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Friday, September 30, 2005

Copyright lawyer argues for protection for golf hole designs

by Peter Black, Jr.

The New York State Bar Association CLE lecture at Fordham University Friday featured some litigation shots that may have far reaching implications in the world of golf.

New York intellectual property law expert Robert Clarida of Cowan Liebowitz & Latman in Manhattan argued that golf holes are no different than sculptures and that the more individual detail in each hole's design, the more protection the hole or golf course should be afforded under copyright law. Clarida argued that golf hole designs "incorporate graphic and sculptural features that can be identified seperately from and are capable of existing independently of the utilitarian aspects of the course." Clarida's argument was lucid, well-organized, relied on case law and was convincing.

Some legal experts disagree. Intellectual property lawyer and golf writer Jay Flemma said that while every golf hole is unique with regards to topography, vegetation, soil, environmental limitations, acreage, altitude and other physical attributes, protection might have a chilling effect on design and that basic design elements, both esthetic and strategic must not be limited by those who have the deepest litigation budgets.

Prominent architect Stephen Kay, who did such tribute courses as McCullough's Emerald Links in Atlantic City and The Architect's Club in western NJ discussed the Tour 18 case which allowed pastiche courses as non-infringing and pointed out that trademark law affords protection to insure the public is not confused as to an individual course granting its imprimatur upon a copier.

The topic will be revisited shortly in NYC in a future lecture.

Clarida's firm represents the RIAA in many cases against individual downloaders of music over the Internet. Flemma has represented both the individuals accused of infringement and the companies which provide the file-sharing software and sites.

Tifosi sunglasses, golfdash.com and Michelle Ramoni

Three bits of housekeeping today.

First, Tifosi, a Georgia company sent me two pairs of sunglasses to try on the golf course. The specs are supposed to cut out not only harmful UV rays, but are designed to provide sharp clarity of vision.

I hate wearing sunglasses on the golf course, no matter how bright, but I have to say after being completely skeptical, I have become a believer. I am horribly nearsighted and have a serious astigmatism to boot. They turned me from Mr. Magoo to lasik clear. I simply could not believe it. They are also great for driving. I can't wait to try them skiing.

Only issue - the colors are awful!!! Halloween-flourescent orange and "gunmetal card-chair" grey. Guys! How bout black or french blue?

Click here to see their products.

Next, meet a good new blog/site on the block, Golfdash. (www.golfdash.com). It's a combination golf search engine/internet encyclopaedia for everything from products to travel. The site is well done. Give it a test drive and tell me what you think. Here is what their press release reads:

"With the launch of GolfDash, golfers, golf industry professionals and anyone needing access to golf information has immediate access to over 3500 indexed golf links. www.golfdash.com is designed to avoid the pitfalls commonly associated with internet search engines, mainly irrelevant, outdated and off-topic hits. The new site eliminates having to try 50 or 100 web sites to find the right one.
On GolfDash, anyone looking for internet information about golf instruction, rules, real estate or course management – to name just a few topics– can find it quickly by navigating the site index or doing a quick search of the site links. Already the site contains more than 3500 links and this number is expected to increase rapidly as users and members submit their own recommendations.

Finally, congratulations to actress Michelle Ramoni, who gave a virtuoso performance as Shakespeare's epic character Puck in the NYC production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Michelle provided a sensual, fluid flair to the impish character mixing a sultry alto voice with well honed ballet-dance grace of movement. She was irreverent, confident and controlled every scene in which she appeared. Her long curly red hair and alluring demeanor made for one of the sexiest, yet most authentic Puck's portrayed. Kudos also to the actor who played Bottom - the boorish churl who is jinxed by Puck to wear an asses head with which he woos the faerie queen Titania. Look for Michelle and her True North Ensemble in NYC.


Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Tom Watson, Pebble Beach and Sawgrass

Reason number 1,000,000 why the lore of Sawgrass is every bit as storied as any major venue.
Noone who saw Tom Watson chip in at the 17th at Pebble Beach to edge Jack Nicklaus and win the U.S. Open will ever forget it. The next year, in an effort to capitalize on the shot’s legend, the U.S.G.A. asked Watson to reenact the shot, but at 17 at Sawgrass. With the TV crew seemingly in place, Watson said his lines, some gibberish about practice makes perfect, and then promptly chipped in. After U.S.G.A. officials got done cheering, they asked the cameraman to show them the replay. Speaking as though this were some shoot for soap detergent, the cameraman said without a hint of regret “No, I thought it was a run through.”

With the look of an angry rhinoceros, the USGA asked Watson to try again and resigned themselves to along day as the chip was exceptionally difficult, even for touring pros.

Watson shrugged, said his line and chipped in again on the next try.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

New Piece up at Golf Observer!

My new piece on "Four great places you have to play now!" is up at Golf Observer.

Also, big props to great work in the last few weeks by Tom K at Houston's Clear Thinkers on the hurricanes and on Houston's Favorite son winning the US Senior Amateur.

Also kudos to great work from Rob Thompson, media guru and tony K.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Q & A with golf course architect Jim Engh

The full interview will follow, but here are some snippets of the interview I did with Jim Engh, Golf Digest's architect of the year in 2003.

JIM ENGH IN HIS OWN WORDS

JF: What’s the most important goal for you in creating a successful design.

Engh: For me, it’s all about options. The more ways to play a hole and get a ball close to the pin, the better.

JF: What courses of the British Isles have given you ideas for your own holes?

Engh: Both courses at Ballybunion are incredible. I love a lot of the holes at the Cashen course, especially number 15. I also love the Old Course as well. 18 is just a fantastic finishing hole. Also the Northwest of Ireland holds a special place in my heart. My design team and I go over about four times a year. Enniscrone, Carne, and Rosapenna are some of my favorite courses on Earth. I’m really grateful to have a chance to work right now on the new nine at Carne.

JF: Let’s assume Phil, Ernie, Vijay and Tiger all decide they are fed up with talking and speculating and put up $1,000,000.00 of their own money each in a one hole, winner take all shootout that will be televised nationwide. Which one of your public golf holes would you select for them to play?

Engh: (without hesitation) Number 12 at Fossil Trace. The sandstone pillars in the playing field create all sorts of options, but can also make you find a creative way to the hole if you put one in your way. Also, the viewing public should see that hole and this course. It’s pretty for the TV audience and it’s got fascinating history that the University has done a great job preserving.

JF: What does it feel like to have one of your courses [Redlands] immortalized in a video game?

Engh: A little excited and a little apprehensive. I hope they show the course well, but they are an excellent company so I know they’ll do good work.

JF: You just won the Masters. What’s for dinner?

Engh: North Dakota prime aged Grade A steaks. Best beef in the country!

JF: What are some of the things that make you cringe as a designer when playing golf?

Engh: People playing the wrong tees is the biggest issue for me. It slows down play, people enjoy the course less, and they play the course in the wrong proportions. They don’t see the course as it was laid out for their skill level and then they just brand it as too hard.

JF: What about in terms of architecture?

Engh: I try not to close my mind about different things other architects do because I might learn something. My biggest pet peeve is when I see a lack of passion in someone’s work…you can tell when somebody mailed it in or if they didn’t care about every inch of the place. The greatest honor to me is when someone says take my property and build a golf course on it.


DISCOGRAPHY

PUBLIC

Red Hawk Ridge G.C. (CO, 1999)
Hawktree G.C. (ND, 2000)
The Golf Club at
Redlands Mesa (CO, 2001)
Tullymore G.C (MI, 2002)
Fossil Trace G.C. (CO, 2003)
Lakota Canyon G.C. (CO, 2004)
Snowmass Club (CO, 2004)

PRIVATE

Columbia Point G.C. (WA, 1997)
Sanctuary G.C. (CO, 1997)
The Club at Black Rock (ID, 2003)
True North Golf Club (MI, 2004)
The Club at Pradera (CO, 2005)
Vistancia C.C. (AZ, 2005)

FOREIGN

Dragon Hills G.C. (Thailand, 1998)
Dong Guan Hillview G.C. (China, 1998, 2001)

THE CLUB AT PRADERA – CANDIDATE FOR BEST NEW PRIVATE GOLF COURSE 2005?

