Crenshaw's Fellow Player-Architects Compliment Colorado Golf Club...

...but is it me, or does it sound like it's killing them to pay a compliment to this week's Senior PGA host site?

"It's a good test," said Watson, who also designs courses. "It has great variety to it. There's plenty of room (in landing areas), and yet there's some toughness that you have to worry about. . . . That's the way golf should be played."

After playing Colorado Golf Club for the first time, Tom Kite said it's worthy of hosting a major championship.

"The golf course is going to stand up very well to the players. It's very difficult," Kite said. "There's a lot to know. We're going to have to kind of fly by the seat of our pants to learn the golf course as we go."

With the thin air, and depending on the wind and slope of the terrain, a shot that normally would require 180 yards might be 220 or 130, said Bernhard Langer, who already has won twice on the 2010 Champions Tour.

"It's kind of crazy," he said, "and then you have to figure how much the ball is going to run when it hits. But it's a great golf course, great layout, beautiful scenery. And some interesting design work."

Comments

[phll]

maybe its the stream w/ waterfalls on the back 9 thats bothering them?

[Brad S]

I was fortunate enough to speak to Golf Course Superintendent Tony Hartsock , a true working Super, about the preparation for the Senior PGA. The course should provide for some exiting golf. Thanks to the maintenance staff at Colorado Golf Club for their hard work.

[Chuck]

"Crazy," when you have to figure how much the ball is going to run when it hits.

So much easier, when you fly the ball to a green and it sticks a ball mark and backs up 10 feet. Like on tv at Augusta.

[Jim S]

I wonder what "interesting design work" really means. With someone boring like Bernhard Langer, that probably means that he really thinks it is interesting.

[GOLF FAN]

Brad S - Please define what a "true working Super" means? And how does one differentiate between true working / working / non working superintendents? I can speak from experience, that most, if not all Golf Course Superintendents like Tony Harstock are some of the most dedicated, driven and hardest working people in the golf business.

[Chip Gaskins]

Great golf course, with the exception of the weird par 5 on the back nine. Hole #2, #8, #9, #18, etc are as good as they get! Kudos to C&C

[Lynn S.]

Hope #2 is shown on TV. It is an attempt to build a green on a difficult site like Perry Maxwell would have done. Bill Coore has been highly complementary of the work Dave Axland did on that green.

[chico]

Chip-theres only 1 true Cand C and she lives in Scotland!

[Brad S]

A working Super is one who will grab a shovel, fertilizer spreader, or hop on a tractor and go get in the trenches with the crew. Many of today's Supers have become armchair generals, barking orders from a climate controlled environment while the assistant bust their asses to provide a good golf course. You would be surprised to hear what goes on at some very prominent Tour sites, I know I was.

[JC]

What struck me about the course ws the scale. C&C courses have always felt intimate to me whereas the Colorado Club feels expansive.

[dan]

I've played it a couple times and i think it's one of the best courses i've ever played. The greens blend into the tee boxes in a very cool way, despite the slope, it's walkable.

Good mix of short par 4's and long holes. #2 is a very short par 3 with a very small green - great hole.

Its a course a 10 handicap can shoot in the mid eighties without losing a bucket of balls, but a true pro will still find very challenging. A true 'second shot' golf course.

[Press Agent]

"I enjoy what Ben (Crenshaw) has done here," Tom Watson said. "He has delivered the goods."

Geoff, I guess you were expecting them to pee their pants and jump up and down with glee, all the while proclaiming how good the course is?
I would say by tour standards, those are pretty good reviews.

[Jim Dauer]

At the very least, these players are happier with Crenshaw's work at Colorado Golf Club than the Euros were with Ernie's work at Wentworth.

Jim Dauer
FullForesome.com

[GOLF FAN]

Brad S - Hopefully your speaking from experience from either working on a maintenance staff or still being employed by one. Certainly such comments should come from someone with on the job experiences and nothing else.

[Brad S]

GOLF FAN-

With over a decade in management, course maintenance and construction, working on courses designed by the likes of Ross, Doak, and player-architect Mark McCumber, I feel I'm qualified to remark on the subject. I know of one Super at a Tour stop who literally phones it in, rarely spending more than three days a week on site and never works weekends. They guy couldn't tell what has run through his spray tank if his life depended on it. I am not painting with a broad brush and certainly the vast majority of Supers are dedicated and hard working but lets not kid ourselves.

[phll]

JC:

intimate? have you been to kapalua?

[GolfFan]

(The Original GolfFan) I am looking forward to see this course on TV as I have played a bunch of their courses but not this one. The Parker, CO, area has some nice land for golf.

[GolfFan]

Only a few holes showing on TV, nothing revolutionary