golf Club (Fort Collins)The Club at Crested Butte (Crested Butte)The Meadows Golf Club (Littleton)

The Club at Crested Butte

TINY DANCE FLOOR: Massive these greens are not.

Dos Rios Golf Club

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colorAdo’s souThern swingA moveable feast of beer, barbecue and Belgian chocolates.By Gary James

sAn luis VAlleY Brewing coMpAnY

Dispensaries are grabbing the head-lines, but Colorado continues to rank high in terms of gross beer production, thanks to the state’s 200 or so micro-breweries. And there’s a gem in Alamo-sa—the San Luis Valley Brewing Compa-ny, where old floors, exposed brick and a 5,000-pound vault door serve as visual reminders of the 117-year-old building’s beginnings as the American National Bank.

Located just a mile south of Cattails Golf Course, SLVBC is owned by Scott and Angie Graber, who serve a versatile selection of six brews, ranging from the hoppy Grande River IPA to the creamy

Ol’ 169 Oatmeal Stout, which honors the long-retired Denver & Rio Grande loco-motive that once chugged through town.

Speaking of chugging, I found SLVBC’s Alamosa Amber smooth and easy to drink, with a balanced malt-to-hop ratio and a hazed crimson color. The unique creation is the Valle Caliente, a crisp, golden Mexican-style lager (think Co-rona) aged on Hatch Chile, a longtime staple of southern Colorado cuisine. It has the heady aroma of flame-roasted mild green chile, but not the spice, result-ing in a most refreshing summer beer.

The Valle Caliente flavors the batter used on the Fish & Chips appetizer, and the Amber Ale laces the “secret recipe” Brewers Red Chili, which in turn finds its

way into the Chili Cheese Red Potatoes and Chili con Queso. If mayonnaise-based appetizers hold a special place in your heart, the Warm Spinach Artichoke Dip is a delectable blend of spinach, ar-tichokes and cheese, served with tortilla chips and pita bread.

Entrees include a succulent bacon-wrapped Filet Mignon and fall-off-the-bone Stout Braised St. Louis-style Barbe-cued Ribs. But the stars are the burgers, which come as half-pound hand-packed premium Angus beef patties, or you can opt for a veggie burger, or substitute Salazar local natural beef or bison from Zapata Ranch (not far from the Great Sand Dunes National Park and the for-mer Great Sand Dunes Golf Course in

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BREW CREW: San Luis Valley Brewing Company’s spirited staff hops to it.

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Mosca). Of the half-dozen or so offerings, I recommend the Smokehouse BBQ Burger—the “Simply Honey” chipotle BBQ sauce delivers the perfect sweet-heat combination, with beer-battered onion wedges, pepper jack cheese and a finish-ing touch of cabbage slaw.

Also of note are the sausage entrees sourced from Go-sar Sausages in Monte Vista, a sixth-generation sausage maker that uses naturally grown meat and organic spices with no fill-ers, MSG, nitrites or gluten. The Andouille Cajun Pork is sliced and served on wild rice with red and green peppers, onions and Southern au jus. It’s like Mardi Gras in your mouth.

Gosar’s savory chorizo finds its way into the delectable Southwest Chorizo Salad, one of a number of hearty meals masquerading on the menu as light leafy fare. Other culprits include the Steak & Spinach and Salmon salads—both served with bleu cheese crumbles along with the veggies. The crispy Teriyaki Chicken Salad, however, arrived on a spring mix with mandarin orange,

sesame seeds, pineapple, car-rots, and walnuts, much to my heart’s delight.

The brewery has recently branched into fresh roasted cof-fee beans in the ROAST Cafe next door. If they ever expand into cot rentals, I’ll never leave.

531 Main St., Alamosa; 719-587-2337; slvbrewco.com

Boss hogg’s resTAurAnT & sAloon

A vision of classic American eats can be found five minutes from the Pagosa Springs Golf

Club, right on the main drag in Pagosa Springs. Boss Hogg’s doesn’t look very fancy, but they’re happy to throw a little “slop” your way.

A menu with the backsto-ry of the place (now run by daughter Ima Hogg, har har) complements the friendly but not overbearing service. Kids

running around at one table and date night at another. And you can sit by the fireplace. Oh, and hearty, wholesome food. Boss Hogg’s house spe-cialty brings to mind one of my two favorite meat/math jokes. What is the first derivative of a

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REMEMBER THE ALAMOSA: SLVBC’s Teriyaki Chicken Salad goes well with its chili-spiced beer.


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cow? Prime rib! Prime rib is not as forgiving as other

smoked foods, such as brisket. When it comes to preparing this piece of meat, it’s not a matter of time as much as temperature. At Boss Hogg’s, the meat is slow smoked, mak-ing it even more tender. They don’t inject the meat, but they do season the outside heavily with a flavorful rub enriched by salt, herbs and spices. Mixed with the juices that are squeezed out by the heat, it dries to a beauti-ful, dark, crunchy, delicious bark—the smoke adheres to the crust and doesn’t penetrate too deeply, which enhances, rather than masks, the internal beefy flavor from the fat and the bone.

My order was perfectly cooked to medium-rare, the same desirable red color throughout the slice, served with a creamy, tangy horse-radish sauce on the side.

Truly the best I’ve had in years. However, prime rib cannot be cut with a steak knife, because it is only divisible by itself and one.

