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Course
Feature Ever
been to Firestone? If so….it must
have been to play Saddleback Golf Club,
voted the 2003 Golf Course of the Year. If
not…you really need to add it to your
list of golf destinations. Now there are
even more reasons to make the short trip
with your clubs in the trunk whether
you're a first-timer or Saddleback regular
in the making. It's only 25 minutes north
of the Denver-Metro mayhem so all you need
is a tee time and you're on your way!
Saddleback
Golf Club is one of the newest courses on
Colorado's Front Range, however, it is
already a "Classic" in the making.
Saddleback is golf course architect Andy
Johnson's first Front Range design, and he
has achieved his goal of creating an
"old-school" course with modern-day
challenges. As Johnson puts it, "The
Saddleback site rekindled my nostalgia for
the good old days and I had an opportunity
to create a core golf course." And "core"
it shall remain. Saddleback will have some
limited residential development on the
first three holes, but the rest of the
course will remain untarnished by housing
or apartments. To those of us who find
golf is a chance to "get away from it
all," it's refreshing to find a course
that is working to keep us away from it
all. The
course itself it truly refreshing in it's
design. The holes are routed with minimal
distance from the greens to the ensuing
teeing grounds, making Saddleback one of
the few recently-built championship
courses that is truly "walkable" by all
players. But "walkable" doesn't mean
"short" - Saddleback is over 7000 yards
from the back tees. However, there are
five sets of tees making the course
equally challenging and enjoyable for
players of all abilities. And "enjoyable"
seems to be a consensus review by players.
Head PGA Professional Ray Fielder
acknowledges that the most popular comment
he receives from players coming in off the
18th green is, "I can't believe how much
fun this course is to play." Fielder
suspects that it is a combination of
elements that makes Saddleback Golf Club
such an enjoyable experience, with the
final four holes being the kicker. "The
last four holes are phenomenal," explains
Fielder, "They really make for a great
finish." And with Tracy Richard (President
of the Rocky Mountain Golf Course
Superintendents Association) at the helm,
the course is always in tremendous
condition. But
quality of your experience out at
Saddleback is not limited to the quality
of the course. Fielder, who received the
Colorado Section PGA's Bill Strausbaugh
Award, was recently featured in PGA
Magazine for the outstanding customer
service offered at Saddleback. Fielder was
caught "red-handed" going out on the
course and thanking golfers for playing
and getting feedback about their
experience. Golfers who saw his official
cart approaching thought they were going
to get the "pace of play speech" &endash;
and instead got a hand shake, a "thank
you," and even a sleeve of balls. When's
the last time the head pro at a golf
course sought YOU out?…I thought
so. Despite
it's "nostalgic" feel, Saddleback is a
contemporary leader in the Colorado golf
scene, especially with its programs.
Saddleback was one of the first facilities
to introduce the Link Up 2 Golf program
through the PGA's "Play Golf America"
promotion. This will be Saddleback's third
year of offering this educational program,
and they have contracted teaching
professional Kit Sutorius to head up the
exciting curriculum. For more information
and schedules, visit
www.saddlebackgolf.com. Another
ground-breaking concept was introduced at
Saddleback last year to get the whole
family involved. They created a "kids"
course right on the championship course
with a "kid-friendly" format in mind. By
mowing out special shortened tees and
creating a kid's scorecard (not to mention
special rates for kids) Saddleback has
created a unique opportunity for juniors
to have fun and learn the game. It's a
great environment to teach kids the game
of golf, and all the life-long lessons
such as honesty and integrity that go
along with it. By the
time the kids are worn out at the end of
the week, couples can leave them at home
and join the "Swingers Club" on Friday
afternoons this summer. This program is
for couples who like to mix social fun
with a little golf! This, and the other
new programs, are many of the reasons why
Saddleback's Men's club is already over
200 members strong, and their Women's Club
has over 50 members. There
are a lot of reasons golfers come (and
return) to Saddleback Golf Club, but let's
not forget the number one reason….the
golf. How about those final four holes for
a finish? Hole
15: 484-yard par 4 from the tips with a
pot bunker in front of an elevated green
with a hazard on the right. You have to
fly the bunker and stick the green from a
long way out. Hole
16: This is the Saddleback "signature"
hole. This short par-4 is the ultimate
risk/reward hole - the hole wraps around a
lake to the green that sits on a
peninsula. You can safely go around the
lake...but you can reach the green from
the tee over the lake. Just don't
miss...or you'll be hitting three off the
tee. Hole
17: This par 3 plays slightly uphill at
200 yards from the tips to the center of
the green. The green, however, is
long...the hole location could change the
playing length two to three clubs-worth on
a given set of tees, but the creek running
along the right side is always reachable.
Fielder admits that even he'd "take a
three on that hole anytime!" Hole
18: Hope you still have a little left in
your bag for this 600-yard par 5 that
takes you uphill to the clubhouse. Watch
out for the hidden lake on the left, and
be careful not to shoot at the wrong
green! You'll see the 9th green before you
see the 18th, as they both share a huge
bunker. The
true finish of the round, however, is
sitting on the clubhouse patio with a
tall, cool beverage taking in the view of
the entire Front Range. Saddleback
ownership partner "Whitey" O'Malley made
certain of that. "We moved the club house
to the highest point on the property
because I want to see the mountains when
I'm sipping on a cold one." O'Malley's
three partners, Vern Hamilton, Troy
Weidner and Jeff Wickre were all hands-on
as well, which explains how the project
grew from the initial plans to what it is
today. "We ended up moving two to three
times more dirt than originally
planned...as the whole project progressed
we ended up 'Super-sizing' it." The latest
project that Vern and Troy completed was a
lakeside gazebo that sits below the
pavilion and looks out over the front
range. Can you say weddings!? The
price to play, however, is still the
"value meal" - just $28.00 on weekdays.
$35.00 are the green fees on weekends. The
weekend pace of play last year averaged
just under 4 1/2 hours - a near miracle
these days in the public golf forum.
Amenities include a Tournament Pavilion
equipped with a state-of-the-art
scoreboard, lighting, and sound system
that is also available for weddings and
receptions. And the pride of Saddleback is
their customer service which they make a
number one priority. As Fielder puts it,
"Our customer service is what really puts
us above the other golf courses these
days." Call
Saddleback Golf Club at 303-833-5000 for
7-day advance tee time reservations. |
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P.O. Box
620999
Littleton, Colorado 80162
Phone: 303-797-8700
Fax:
303-797-1119
publisher@golfviews.com