Author’s Note: While this site is primarily about public courses and golf course architecture, we will spend some time over the next month or two reviewing some courses up for this year’s Best New Private Club award. The author’s views are his own and are in not meant to be impugned to either GolfObserver.com or the monthly periodical to which I contribute, unless my name appears in the by-line in that periodical, of course.

THE CLUB at PRADERA
5225 Raintree Dr.
Parker, CO 80134
720.851.9600

www.theclubatpradera.com

Architect: Jim Engh
Par - 72
Excitement Level – 9/12
Difficulty – 8/12
Conditioning – Four and 1/2 stars
Cost - $29,000 + $335 monthly for the family
Value – Five stars
Overall rating – Four and ½ stars

Tees Yards Rating Slope

Black 7290 72.9 138
Gold 6531 70.0 122
White 5780 66.6/72.5 108/142
Red 5021 68.0 118

There are also three “flex” tees, which mix and match the various sets.


Jim Engh’s best new private course award for Sanctuary Golf Club in 1997 put him on the map and heralded the arrival of
America’s current “hottest designer” (according to several magazines). Good thing for golf lovers Engh didn’t sit on his laurels as he won three more best new course awards for Tullymore, Black Rock and Redlands Mesa, all from 2001-2003.

This year, Engh opened the private Club at Pradera in Parker, Colrado just minutes from his firm’s Castle Rock office. The course is a refinement and further evolution of Engh’s already well celebrated style and is a good candidate (along with Mike Strantz’s redesign at Monterey Peninsula C.C. short course for best new private course...Brian Silva and Tom Doak might also have a thing or two to say before the final scores are turned in.)

General Manager Troy Sprister was spot on when he wrote “Our golf course never reveals itself the same way twice, which makes it enjoyable to play again and again.” Normally, I would dismiss this broad, somewhat general observation as marketing fluff, but on this occasion I am happy to report that Spister has accurately highlighted one of the greatest attributes of Pradera…both in terms of being worthy of national recognition and in terms of how good it is as the choice of private club for the consumer.

Yes, it is obvious Jim Engh has been blessed with gorgeous sites to ply his trade, but Engh’s great talent lies in a) maximizing the routing to take full advantage of tee box views and natural green setting; b) weaving strategic holes with multiple options on the land and; c) coming in on time and under budget. With numerous pulpit tees overlooking wide Colorado vistas, Pradera is beautiful. But Engh dipped into the endless bag of design features he built while designing in the UK and Europe to make Pradera a strategic tour de force.

Four tees and three “flex” sets, mixing and matching tee boxes to suit individual tastes.

$29,000 + $335 monthly dues for a family membership

Contact membership director Greg White, 720.851.9600, gwhite@theclubatpradera

Monday, September 12, 2005


Or could this be best new private? Strantz's redesign of the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula C.C. Pictured here is the par-5 15th. Posted by Picasa

Friday, September 09, 2005

More great pix of Pradera, on track for more best new course awards


The risk-reward par-5 7th at Pradera Posted by Picasa

Pradera G.C., Parker, Col. Best New Private Course for 2005? Maybe!


The view from the 16th teebox at Pradera, near castle Rock, Colorado. Randomly placed pot bunkers place a premium on strategy. Posted by Picasa

Monday, September 05, 2005


The 4th at Lakota Posted by Picasa


The 13th green at Redlands Posted by Picasa

Redlands Mesa and Lakota Canyon Ranch

I am writing longer pieces on both, coming soon, but in the meantime here is the skinny on two of the best courses I have ever played or seen.