Yeah, that’s the other joke. 157 Navajo Trail Dr., Pagosa Springs; 970-

731-2626

Mouse’s chocolATes & coFFee

On your way to a round of golf in Telluride or Montrose, you go through Ouray—and it’s worth fudging on your tee time to stop

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RARE TREAT: Boss Hogg’s Smoked Prime Rib.


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at Mouse’s Chocolates & Coffee, the winningest shop on Main Street.

John roasts coffee in an antique machine, a big bad-boy piece of equipment that leaves the younger generation to wonder about a process with no computer programming involved. His business partner Heidi, the chocolatier, makes everything by hand, using only Belgian chocolate (the gourmet standard, measured by the quality of ingredients and old-fashioned manufacturing steps).

Mouse’s offers a huge selection of chocolates, cookies, lattes and ice cream beverages (try the espresso shake). But the be-all and end-all is the Scrap Cookie. After making their confec-tions, the leftover scraps are mixed with buttery sugar dough, which results in the most addictive cookie ever. Not too crispy, not too gooey, and no two bites are alike—there’s a yummy surprise with each one, bits of delicious goodness rang-ing from chocolate to toffee to nuts to dried fruit. Heck, just rub it all over your body and dip your-self in milk...

520 Main St., Ouray; 970-325-7285; mouseschocolates.com. CAG

Read more of Boulder-based Gary James’ food writing at coloradoavidgolfer.com.

SWEET SPOT: Some of Mouse’s confections.


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r EinvEntion is soMEtHing most entities—whether corporate or merely human—must undertake at some point in their life. Even currently revered brands like Audi and BMW were once

mired in mediocrity. Right now Lincoln and Volvo are trying for their own comebacks, and the Lincoln MKC and V60 represent the current state of their progress towards renewed greatness. Both look good enough to help drive prospective buyers into show-rooms and offer enough driving pleasure to earn a spot in the garage.

linCOln MkC $42,560, 21 Mpg COMbined

Expectations run high for the MKC, and this crossover indeed represents the best interpre-

tation yet of Lincoln’s new aesthetic, with a toned-down version of the winged-grill mo-tif and an especially strong rear three-quarter view. You’d never suspect it rides upon a Ford Escape platform—and, frankly, that makes little difference, as the MKC projects an athletic, yet sophisticated and stylish stance.

That sophistication continues into the inte-rior. While some thin, shiny plastics do appear, the vast majority of the MKC’s materials are high quality. French-stitched leather that’s soft and buttery appoints the cockpit, and the upper models’ leather-wrapped steering wheel con-nects the driver viscerally to the vehicle.

The Lincoln’s real buttons and knobs for the radio and climate control mark a welcome return to driver focus, and its various displays offer the kind of high tech-appearance and functionality drivers have come to expect and demand.

MyLincolnTouch features touch-screen op-eration of the SUV’s infotainment system. Ad-ditionally, the MKC features an “always-on” smartphone connection through the standard MyLincoln Touch Mobile application, which provides owners remote access to the system.

The MKC boasts plenty of room for an active family. It seats five extremely comfortably and access to the spacious cargo area comes via a hands-free rear liftgate on top trim levels.

In terms of drivability, the MKC is close—or ahead—of the establishment heavy hitters. The MKC’s dynamics are unapologetically luxury-oriented; there’s no fake sportiness here. It rides really well in its standard suspension settings, and is generally very, very quiet. Some road sur-faces elicit more road roar than necessary, but otherwise it moves with a polish more akin to what Lexus used to offer. Press the Sport button on the dash and it will tackle a back road with

PERFECT DRIVE: The Lincoln MKC

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The coMeBAck kidsThe latest offerings from Lincoln and Volvo point to a return to prominence. By Isaac Bouchard


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competence, and its steering and brake feel are excellent for the class.

An optional, all-new turbocharged four-cyl-inder engine propels the test MKC. Lincoln’s latest EcoBoost unit, in is sied at 2.3-liters, and puts out 285hp and 305lb-ft of torque. While a bit vocal when extended, it gives the MKC pro-digious pace. There is also a 2.0-liter EcoBoost with outputs of 240/270 available.

Whether Ford is capable of providing econ-omy and boost remains an open question. Previous members of this engine family have only offered one or the other at any given time.

The MKC moves its passengers ahead with powerful, smooth acceleration and a terrific ride, and it propels Lincoln forward towards renewed and much appreciated relevance.

vOlvO v60$42,225, 29 Mpg COMbined

While Americans may be hot for crossovers, those who are willing to contemplate a sports wagon will find the V60 one of the slinkiest sets of wheels in the midlevel luxury class.

Hewn from svelte sheetmetal and featuring

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high quality materials and super-comfy front chairs, the Volvo’s detailing is as carefully honed as its stance and proportions. Some of the aesthetic is due to the optional Sports Package (which gives you those wonderful seats and gorgeous 19-inch wheels), and with it comes a brittle ride quality over rough roads; best try both it and the standard suspension before deciding. Also, brake modulation needs some fine tuning to smooth out stops.

Thankfully, the V60’s steering is well cali-brated; rarely is it bothered by the power-plant’s prodigious torque (which peaks at 280lb-ft in overboost mode), being linear and accurate in response. In these respects the V60 is like turbo Volvo wagons of twenty years ago: stout-running but a bit rough around the edges. However, it is quiet and refined, almost a match for the best cars in the class.

