Black Forest, home to heavily wooded estates, remarkable views of the front range and one of the most demanding links tracks in the area. East of the town of Monument, off Highway 105, King’s Deer Golf Club will either make you feel like a peasant or royalty, there is no in-between. You need to play as smart as you do long and accurate if you want to master this realm.
From the blue tees, the 384-yard par 4 dog leg at no.1 welcomes players with a false line-of-sight to the green — you’re actually looking at the adjacent green at no.8. It’s safe to to play the same line from the tee, setting up center to right fairway for a clear shot at the flag. More scoring opportunities are spread throughout the front 9 — at the no.2 par 3, the no.4 par 4, and the 453-yard par 5 at no.5 — but don’t let a string of pars and birdies inflate your confidence too much.
The long par 3 at no.6 insists on length and accuracy, even for safe plays. The front fairway is all but off limits with a slim landing zone intersecting natural hazard short and a large bunker. A safe play is flying the front bunker a little more right to wider fairway spooning the green on the right side. If you’re going center green, you better stick it — another large bunker sits behind the green, and everything right is back in the natural hazard. Equally challenging are the tight, winding fairways at no.7 and no.8, a 533-yard par 5 and 326-yard par 4 respectively. The 7th green is heavily fortified with creek and a large bunker hampering your approach; you’ll find some reprieve at no. 8 with an unimpeded line from the fairway. The front 9 ends with a scoreable uphill par 3 — add a club and play for a bounce off the surrounding hills for the best chance at birdie.
The back 9 starts off with a bang. The most picturesque hole on the course, the 539-yard par 5 calls for a big swing from the tee — play center to right fairway. The view from your second shot may induce some dread, looking down at what might as well be an island green protected by water on three sides, though, playing front left or long over the green are safe plays. No.11 and no.12 are good chances to put some positive marks on the card, as is no.13 if you can avoid the deep bunkers spotting the fairway. There are safe plays from right an the left, but accuracy is crucial.
No.10 from green to tee box.
Numbers 14 and 15, a 513-yard par 5 and a 210-yard par 3 respectively, are best tackled by long hitters. Shorter players have opportunities, but you’ll need a little help to walk away even through these two. The road best traveled back to the clubhouse includes more target golf, finishing with the beautiful 351-yard uphill par 4 at 18. Your second shot here can be trouble if you wander too far right from the fairway, but the large circular green offers you a strong finish.
King’s Deer takes golf seriously, also hosting a well-stocked pro shop, excellent practice grounds, and a comfortable bar and grill with gorgeous views of the landscape. Greens fees set you back anywhere from $24 to $35 for 18 with a cart ($17-$19 for 9), though the course does offer competitive membership deals. You certainly get more than you pay for at the Deer, with the opportunity to dig deeper into your game with the course’s free mobile app. Use GPS to track distances, preview each hole with video tours, record your scores and follow the course leaderboard, and more with the easy to use interface.
Links courses come a dime a dozen, but King’s Deer delivers more than most, and in a true Colorado setting. If you take the game as seriously as the Deer does, you won’t regret a visit.
Pre Amendment 64, which legalized recreational marijuana, if Colorado were known for one thing, it would be our 29,000-plus acres of skiable terrain, which justifiably makes us “Ski Country USA.”
But happy as we are hitting the high country during the winter months to make some leisurely lines on the slopes, the snow-sports scene takes a backseat to every other fitness-focused activity you can think of during the summer season. (Oh, you climb the Incline every weekend? How novel.)
It’s easy to forget — that is, if you knew it already — that Colorado is also home to an impressive array of golf courses, more than 200 of them, including some of the highest-rated private and public courses in the country. Southern Colorado hosts a number of premiere tracks unlike any others. Really, where else can you tee off from close to 9,000 feet above sea level? From Monument and Woodland Park, to Colorado Springs and Cañon City, long links-style layouts to 9-hole par-3s, the grass really is greener in Colorado.
