Golf in Grand County is Grand Once Again

The beetles are gone, and the burnt red hue of dead pines has faded. “We’re over it,” says a longtime Grand County golfer of the insect infestation that deforested much of the Grand Lake and Pole Creek golf courses. “Frankly, we’re tired of hearing about it.”

The “bust” end of the recurring economic cycle that the Colorado mountains know so well has bottomed out, too, and the pendulum has begun to swing toward the other side – though “boom” might be saying too much just yet.

“The economy is starting to change for the better up here,” says Larry Burks, who doubles as course superintendent at Grand Lake Golf Course and general manager of Grand Lake Recreation District. “It follows about two years behind Denver. We’re starting to see more tourists. People here are starting to release the money they’ve been saving.”

Burks has lived in Grand County for decades; he spent 29 years at Pole Creek, as course superintendent and general manager, before moving to the Grand Lake jobs last year. So he’s seen the good times and the bad—more than once.

“Grand County is ripe for a change,” he says. “I saw it in the mid-’80s when we tanked and things sold for pennies on the dollar. Then it came back in the ’90s. It’s a cycle that’s always there. I see everything improving again.”

Evidence of the revival is as obvious as the return of Grand Links, the marketing collaboration of the four golf courses in the tourist region that stretches north from Winter Park to Grand Lake. They are: Pole Creek, Grand Elk, Granby Ranch and Grand Lake Golf Course.

“We share the view that Grand County is an undiscovered golf mecca,” says Mike Ritter, general manager at Grand Elk and president of the Grand Links branding partnership. “People don’t realize that Grand County offers one of the best mountain golf experiences available in the state.”

Greens fees are 20 percent to 30 percent below most other mountain courses, Ritter notes, ticking off a series of selling points: Lodging is similarly affordable; the area is easily accessible from Denver and other points along the Front Range; and “all of the courses are different.”

Ritter and Burks were the driving forces behind the previous iteration of Grand Links, which operated between 2003 and 2009. Back then, Grand Links included marketing efforts in places as distant as Kansas City and Dallas, and a “golf train” that ran between Denver and Fraser, with four-packs good for a round at each course, along with lodging at Silver Creek Inn and dinner at Grand Lake Lodge.

“It fell apart when the economy fell apart,” Burks says.

The 2015 version of Grand Links is more modest. The consortium handed out coupon books at the Denver Golf Expo in March, and presented a group discount offer on iDealGolfer.com through most of May. An effort is underway to attract some funding from tourism grants, and every pro shop will make referrals to other courses in the area.

“We’re here to develop Grand County golf,” says Burks, “and in the process help Grand County succeed. A million people come through Rocky Mountain National Park to our side every year, and it will be more than that in the 100th anniversary year. If we get just a small percentage of those visitors to play golf here, it will be a big number.”

There won’t be a Grand Links website this season, though everyone recognizes the role technology should play in marketing efforts long-term. “We’re getting back into it slowly,” Ritter explains. 

After a mild winter, all of the Grand Links courses are planning earlier-than-usual openings. Despite a dump of wet snow in mid-April, golfers were able to play Pole Creek, Granby Ranch, Grand Elk and Grand Lake in early May, about three weeks sooner than usual.

Here’s what awaits:

Golf Granby Ranch: The first thing most golfers will notice is the construction project where the putting green was formerly located. A clubhouse is being built to replace the temporary structure that has served the course since it opened. The new facility is targeted for completion in time for the 2016 season.

Meanwhile, the experience many call “The Tale of Two Nines” will continue to test the fortitude of all who play 18.

“A lot of players comment how different the two nines are,” says head PGA Professional Don Campbell. There may not be a more diverse course anywhere in Colorado with a front nine that’s a valley/wetlands layout, and a back nine that climbs above that valley and follows the ridges near the ski mountain of Ski Granby Ranch. It’s similar to Quarry Pines, north of Tucson.

“The back nine is harder,” says Campbell, “Especially 14 through 16—three par fours”

The 14th plays 402 yards from the back tees, 378 from the whites. Number 15 is 406 or 384 yards—uphill. Number 16 sweeps downward alongside 15, but it’s the longest and toughest of the three at 455/433 with a ravine cutting across the fairway about 80 yards from the green. On these holes, the thin, high-country air works both ways—more distance, heavier breathing.


Pole Creek Golf Club: As everyone who has played here in the past already knows, one of the most attractive features of Pole Creek Golf Club is its three nine-hole layouts: Meadow and Ranch, which opened in the ’80s, and Ridge, which was added in ’99. Most days, golfers can combine them as they choose to make a customized 18-hole round.

“I have my staff ask which nines golfers would like to play when they call for a tee time,” says clubhouse manager Mary Moynihan. Whatever the combination, though, there’s a definite challenge.