Like the MKC, the V60 has an all-new tur-bocharged four-cylinder engine. Its “Drive-E” powerplant’s 240 ponies and 258lb-ft of twist make it more than competitive in the horse-power wars. It is very refined and smooth run-ning, unfortunately it can barely crack 20mpg in mixed driving, despite EPA ratings that are

much higher. The engine connects to slick six-speed gearboxes; top competitors run at least one or two more ratios in their transmissions, which helps with real-world economy.

The Volvo loses a few points for its slow in-fotainment system, which will be replaced in the company’s forthcoming models with an amazing, bigscreen setup developed to inter-face properly with the new Apple CarPlay and Android Auto OSs. Finally, the V60 has decent back seat and cargo room; in size, it pretty well matches up with wagons from Audi and BMW—the only ones who ship them here them anymore.

Volvo knows the V60 will be a niche play-er, and therefore need not worry as much about wide acceptance. What the V60 does portend, in its style and usage of the new cor-porate engine, is what’s to come later this year, namely the all-new XC90; based on what we can see, touch and drive now, the company’s

future is bright. CAG

Read more of Contributor Isaac Bouchard’s automotive writing at nicedrivz.com and coloradoavidgolfer.com.

The Racer’s EdgeDuring the decades I’ve played around racing

cars, I’ve had to order my helmets and pretty much every other accouterment from out of state, and about half the time it doesn’t quite fit or perform correctly. No longer. Twenty-two-year-old Sonoma-based Wine Country Motor Sports has opened its fourth retail shop right near Centennial Airport. Carrying everything from fire-retardant clothing and shoes to racing seats and harnesses, the store makes it possible to try before you buy. Pricing is nationally com-petitive and the staff very knowledgeable. 14 Inverness Drive East, Suite A-138, Englewood winecountrymotorsports.com; 800-251-8917.

That 70 ShowThe PGA Tour is back, baby!

A P R E V I E W O F T H E


August 2014 | Colorado AvidGolfer 51


In 2006, the first FedEx Cup playoff was a year in the offing, but as we remember all too well, its advent played a major role in deleting the Cen-tennial State from the PGA Tour schedule.

So it’s a bit ironic that the penultimate event of the FedEx Cup—the BMW Championship—is bringing the world’s best players back to the Mountain Time Zone. The timing is right, however, for a number of reasons.

If Castle Pines had hosted a 2007 FedEx Cup match, it would have asso-ciated itself—at great financial expense—with a system that initially endured the kind of criticism usually reserved for college football’s Bowl Champi-onship Series. Factor in dearth of sponsorship dollars during the ensuing financial crisis, as well as the competition from football in terms of atten-dance and TV ratings, and you can understand the wisdom behind not rising to the Tour’s bait.

By contrast, today’s FedEx Cup reflects modifications in scoring and structure that have made each of the four events more intriguing, competi-tive, and relevant to the average fan. The economy has picked up; so have sponsorships.

Back in 2007, Tiger Woods so dominated the Tour that he split it into two tiers of events—the ones in which he played and those he didn’t. He didn’t even participate in the first–ever FedEx Cup event—the 2007 Bar-clays—yet still ran away with the FedEx Cup. Today, he’s scrambling to crack the field of 125 at the Barclays and eventually qualify for the BMW.

The 70 players competing at Cherry Hills won’t be the same ones at the 2006 International. Sprinkled in among veterans like Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk are exciting young gunners like Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson, Jimmy Walker, Ricky Fowler, Martin Kaymer, Jus-tin Spieth and Patrick Reed. With so many first-time winners this season, there’s more parity in golf than at any other time in recent history.

In addition to bringing these fierce competitors to Cherry Hills, what makes this year’s BMW Championship so special is its Western Open pedigree. The event spans parts of three centuries, beginning in 1899, and benefits the West-ern Golf Association’s Evans Scholarship program, which provides full-ride college tuition for caddies who demonstrate financial need. Cherry Hills has long supported the program—member and Tournament Chairman George So-lich, who caddied at the Broadmoor, was famously an Evans Scholar—and six of the 46 Evans Scholars currently at the University of Colorado caddied at Cherry Hills, which has produced 35 Evans Scholars Alumni.

Those are all backstories. The best news of all is the BMW signals the return of a PGA Tour event to Colorado. And with the kind of show we’re capable of staging, it won’t take another eight years to stage the next one.

When Dean Wilson edged out Tom Lehman to win his first and only PGA Tour event at the 2006 edition of The

International at Castle Pines, no-body knew eight years would pass before the PGA Tour would return to Colorado.




“The mAjor ThAT never was.” That’s how Arnold Palm-er, who won the event the

year after claiming the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills, describes the Western Open. And during much of the 20th century, it’s hard to argue with him. Begun in 1899, the Western Golf Asso-ciation’s premier event enjoyed a prestige on par with that of the U.S. Open. Its list of champions includes Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Ben Ho-gan, Sam Snead, Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Nick Price.

Sixteen states have hosted the Western Open (including Utah and even New York) but not Colorado. That is, until this year—the event’s eighth in its current incarnation as the FedEx Cup’s BMW Championship.

But the Centennial State’s connection to the event goes way back, years before Arnold

Palmer, to the Great War. The Broadmoor’s first head golf pro-fessional, Jim Barnes, won the event in 1914, ’17 and ’19 and one of his successors at the Col-orado Springs resort, Ed Dud-ley, took the 1931 title.