Quintessential Colorado
Snow-capped mountains, forested foothills, bubbling creeks, big game and other wildlife: The golf at Shining Mountain Golf Club (100 Shining Mountain Lane, Woodland Park, shiningmountaingolf.com) is just the icing on the cake. One of the state’s most accessible mountain courses from a metro area, about 30 miles west of Colorado Springs on Highway 24, Shining Mountain’s 18-hole, par-70 layout is a must-play for the views alone. Tight, undulating fairways hug the hills and surrounding marshlands under Pikes Peak’s north face, defining the beauty of Colorado at every turn. Shining Mountain’s signature hole could be the par-3 17th, its elevated tee boxes looking out to a large green protected by a small pond, and set against the gorgeous backdrop of the valley, forest and the towering Rocky Mountains.
Municipal courses
Notably lacking in quality in southern Colorado, municipal courses are to the average golfer what a grade school is to any Average Joe: nostalgic. City-run courses become a part of the local community; a neighborhood gathering place, a go-to bar spot, an event venue — not just a place to swing the sticks. No place exhibits this more than Patty Jewett Golf Course (900 E. Espanola St., pattyjewettgolfshop.com), one of the Springs’ two municipal courses. The 27-hole layout is both welcoming and challenging to players of any skill level, and delivers iconic views of the Front Range from anywhere on the property. Prime conditions and a clubhouse with a warm, appealing patina complete an affordable country club feel.
Conditions are also king at Pueblo’s Walking Stick Golf Course (4301 Walking Stick Blvd., Pueblo, walkingstickpueblo.com), one of Pueblo’s three muni courses. The 18-hole, par-72 layout has historically rated as one of Colorado’s best courses to play on a budget, offering players a full-service, desert-links style design for less than $40 per round during peak season. The picturesque track sports rolling fairways, pot bunkers and troubling natural hazards, paying off with big, inviting greens and plenty of scoring opportunities.
More area links
Rooted in tradition, the prevailing golf course design you’ll find anywhere is links, and southern Colorado is no different. Historically, links courses are coastal, with scant trees, expansive natural hazards and undulating terrain. Sans the nearby beach, King’s Deer Golf Club (19255 Royal Troon Drive, Monument, kingsdeergolfclub.com) stays true to a modern links design — a formidable, 18-hole, par-71 challenge surrounded by lush, gorgeous marshlands and abundant natural hazards. Target golfers and scramblers are the only ones to master this realm, but long hitters may find some low scores too.
On the east side of Colorado Springs, Springs Ranch Golf Club (3525 Tutt Blvd., springsranchgolfclub.com) hones its own links design. The newly remodeled layout criss-crosses Sand Creek several times, taking advantage of the natural dunes and expansive views of the surrounding landscape. Trouble isn’t hard to find on any golf course, but Springs Ranch is the perfect place to get aggressive and shoot right at the pin.
Cap your Colorado links mini-tour at Cañon City’s Four Mile Ranch Golf Club (3501 Telegraph Trail, Cañon City, fourmileranch.com). This up-and-coming golf community centers on the 18-hole, par-72 layout. Don’t let the humble clubhouse (I mean trailer) fool you, Four Mile is a course you won’t soon forget. Undulating is an understatement — this is a raging sea of conditioned turf that’s both forgiving and infuriating. Blind shots are a signature at Four Mile, grip it and rip and trust the funneling greens will reward your ambition.
Military and private courses
At the foot of Cheyenne Mountain, across U.S. Highway 115 from Cheyenne Mountain State Park, awaits Cheyenne Shadows Golf Course (1050 Titus Blvd. #7800, carson.armymwr.com), Fort Carson’s resident track. Open to civilians, the 18-hole, par-72 layout boasts dramatic views of the surrounding landscape, and is approachable by any player. The Air Force Academy is home to the much-lauded Eisenhower courses (usafasupport.com/golf-course.html), two 18-hole tracks playing amongst the trees and foothills for service members and their guests. Meanwhile, Peterson AFB hosts Silver Spruce Golf Course (40 Glasgow Ave., 21fss.com/silver-spruce-golf-course). Its well-maintained 18-hole and 9-hole, par-3 courses are also open to the public.
