Courses Where Short Hitters Can Tee it Forward
The experts are unanimous on this: Most golf courses are too long for the average woman, or anyone whose drives fall short of 180 yards, to enjoy the pleasure of hitting greens in regulation.
Most short hitters accept this fact of life. But every now and then, along comes a golf course with tees set up in a way that gives “the rest of us” glimpses at birdie.
Here in Colorado, we’re seeing a trend toward courses installing tees forward of the traditional “ladies tee” – see More Fun For Shorter Hitters! for how the CGA’s living laboratory CommonGround Golf Course took on that task. CommonGround now has purple tees planted at 4,795 yards.
Here are five other full-size Colorado golf courses with female-, newbie- and super-senior-friendly setups.
Tiara Rado Golf Course (Grand Junction). Tom Kolacny’s 1972 design has since been updated by Dick Phelps and is distinguished by two teeing options under 5,000 yards. There’s a white-yellow combo at 4,931 yards, and even farther forward, the yellow tees of 4,388. Often course ladies’ leagues disdain shorter tees, but the more than 200 members of the Tiara Rado women’s club apparently think golf should be more fun and less hard. They embraced the yellows six years ago and haven’t let go.
Grand Elk Golf Club (Granby). Big-hitting Craig Stadler took kindly to the less fortunate in 2002 when he installed Grand Elk’s fun forward tees at 5,012 yards; the semi-private club has since become even more inviting by adding silver tees at 4,081 yards. Combined with Granby’s elevation of nearly 8,000 feet, that’s definitely in the Fab Five forward-friendly hall of fame!
Red Hawk Ridge Golf Course (Castle Rock). Red Hawk Ridge’s 4,581-yard forward tees and fast fairways have produced many a Colorado female player’s career best score. It’s a Jim Engh design, and his signature on a course provides a dead giveaway that shorter tees are available: Fossil Trace (Golden) 4,662; Sanctuary (Sedalia) 4,624; Snowmass (Snowmass Village) 4,664; Lakota Links (New Castle) 4,709.
Valley Country Club (Aurora). When golf club memberships were on the decline during the 2010s, facilities looked for upgrades that would appeal to active families. These included pools, health clubs and restaurants – but also a wider variety of tee options for all. Valley illustrates this, with a 3,704-yard “junior” tee, a 4,849-yard red tee and five more options rated for women; five of those plus four more are rated for men. Private clubs aim to please, so if yours isn’t quite there yet, just ask!
Green Valley Ranch (Denver). At 4,974 yards, the forward tees, disguised as the whites, aren’t overly daunting. But there’s also a “PGA Junior” gold tee option set at 3,800 yards – similar to the “family” tee options at many private clubs. This may feel too far forward for women accustomed to playing at 5,200 yards or more, so how about making a combo tee blending the whites and golds? You can do this yourself, pretty much anywhere you play – check out this “Dear Molly” for how.
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Veteran journalist Susan Fornoff has written about golf for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, ColoradoBiz magazine and her own GottaGoGolf.com. She provides the voice of “Molly McMulligan,” the CGA’s on-course consultant on golf for fun. Email her at mollymcmulligan@gmail.com.
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