Then there was Ralph Gul-dahl. The last of his three con-secutive Western Open wins came in 1938, the same year he won the first U.S. Open con-tested at Cherry Hills Country Club.

That U.S. Open put the Wil-liam Flynn-designed course

in the Rockies on the national golf map. Three years later, it hosted the PGA Championship, won by Vic Ghezzi in 38 holes of match play over Byron Nel-son. Palmer, of course, charged

into history there at the 1960 U.S. Open, and Andy North, now an ESPN golf analyst, won the first of his two U.S. Opens, despite an extremely shaky final hole.

Seven years later, Hubert Green edged Lee Trevino by two strokes at Cherry Hills to take the 1985 PGA Championship, his second major and the last of his 19 PGA Tour victories.

During this time, the Western Open had its share of midsummer moments. In 1962, it departed from its itiner-ant tradition to become a purely Chicagoland event, stopping at Me-dinah, Beverly, Olym-pia Fields and the Tam O’Shanter Country Club in Niles. It spent 19 years at the men-on-ly Butler National Golf Club until PGA Tour policy required moving the tournament to Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. The Dubsdread Course at Cog Hill host-ed it from 1991 to 2006, during which time Tiger Woods won it three times.

Tiger may or may not qualify for this year’s BMW, but Phil Mickelson, who won the 1990 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills probably will.

Lefty’s already enshrined in the club’s Hall of Champions (which will unfortunately not be accessible to fans dur-ing the BMW), which fea-tures stirring displays from each of the club’s national championships, including amateurs: the 1976 USGA Senior Amateur (won by Lewis Oehmig), 1983 U.S. Mid-Amateur (Jay Sigel), 1990 U.S. Amateur (Mickel-son) and 2012 U.S. Amateur (Steven Fox).

You can also relive Jack Nicklaus’ triumph over Tom Weiskopf in the 1993 U.S. Senior Open and Birdie Kim’s birdie chip-in on 18 to grab the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open title.

A display awaits the 2014 BMW Championship. Will it contain items from a suc-cessful Zach Johnson title de-fense? Can previous winners Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose or

Dustin Johnson repeat? What about a Kevin Stadler stunner?

The display will feature the official name of the FedEx Cup’s penultimate event, but for those with historical knowl-edge, it will show how the Western was won.

Tiger WoodsAndy North

Jim Barnes

Ralph Guldahl

when TrADiTionS merGe

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10 holeS TowATch

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colorADo Golf hAll of fAmer Clayton Cole spent 17 years as the Head PGA Golf Professional at Cherry Hills—and, recently, played 18 holes there with FedEx Cup points leader Jimmy Walker, who praised it as a “a terrific gallery course; you can move from hole to

hole.” Since you’re likely to be in that gallery, here’s a list of the 10 holes Cole considers the most pivotal.

3 323 yards | par 4 Everyone knows Arnie drove the first green in the ’60 Open, but this potential eagle hole will also have players licking their chops. Hitting driver, however, might put them through the green and into the creek. It’s better to be short and right. Left or long? Dead.

The Tour cut a stroke from this hole, making birdie here a monumental accom-plishment. Creek right, bunkers left and a bisecting cross-ditch squeeze the fairway off the tee. Players then need to hit a high, soft-landing long iron to carry a chasm of sand and hold the severely sloping green.

Carrying the water isn’t as much of a problem as finding the right part—in ev-ery sense—of a green with a severe spine. Too far right puts players in the sand, and shots at a left pin could spin back into the drink. Long can go very wrong.

12 219 YARDS | PAR 3

Deep grass mounds and a large fairway bunker pinch the landing area off the tee, and a creek crosses short of the green. Getting on in two isn’t as much of a problem as getting down in two on one of the course’s trickiest putting surfaces.

With half the field finishing on No. 9, this decision-filled dogleg left assumes greater importance. A long iron or fairway wood will keep it in the short grass and avoid the bunkers at the elbow. But players hovering around 30th place on Sunday will risk pulling driver.

5 552 YARDS | PAR 4 7 415 YARDS | PAR 4


i don’t know if we can run the logo against blue

i don’t know if we can run the logo against blue



This long two-shotter curls to the left, where a creek runs along the entire hole. Most drives will find the wide fairway but the downhill approach (probably a 5- or 6-iron) demands precision to avoid the creek and sizable bunkers left and right of a pitiless green.

Seventeen’s island green produced the most putts at the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open. That was before a 2009 restoration removed the trees to add more intimidation. It also introduced two sets of cross-bunkers: the first 330 yards from the tee, the second, 405. Bubba might carry the second set, but most will lay up with hybrids or long irons. Then—possibly with the same club—60 percent will go for a green surrounded by three-inch rough.

With the creek bisecting the fairway, players will likely lay up with a hybrid or fairway wood, leading to a delicate short iron shot into a severely sloping, angled green protected by a pair of large bunkers.

On this tough finisher, players need to carry as much of the lake on the left as they can without finding the right rough. The shorter the uphill approach, the better, as a pair of deep bunkers yawn in front of a green where three-putts aren’t uncommon.

The last of Cherry Hills’ one-shotters penalizes anything but a perfect shot. Players hit downhill to a tiny green ringed by four bunkers. The ubiquitous Little Dry Creek will catch pulled or overdrawn shots. Patrons with Wadley Cup tickets can catch the action here.