The Springs’ private courses are much like anywhere else: pricey and exclusive. But if you have a chance to chase birdies at the Colorado Springs Country Club, Garden of the Gods Country Club, Cheyenne Mountain C.C., or even The Broadmoor, you’d be a fool not to take it. Exceptional conditions and five-star treatment is what the country club life is all about, and every golfer should experience it at least once.
Practice, practice, practice
It’s hard to enjoy a round if you’re thinking about breaking every club in your bag, no matter where you are. But there are a number of facilities here to help lower your scores. World Golf & Sand Creek G.C. (6865 Galley Road, worldgolfsandcreek.com) on the east side of town is the site of a large, stadium-lit driving range, a practice green — and mini golf — a golf simulator and a short 9-hole track. And Cherokee Ridge Golf Course (1850 Tuskegee Place, cherokeeridgegolfcourse.com), home to a regulation 9-hole and another 9-hole, par-3, is another suitable, inexpensive place to hone your hacking. The First Tee (525 N. Academy Blvd., thefirstteepikespeak.org) hosts youth programs at its impressive indoor practice facility, also open to the public year-round for practice sessions.
Shoot ’em straight.
Editor’s Note: This content was originally published in the Colorado Springs Independentnewspaper, used with permission.
A disclosure to get out of the way first: Both review trips we made to Shining Mountain Golf Club (100 Shining Mountain Lane, Woodland Park, 719/687-7587) happened to fall outside of the peak season and yielded less than favorable course conditions (unsurprisingly). Crunchy turf and pocked greens this late into April would normally be cause for concern, but this is golf in the high country — the grass is always greener when the snow-melt begins.
At just under 9,000-feet elevation, Shining Mountain is one of Colorado’s most accessible mountain courses from a metro area, located about 30-minutes west of Colorado Springs off Highway 24. If nothing else, this course is a must-play for the breathtaking views alone; what’s more is the daunting course layout with a personality you won’t find anywhere outside of the Rocky Mountains. Tight, undulating fairways hugging forested foothills, expansive marshlands and natural hazards and creek beds are Shining Mountain’s signatures, paired with its share of elevated tees and greens. Big tee shots are easy to come by this high above sea-level, but mishits will undoubtedly get you into trouble in a hurry.
The north face of Pikes Peak acts as your peanut gallery from the first tee; an inviting downhill par 4 leading you towards the foot of the mountains. The front-9 plays along a bubbling creek, winding through the forest and climbing up and down the foothills. There are plenty of scoring opportunities to be found, including at no.1, the short par 4 at no.3, and three par 3s at no. 4, 6, and 9. But safer plays will ensure you come out of the woods no worse for wear. You’ll want as few marks as possible on your scorecard heading into the turn, the back 9 can be a sobering experience.
No.10 can get the trouble started early with a tiered fairway descending to a blind green that’s protected by a manmade pond. Big hitters beware: chances of reaching the green in one are slim, but a long ball will definitely put you in the water. Play short for a manageable approach at the green with your second shot. You’ll want a strong start at 10 to keep your wits about you to find the 11th tee box. Though there are signs, it’s easy to feel like you’re getting lost as you follow a neighborhood dirt road for about a quarter-mile from the previous green.
One of Shining Mountain’s most difficult holes awaits at the no.13 par 4, complete with cascading island tee boxes and a needle-thin fairway boarded by forest on the left and a shear face of natural hazard leading down to the no.15 fairway on the right — anything but a draw or an arrow-straight drive is likely to be trouble. Speaking of the last par 5 of the par-70 layout, no.15 is also the longest at just under 600 yards. One of the few sure scoring opportunities after the turn, play right fairway all the way for an unobstructed line at the flag — left of center and you’re fishing for balls in the marsh.