Meadow-Ranch has a rating/slope of 71.1/144 from the Blue tees, 69.0/129 from the Whites and 69.3/130 from the Reds. Meadow-Ridge goes 71.0/138 from the Blues, 68.8/127 from the Whites and 67.9/128 from the Reds. Ranch-Ridge is 72.1/137 from the Blues, 69.8/131 from the Whites, and 69.0/131 from the Reds.

In addition to enabling golfers to design their own 18-hole course, Pole Creek’s three nines provide other notable benefits. “We can close a different nine for a couple hours each morning during the week, to allow our crew to maintain the course, without interrupting play,” Moynihan notes.

As the only 27-hole layout in Grand County, not to mention one of the few in the state, Pole Creek can accommodate tournaments and daily play at the same time. Tournaments are making a comeback, she says, another sign of an improving economy.

“Company tournaments just weren’t happening much for the last few years,” she said.  “It started to pick up last summer.” As of April, she already had 27 such outings booked for 2015.

The pine beetle plague caused some tree loss at Pole Creek, but Moynihan views it as a blessing from Mother Nature.

“I think it’s the best thing that ever happened,” she says. “It improved the look of the course.

“We have more flowers—it’s absolutely gorgeous in the summer! The views are more outstanding; we see peaks you couldn’t see before. More trees are growing now. The snow melts faster. And the grass on the course is better because it gets more sunlight.”

A 30-year veteran of Pole Creek, Moynihan is enthusiastic about the Grand Links cooperative effort.  “The four courses working together only helps all of us,” she said.


Grand Lake Golf Course: Rocky Mountain National Park is so close to parts of Grand Lake Golf Course that it’s hard to tell in some places where one ends and the other begins. Larry Burks is trying to make it even harder to know for sure. He’s introducing a rustic, park-like ambience at the county’s oldest course.

“We’re using logs (deadwood from the beetle kill, which is in the past, thank you) as tee markers and range markers, to define cart paths and as traffic control barriers,” he reports. He’s also building small log cabin-like enclosures around the porta-potties on the course, to improve aesthetics.

There’s a new emphasis on “guest services,” too.  “The bag drop will be staffed,” Burks says. “Someone will welcome you, load your clubs on a cart, answer questions, and direct you to the golf shop. When you enter the golf shop, you’ll be greeted and made to feel welcome.”

Switching to his course superintendent hat, Burks raves about Grand Lake’s trademark feature. “This course has always been known for its greens, for the subtle breaks. Our greens came out of winter as good as I’ve ever seen greens up in the mountains.”

Adds his Grand Links colleague Mike Ritter of Grand Elk: “Grand Lake is in the best shape it’s ever been.”


Grand Elk Golf Club: There’s an understandable feeling, evident in Mike Ritter’s comments, that Grand Elk Golf Club has turned a corner much the way the Grand County economy has. That’s because the homeowners at Grand Elk Ranch collectively shelled out more than a million dollars to buy their golf club. The sale took place a couple years ago, but this season the change will be felt in full.

“There’s a lot of stability now,” Ritter says, “a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of optimism. And capital to work with. It’s ‘their’ golf course, and they’re investing in it—new carts, maintenance equipment.”

Ritter himself is part of Grand Elk’s renaissance. He served as the club’s Head PGA Professional and club manager from 2003 to 2009 and returned as Grand Elk’s general manager last November after serving in a similar capacity at Heather Ridge Golf Club in Aurora. “The course is in the kind of shape it was famous for,” he says with excitement about his new home.

Grand Elk is unlike any of the other courses in the Grand Links quartet, in that it’s largely flat. At 7,144 yards from the back tees, 6,607 from the Blues and 6,126 from the Whites, it’s plenty long for players of all abilities. And, most of all, it’s deceptive, with willows and creeks making play interesting.

“I was watching the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in Scotland on TV last year,” Ritter remarked, “and I could have sworn the pictures were coming from Grand Elk.” Gleneagles was the inspiration for the Craig Stadler-Tripp Davis design at Grand Elk, Ritter explained.

“This isn’t a links-style course, because we’re not near an ocean,” Ritter clarifies. “It’s a ‘heathland-style’ course. And our course superintendent Austin Anderson has it in great shape.”

Broadening his perspective to the revived Grand Links program, Ritter hopes for a return to the days when golf, according to a tourism study during the last boom, contributed as much as $4 million to the local economy in lodging, meals and other visitor expenditures—“in just five months,” he says.

His partner Burks has a grander vision. “I’d like to see this lead to a countywide championship,” he says. “Golfers come from all over, play a round at each of our four courses, and we crown a true Grand County champion.”

Not this year, but maybe soon.


GRAND LINKS

Grand Elk Golf Club
grandelk.com; 970-887-9122

Golf Granby Ranch
granbyranch.com; 888-850-4615

Grand Lake Golf Course
grandlakerecreation.com; 970-627-8008

Pole Creek Golf Club
polecreekgolf.com; 970-887-9195


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Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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