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jimmy walker It took the former Nationwide Tour Player of the Year 14 years as a pro and 187 PGA Tour starts to win his first PGA Tour event, this season’s Frys.com Open. He then proceeded to win two more times in his next seven starts, including this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The leader in FedEx Cup points for most of this season, he blistered the course during a practice round at Cherry Hills earlier this summer. Although casual golf fans couldn’t pick him out of a lineup, he’ll be one to watch.

henrik Stenson Ranked ninth in FedEx Cup points going into last year’s playoffs, the sweet-swinging Swede rode victories in the Deutsche Bank and Tour championships to capture the 2014 FedEx Cup. The world’s No.2-ranked golfer has only competed in a handful of PGA TOUR events this season, focusing more of his time on the European Golf Tour, whose championship he also won last year. He might be peaking at just the right time.

Sergio Garcia The colorful Spaniard has quietly had one of his best seasons in years. Spending the majority of the year playing across the pond, he has made the most of his 10 appearances in the States, notching six top-10 finishes, including run-ner-up at the Travelers Championship and a third-place at The Players. The British Open runner-up could be due.

Phil mickelson The fan favorite re-turns to the site of his 1990 U.S. Amateur Championship. He and the course have both evolved significantly since then, but few players have Lefty’s short game and flair for escaping trouble—both skills that will prove critical at Cherry Hills.

Zach johnson What the defending BMW Champion lacks in driving distance, he more than makes up for in accuracy, finding the fairway more than 70 percent of the time off the tee—good enough for sixth in the world. If he places his tee shots to give himself the best angle into the green (a must at Cherry Hills), he could go very low.

wADley worThy?There may or may not be a Tiger in the field of 70, but

these other big cats could pounce. By mArinA BeAch

Bubba watsonExpect big drives and big galleries when golf’s new favorite lefty is in the box. With two first place finishes early on—one coming at the tight, classic, treelined Cherry Hills-esque layout at Augusta—Mr. Pinkshaft stands more than a puncher’s chance to win the Wadley. He also might outdrive the green from the Palmer tee with a 3-wood.

jordan Speith The hotshot Texan has not won another event since taking last sea-son’s John Deere at age 19. But he’s comfortably positioned in the FedExCup rankings with seven top-10 finishes, including two runner-ups. Spieth has demonstrated poise and consistency in big tournaments. Don’t be surprised to see his name near the top of the leaderboard and in one of the last groups on Sunday.

rory mcilroy Known for his talent and ability to perform well under pressure, this year’s wire-to-wire British Open champion has steadily climbed back into form since making big changes in his equip-ment, management and relationship. He’s been a birdie machine on both the European and PGA Tours this season, and his previous performances in FedExCup events—he won both the 2012 Deutsche Bank and BMW—suggest a strong showing at Cherry Hills.

Adam Scott Since surpassing Tiger Woods for the number one world ranking, Scott has been taking it easy with his number of tournaments in the States. The end of May and beginning of June were stellar for the Aussie; winning in a playoff at the Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial, and two top ten finishes at the Memorial Tournament and U.S. Open. Can the number one player hold his position?

justin rose The Englishman is hav-ing a stellar season, putting up back-to-back wins at Congressional and Castle Stuart go-ing into the British Open at Hoylake. His crisp iron play and skillful course manage-ment will serve him well on Cherry Hills’ old-school thinking man’s layout.

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German engineering. As we saw at this year’s U.S. Open, he is more than the ul-timate driving machine; he can chip and putt, too.

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Tiger woodsHeading into the British Open, he ranked 87 spots and 333 points from the cut to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. “The way this point structure is, you can make up ground pretty quickly with some wins,” he said be-fore teeing off at Royal Liverpool. For that the BMW organizers are secretly hoping.

matt Kuchar Immensely likeable, solid player but can

break your heart on Sunday’s back nine.

Patrick reed He’s still learning the definition of humility but there’s plenty to like about his game.

Keegan BradleyStrong performances on the tough-to-

read greens at Pinehurst and The Green-brier this season suggest he could very well anchor-putt his way to a win, especially with a local, Pepsi Hale, on the bag.

Kevin Stadler The hometown hero has had a breakout

season. Keeping his emotions from getting the best of him will be key.

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enerGy enTrePreneur and BMW Champion-ship General Chairman George Solich claims the Evans Scholarship

“really changed the total course of my life.” So do John Deere CEO Sam Allen, radio person-ality and attorney Dan Caplis, Kimberly-Clark CEO Tom Falk and Carlyle Group Operating Executive Mary Petrovich.

These business leaders repre-sent some of the 9,800 alumni of the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship Program, which began by awarding two scholar-ships in 1930 and now ranks as the nation’s largest scholarship program for golf caddies. More than 840 deserving caddies across the country currently attend 19 universities as Evans Scholars. Established by famed amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans, Jr., the program provides full housing and tuition, with deserving students receiving $12.7 million during the 2013-2014 academic year. To date the program has awarded $305 mil-lion in scholarships.

The Western Golf Association administers the Evans Scholar-ship foundation, and also man-ages the BMW Championship, a premier TOUR event that un-

til 2007 was known as the West-ern Open. The BMW is one of only four tournaments on the PGA TOUR schedule with one beneficiary. All tournament pro-ceeds benefit the Evans Schol-arship Foundation, giving stu-dents educational opportunities and connections. Over 92 per-cent of Evans scholars graduate and several have bloomed into top executives and directors in the workforce.