You literally cannot avoid Shining Mountain’s coolest landscape feature, that being the crazy long wooden bridge traversing the width of the marsh. Get creative with your social media videos and you’re rumbling from end to end.
The signature par 3 at no.17 won’t let you forget what Colorado golf is all about anytime soon. Elevated tee boxes look out to large, welcoming green protected by another small pond, set against the gorgeous backdrop of the valley, forest, and America’s Mountain peaking out over the trees (pictured above). This is why we love this game.
Regardless of conditions, Shining Mountain is quintessential Colorado — mastered by locals but welcoming to all. Dedicated disc golfers can find a home here, too, a fun juxtaposition to see firsthand (just make sure you’re keeping eyes open on busier days). Green fees range from $30 to $41 for 18 with a cart ( $15 to $22 for 9), but keep an eye out for hot deals online for as low at $12 for 18 with a cart.
With a revived restaurant and bar and adjoining event space, the property takes full advantage of its natural beauty — home to big game, birds of prey and other wildlife, picture-perfect skies and the awe-inspiring sunsets of the Rocky Mountains. Add to that a scoreable challenge easily played in a short day-trip and for a reasonable price, and you can bet we’ll be back as often as possible.
It’s not every day you get to track your shots with real time numbers from tee to green, but it can be. The new Cobra King F7, debuting its new Cobra Connect technology, is designed to do just that with GPS tracking, hole layouts, King of the Hole challenges and more delivered right to your smartphone.
Ever since Taylormade’s iconic “bubble shaft,” drivers have stayed at the forefront of new golf stuff conversations — Epic, “pull the pin,” vertical grooves, “the no.1 driver on tour,” you know what I’m talking about. It seems to be getting more and more difficult for club makers to stay ahead of the competition while maintaining results for the pros and selling to average hackers, but Cobra’s new Connect technology is an interesting approach.
Using the Arccos Driver app on your smartphone, the F7 (along with the F7+ and King LTD Black) tracks your progress on the course using a special sensor implanted in the grip. GPS data from thousands of courses enable you to view satellite images of holes and renderings of your shot trajectories, and provides some extra competition with King of the Hole challenges (more on that in a little bit).
Getting used to the set up with the app takes a bit — much like figuring out all the features of any kind of new technology — but after a couple holes you’ll get the hang of how it all works. Set up at the tee with your phone in your pocket, the Connect sensor in the grip sends a signal to the app once the driver is hit. Using a number of sensors in your phone including GPS and the microphone (surveillance-wary be warned) the app reads your body movement and the time between shots, “listening” to ball contact to track shot to shot.
Taking full advantage of the Connect technology can get a little annoying. I for one don’t look at my phone after each shot — which is necessary to ensure the app is working — nor do I like keeping my phone in my pocket while swinging a club (Cobra recommends your phone be kept in your front pocket to capture the most accurate data). And one hiccup — 9 of 10 times due to user error — can leave you high and dry data wise until you reach the next tee box. After a couple of rounds playing with the new tech, though, working the app into your pre (and post) shot routine gets a little easier and won’t really mess with the flow of your game.
The highlight of the mobile app has to be the King of the Hole challenges which puts your longest drives up against every other Cobra Connect player who’s played at a given course — and who doesn’t like a little more competition. Seeing what other players were able to accomplish with the same club at the same course is a great feature, almost as great as the feeling of one upping them.
Cobra’s technological trailblazing may be more than just a worthwhile gamble, this could be a bridge to another level of golf technology. Oh how far we’ve come. Players at every level are always excited about the newest drivers, but giving them an accessible way to be more engaged with their individual game, with real time data and feedback, is something we haven’t seen before.
Wet grips, forgotten wedges, towel-less when you need it most — just a few of the many lesser-pleasures of golf. Most of us average golfers don’t enjoy caddy service regularly, but the Putter Buddy ($19.95, towel included) makes for a good stand-in.