Among them are Solich and his older brother Geoff. They so valued their Evans scholarships at the University of Colorado—and the caddie experiences that supported them—that they formed the Solich Caddie and Leadership Academy at Com-monGround Golf Course in 2012.

Here are some other local highlights.

ED MATE Executive Director, Colorado Golf AssociationUniversity of Colorado, 1988

“I am so thankful I got in-volved with caddying at Denver Country Club because it taught me discipline and respect to-ward others. Caddying is about serving others and to enhance the golfer’s round. Without the Evans Scholarship, college wouldn’t have been possible. I am forever grateful to have been awarded the scholarship because it allowed me to focus on school, instead of worrying about finances. Today, it has opened up doors for me to con-tinue a career in the golf profes-sion.”

KEvIn LAURACEO, First Tee of Green Valley Ranch and Colorado Open FoundationUniversity of Colorado, 1985

“Caddying at Valley Hi Golf Course in Colorado Springs al-lowed me to get involved in golf at an early age. I started play-ing golf around six years old, but really learned to respect the

values of the game when I be-gan caddying at 12. Receiving the Evans Scholarship made it possible to go to a great uni-versity like CU. Living in the Eisenhower house introduced me to 40 brothers and sisters. It taught me to be a responsible housemate and led the way to a great first job as Caddie Master at Castle Pines Country Club.”

RYAn PELLETSenior Vice President at NexidiaUniversity of Colorado, 1995

“Golf tests integrity, focus, strategy, how to learn from and move on, social skills, generos-ity, and even humility. Caddy-ing granted me access to people who had mastered a lot of these things both professionally and on the golf course. The Evans Scholars Houses are unlike any other collegiate scholarship or program. From the first day, you live with a family of other Evans Scholars peers that are interest-ed in your successful transition to college. There’s a longstand-ing tradition of support to make sure your peers take full advan-tage of the opportunity. The Evans Scholarship welcomes you into a lifelong family. The alumni continue to look out for each other.”

JEREMY STROIMAnChief Executive Officer Evans Senior Investments (Boulder)Indiana University, 2003

“Receiving the Evans Schol-arship was everything. Due to financial restraints, I wouldn’t have been able to attend college without the scholarship. My mother had my twin brother

and me when she was 20 years old and raised us solo. I remem-ber to this day the time she came home from work and told us she learned a way for us to go to college. We started caddying that summer. The scholarship impacted us so much that we named our company after the scholarship. Everything we have been blessed to have in life is a result of the scholarship: edu-cation, friends, family (my wife is an Evans Scholar), and busi-ness.”

JAY RESEIGH Executive Director at Ernst & YoungUniversity of Colorado, 1998

“Caddying introduced me to hard work at a young age. Those early mornings on the course taught me when and how to converse with a vari-ety of leaders and senior ex-ecutives, which later became guidance counselors for school and future careers. One of my best friends and lifelong men-tors was an Evans Scholar. He helped me land my first job, has always made time to help me think through critical career decisions, and has provided an abundant number of lessons learned over the years. I have always felt a significant debt of gratitude to everyone who helped me receive the scholar-ship. The drive not to let those people down helped push me through school and ultimately shaped my career. Today, I make it a priority to assist the Evans Scholarship Foundation in any way possible.”

whAT They’re PlAyinG forchampionship Golf champions a causeBy mArinA BeAch


TOM WOODARDDirector of Foothills Golf University of Colorado, 1978

“I grew up in a family of seven. At first cad-dying allowed me to earn some money. But then I realized I was caddying for regulars who were great players, including City Park’s club pro. I knew from that point on, I wanted to become a golf professional. The Evans Scholarship really fell in place for me. Instead of hearing about it and working toward the requirements, I had already completed all of the criteria prior to knowing what the Evans Scholarship was. I am forever grateful for the scholarship; it gave me everything later in life. I had the opportunity to play four years on CU’s golf team with a full ride (which is rare to receive in men’s golf ) and I had a home away from home living in the Eisen-hower-Evans house. Academically, I decided to major in business with a focus in market-ing because I thought it was the closest thing to managing golf courses. My education pre-pared me for life.”

ASnI SOLOMOnSophomore, University of Colorado

“Being a caddie requires you to acquire skills that are essential to your life later down the road—respecting authority, hard work, perseverance and communicating effectively with others. I was able to learn how to com-municate with others in a respectful setting and work with peers around me to develop teamwork skills. I hope the Evans Scholar-ship will instill me the ultimate message that hard work and dedication pays off, and fur-thermore, that hard work does not end once you receive a full ride scholarship. Whether as a caddie on the golf course or a full time college student juggling work and school, perseverance and dedication are valuable skills that will always follow me, especially as I pursue my dream of attending medical school and becoming a pediatrician.”

Schedule of events BMW CHAMPIOnSHIP AT CHERRY HILLS COUnTRY CLUB SEPTEMBER 1-7, 2014

Monday, September 1 Evans Scholars Cup(Course Closed to Public)

Tuesday, September 2Professional Practice Rounds

Wednesday, September 3 Gardner Heidrick Pro-Am

Thursday, September 4BMW Championship Round 1

Friday, September 5BMW Championship Round 2

Saturday, September 6 BMW Championship Round 3

Sunday, September 7: BMW Championship Final Round

GOIN’ TO JACKSONWant to mess around? From World-class golF and trout-Fishing to heli-skiing, hunting, riding, skating and much more, Wyoming’s snake river sporting club overFloWs With outdoor opportunities.

by Jon rizzi


GOIN’ TO JACKSON


JJOhNNy CASh

wasn’t one for golf, and “Jack-son”—his 1960s hit that has ear-wormed me on the hour-long flight from Denver to Jackson Hole—evidently isn’t too keen on the game, either. The song’s two-quarter signature is mess-ing around with my finely-tuned three-quarter-time swing tempo.

At least that’s the excuse I give my playing partner, PGA Head Professional Kali Quick of Snake River Sporting Club, after start-ing my round there with three consecutive bogeys and going OB on the short, par-3 fourth.

“Great song,” the 28-year-old LPGA Q-School Finalist says af-ter singing a verse herself. “Too bad it’s about Mississippi.”

While this could explain why my game went south between the range and first tee, it also means it has nowhere to go but up.

Which it eventually and mer-cifully does, approaching a re-spectable degree of harmony with this masterful Tom Weis-kopf Signature layout in the Snake River Canyon, less than 20 scenic miles from my plush room in downtown Jackson’s historic Wort Hotel.

Driving into Snake River Sporting Club’s 554-acre prop-erty, you immediately know golf is but one of its myriad member amenities. If the sign for the heli-ski pad doesn’t tip you off, then maybe those pointing towards the equestrian center, archery course, skeet range, Frisbee golf course, and Nordic skiing and biking trails will.

As the river comes into view, kayakers, rafters and stand-up paddleboarders share the cur-rents with anglers casting for the Snake’s fine-spotted cut-throat trout. A pair of deer crossing the road suggests

hunting expeditions in adjoining wilderness areas known for elk, bear and the occasional moun-tain lion.

And of course, there are the cars of craftsmen finishing off the spectacu-lar homes marketed on real estate signs. By the time you reach the homey clubhouse appointed with original art from Jack-son’s Altamira Gallery, it’s no surprise that in ad-dition to fitness facilities and delectable dining, the 26,000-square-foot build-ing houses a “Sports Shop” that stocks putters and golf polos alongside bike jer-seys, waders and fly rods.

SRSC is a four-season club but golf, which mem-bers first played here in 2006, has returned after a finan-cially imposed hiatus. Reopen-ing this spring, the 7,533-yard course deftly straddles a prime stretch of the club’s six miles of private river access and 3.5 mil-lion acres of the adjacent Bridger Teton National Forest, with ver-dant woodlands and bosky wet-lands respectively distinguishing the front and back nines.

On the front, spruces, firs and pines spill down from the for-ested mountainside to comingle with riparian willows and cot-tonwoods. This lushness shields each hole from the next while simultaneously weaving them into an oeuvre of a piece with its surroundings.

The No. 1-handicap par-4 third, for example, which chutes through a narrow corridor of conifers and cottonwoods, leads to a fall-away green near a shed that steers you towards the syl-van fourth tee. There, you can fill your water bottle directly from Lamb Spring and hear the yips and yodels of coyotes echoing off the canyon walls.

A respect for natural habitat in-forms the design, as well as your club selection on the par-four eighth, where water at the end of

the fairway takes driver out the hands of most players and leaves them with a hybrid approach. Quick thinks this should be the No. 1-handicap hole.

Known for his drivable Par 4s, Weiskopf put two on the front: the 317-yard second and 378-yard fifth. Those distances are from the tips, called Snake tees. From the shorter fly-fishing in-spired Caddis, Wulff and Midge tees, double-digit players can also reach, especially at more than a mile above sea level.

The turn to the back nine ascends towards the bench on which Snake River’s clubhouse perches with the teeing area for No. 10 just below. Both spots of-fer similarly jaw-dropping views of the course, river, lush valleys and the ridged rear of Munger Mountain. Although far more open than the front nine, the back compensates for its lack of trees with an abundance of wa-ter and architectural sleights that prompt disbelieving reshoots with your Rangefinder.

The distance on No. 11 is in-deed all of 635 yards from the Snakes, and presents a scoring opportunity if you carry the stream (200 yards) and the bun-kers (290). It’s followed by what

Quick and General Manager Jeff Heilbrun reluctantly (because they like them all) call the “sig-nature hole”—the 233-yard 12th, which sits on flat land and re-quires carrying a winding lattice-work of elevated cart paths and tortuous creeks to reach a green framed stunningly by the moun-tains and guarded by a steep bunker on the left.

An eagle awaits on the next hole—a bald one that has its nest in the tree near the tee—and an-other rare bird comes two holes later in the form of a bunkerless, 205-yard Par 3. The 15th sports a harsh ledge left of the green that drops a good 20 feet, and with one of the best fishing stretches of the river riffling a few feet away, you might opt to wet a line with one of the rods that lay beside the chairs along the bank.

Just don’t miss the trio of stun-ners—a pair of opposite dogleg Par 4s and a 592-yard finishing hole—that climax what Weiskopf called his “finest work to date.”

The editors of Golf Digest must agree, because when Snake Riv-er opened in 2007, it trailed only Sebonack Golf Club—the Tom Doak/Jack Nicklaus Hamptons collaboration—on the magazine’s list of best New Private Courses.