There’s not a lot to say about the design of the Putter Buddy, which is a good thing in this case, given that space tends to be limited in most golf bags. The subtle features it does highlight are all about form and function. The protective sleeve on the curved handle prevents wear and damage on club grips, while the o-ring at the tip of the handle provides convenient towel storage and access.
I shouldn’t have to tell you how it works either, but here it goes: Stick pointed end of the Putter Buddy into the ground, rest clubs safely inside curved handle, secure enough to hold a number of clubs. Easy peasy.
Putter Buddy also advertises itself as a training aid, something that took me a moment to figure out. Placing your wrist inside the the curved handle and gripping the Putter Buddy with your wedge or putter, take to the practice green and work on keeping your wrists from breaking for a more fluid stroke.
You may not have a caddy to help you with your reads, but it’s nice to have a buddy with you on the green.
Golf training aids come a dime-a-dozen — we’re all guilty of gifting a questionably-legitimate swing correcting gadget or, even worse, a laser guided putter attachment at least once. The myriad of “fix your slice forever” and “two putts or less” tools is far past the point of overwhelming, enough to make you say screw it to all of them (#ThreePutts4Life). But the Putt-A-Round isn’t as much a training aid as it is a discreet, stylish putting game built for those looking to swing the short stick inside (and possibly take a few strokes off your short game, if you’re into that sort of thing).
Consisting of a few simple, easy to assemble aluminum pieces, the Putt-A-Round is designed as a 360-degree target, standing at a little more than a foot off the ground — minimalism at its finest. The simplicity of the design may very well be what makes our favorite feature of the Putt-A-Round all the more striking, that being the customizable flags. Pre-printed flags are available, but unless you really want another American flag-printed golf accessory, go for the personal monogram option, or, better yet, submit a logo or design of your choice.
Though more can be said about the minimalistic design — like the brilliance of the angled plates that capture and hold on-target shots — it does have its downfalls when it comes to how the Putt-A-Round plays. The target is large enough to hold four golfballs snuggly, errant shots are off slamming into the walls or rolling under the furniture. When putting at the 360-degree target from only one angle, though, the shot is completely obstructed once a ball is in the plates’ grasp. It’s not a big deal to simply rotate the target a quarter turn before your next attempt, but if you’re using the Putt-A-Round as a training aid — trying to focus on addressing your ball and finding your line — a back-and-fourth to the target after each shot can get a little old. Captain obvious would say aim at the target from multiple angles, but not everyone has room in the office or apartment to make that happen — at least not without putting a few putter marks in the wall.
At address the Putt-A-Round looks like a big, inviting target — larger than the standard cup size — but get lazy with your line and you won’t have much luck. Spot-on putts payoff not only with a satisfying look at your ball set snug within the plates, but with an even more intoxicating ping noise.We can neither confirm nor deny this sound as being planned in the designed, but believe us, it’s as gratifying as the sound of a pured driver.
The Putt-A-Round has inherited a permanent spot on our at-home practice greens (living rooms and offices), and has easily become a go-to golf gift option for any occasion. Its compact, sleek design will fit in in any home, apartment, or office — even more so with a one-of-a-kind flag. We’ve intentionally waited to note the price of the Putt-A-Round until now, that’s because $29.97 — Games and Prize kits vary in price — is an afterthought for a training aid we’ll actually use more than once.
Editor’s note: CGB receives products direct from manufacturers for advertorial purposes. All reviews posted on this site are not associated with advertising agreements unless otherwise noted.
Pre Amendment 64, which legalized recreational marijuana, if Colorado were known for one thing, it would be our 29,000-plus acres of skiable terrain, which justifiably makes us “Ski Country USA.”
Golf training aids come a dime-a-dozen — we’re all guilty of gifting a questionably-legitimate swing correcting gadget or, even worse, a laser guided putter attachment at least once. The myriad of “fix your slice forever” and “two putts or less” tools is far past the point of overwhelming, enough to make you say screw it to all of them (#ThreePutts4Life). But the