LEFT LEDGE: The hazardous, bunkerless 15th.

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But whereas Sebonack would go on to host a U.S. Women’s Open, SRSC went on to host lawyers, lienholders and other horsemen of the financial apocalypse and fell into foreclosure in 2010.

However, in 2013 the Atlanta real-estate investment firm Cyg-nus Capital bought the distressed 257-acre property with the full intention of “repositioning it and reinvesting in it,” says Cygnus principal Christopher Swann.

Did it ever. Cygnus invested an additional $11.5 million to finish and furnish the clubhouse, revi-talize the golf course and build out the amenities and real-estate offerings, which include the stunning 3,750-square-foot Mar-tin Creek Cabins. Among the 68 homes and lots currently offered, each cabin features four bed-rooms and more than 800 square feet of covered, elevated decks overlooking the creek. Aspen’s Poss Architecture designed the high-ceilinged, timbered build-ings, and WRJ Design polished

the interiors with, among other materials, rare granite counter-tops and tiles, knotty alder doors and cabinets and sawn oak floors. The cabins run $2.5 million.

Cygnus also more than doubled the size of the prop-erty—from 257 to 554 acres—by additionally purchasing the ad-jacent River Bend Ranch and the 7,700-square-foot home that now sits on a 35-acre lot and lists for $6.5 million. Lots on the property range in price from $550,000 to $950,000 and include club membership.

To manage Snake River’s rein-vention, Cygnus hired Heilbrun—a longtime Jackson resident who had served as COO of nearby Teton Pines Resort & Country Club before taking a similar po-sition at North Carolina’s elite Wade Hampton Golf Club.

“Our goal is to provide the entire Jackson Hole experience in a private club setting,” he says over lunch on the sprawling clubhouse deck. “All that’s miss-

ing are the people, restaurants and the shopping—all of which is only 15 minutes up the road.”

And if, like most people, you want to ski Jackson Hole, Snake River membership includes ac-cess to an on-mountain ski club that offers 25 lockers, valet park-ing and breakfast and lunch right next to the new tram at the Jack-son Hole Mountain Resort.

“We have a youthful energy—not in age but in attitude,” Hei-lbrun continues. “It’s adventur-ous and independent.” Hiring the 28-year-old Quick to run the

golf operation directly reflects that philosophy, as does the pro-tean energy of Outdoor Pursuits Director Will Hobbs, an affable sportsman who took this visitor on an entertaining gauntlet of shooting clays, bow-hunting life-like woodland creatures (includ-ing a velociraptor) and floating along the Snake. The June visit put us “about two weeks out from fishing,” according to Hobbs.

That, naturally, doesn’t stop the blue herons, hawks and eagles from hovering, or a flock of peli-cans from perching on a shoal.

WELL-APPOINTED: SRSC’s intimate clubhouse.


Presented by

Monday, August 4 Wednesday, September 10

See page 44for details.

“Foam is home,” Hobbs memorably says about the hard-seam bubble line where bugs and fish con-verge. “That’s where the groceries get delivered.”

To deliver members to the resurgent club, Heilbrun and Membership Sales Manager LB Haney have taken novel approaches. Not want-ing to poach from area clubs, they have set up a multi-club membership program whereby a member at, say, Teton Pines, can add a SRSC membership for $35,000, plus $8,625 in annual dues (reduced from $60,000/$11,500), provided they remain a member at the other club.

A very attractive option for Colorado resi-dents (and anyone who does not own or rent property for more than two weeks a year within 200 miles of Jackson Hole) is the Na-tional Membership. For a $3,000 initiation and $5,750 in annual dues, you and three guests get 15 days of golf between Memorial and Labor days, plus full access to all club amenities. This membership also comes with a legacy benefit that reduces heir initiation by 50 percent.

“We have $100 million in assets here, so we don’t need initiations to cover capital costs,” Heilbrun explains. This results in a tremendous value proposition for Front Range residents, especially when you consider the frequency and price of the short flight from Denver to Jackson as compared to the fuel-wasting con-gestion on I-70. Factor in the glorious location and smorgasbord of amenities—especially the golf, skiing and fishing—and you have a pretty good argument to become a national member.

Don’t think it’s worth the trip? Trust me, by the time you return from Jackson, you’ll be singing a different tune.

CAG

Jon Rizzi is the editor of Colorado AvidGolfer.

ABOUT A TROUT: Casting a line on the Snake.

For more information: srsportingclub.com; 307-733-3444. Frontier and United offer dozens of flights daily. Among the choice places to stay and eat in Jackson are the Wort Hotel (worthotel.com; 800-322-2727), The White Buffalo Club and Res-taurant (whitebuffaloclub.com; 888-256-8182) and Trio Bistro (bistrotrio.com; 307-734-8038).

Weekday Mornings5am - 9am


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mEEt Jimmy WalkErF ROM JIMMY WALKER TO PATRICK REED to Chris Kirk to Kevin Stadler, the PGA Tour’s first wraparound season has seen an unprecedented

number of first-time winners. With all the fresh faces, the FedEx Cup standings are less of a Who’s Who than a Who’s That? And many of these top pros share a name with other fairly famous individuals. Can you identify each pro and his name-fellow?

For the answers and to submit any other connections, visit coloradoavidgolfer.com. CAG

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