LAKOTA
CANYON
RANCH GOLF CLUB
1000 Club House Drive
New Castle, CO 81647
970.984.9700
www.lakotacanyonranch.com

Architect: Jim Engh
Par 72
Excitement Level - 11/12

Difficulty - 8/12
Conditioning - Four and ½ stars
Cost - $75 normally, 3PM twilight $65
Value – Five stars
Overall - Four and ½ stars

Tees Yards Rating Slope

Black 7111 72.2 137
Blue 6369 70.5 126
White 5608 68.1 116
Gold 4744 68.5 123


THE GOLF CLUB at REDLANDS MESA
2325 West Ridges Boulevard

Grand Junction, CO 81503
970.263.9270
www.redlandsmesa.com

Architect: Jim Engh

Par - 72

Excitement Level – 11/12
Difficulty – 6/12
Conditioning – Four and 1/2 stars
Cost - $75 Peak
Yearly memberships – Yes
Value – Five stars
Overall rating – Four and ½ stars

Tees Yards Rating Slope

Monument 7007 71.7 135
Redlands 6486 69.4 130
Canyon 5838 67.2 115
Desert 4916 69.0 115

Located a mere 90 minutes apart in western Colorado, Lakota and Redlands are two of the most brilliant undiscovered treasures in the U.S. At $75, both are a steal and a much more cost-effective alternative to pricey Scottsdale.

Lakota rumbles through wild, stark, barren, undulating topography. Elevation changes of over 100 feet present pinnacle tee boxes, fairways in valleys and par-3s clinging to cliffsides. There are very few houses, so the experience is rugged and surreal.

The front nine at Redlands has wide yet rumpled fairways, big slick greens and a pretty view at every tee box and green setting. Houses do crowd the fairways detracting a bit from the setting, but each hole is completely different and offers varied shot requirements. The best holes are the par-5 fifth with its two-tiered green set high on a plateau behind a waste area and the par-3 eighth with its green sitting in a grotto of rock.

The back nine is unbelieveable from start to finish. Holes 11-14 play towards the red-rock canyons offering stunning vistas. Muscle bunkers and rock outcroppings pinch fairways and present devilish cross hazards to put a premium on thoughtful planning.

The tee boxes on the other-worldly par-3 17th are carved into the side of gargantuan cone shaped rocky mountain.

Lakota and Redlands have everything that defines a world class golf course - inspiring beauty, intricate strategy and a phenomenal price. Though remote, they are worthy of planning an entire golf vacation around them. Go now, before the secret gets out.

Pix are below.


Saturday, September 03, 2005

The first hole at Fossil Trace


The 1st hole at golf adventure Fossil Trace.
Click here for the article. Posted by Picasa


The fossil monument lined 12th Hole. Photo courtesy of Jim Hajek and Jim Engh. Posted by Picasa


University of Denver archaeologist Dr. martin Lockley shows the Triceratops fossils that line the 12th fairway at Fossil Trace Posted by Picasa

The incredible story of Fossil Trace Golf Club, Golden Colorado

FOSSIL TRACE GOLF CLUB
3050 Illinois St.

Golden, CO
303.277.8750
www.fossiltrace.com

Architect: Jim Engh
Par – 72
Excitement Level – 11/12
Diff. – 7/12
Conditioning – Four and ½ stars
Cost - $60
Value - Five stars
Overall – Four and ½ stars

Tees Yards Rating Slope
Black 6831 71.8 135
Blue 6241 69.0 130
White 5359 66.4 114
Gold 4681 66.7 123

You found your dreams coming true
Every day is something new
Everything you need is here
Everything is Golden
So hold on
and own this little town
It
ll be there in the mornin
If you make it through the night
-Radio Nationals song
Golden

Jim Engh had to face incredibly stringent environmental restrictions, four different ecosystems on-site, the looming alternative use plan for the site of a detention center and twelve years of battles with archaeologists, environmentalists, nay-sayers and meddlers in building Fossil Trace Golf Club in Golden, Colorado. The result? The best muni in America and a national golf masterpiece the town of Golden now celebrates as a Colorado treasure.

Engh's assistance in the recovery, research and preservation of 64 million year old Triceratops and vegetative palm frond fossils is the greatest achievement at Fossil Trace, augmented by the genius in designing a routing of eighteen holes around not only the fossils, but the tricky topography in the rest of the site. The land sits shoe-horned into a mere 130-140 acres with in the Golden city limits and Rocky Mountain Front range. The course features four completely different environments; open prairie (holes 6-9), an old clay mine (holes 11-15), a wetlands area (holes 1-5) and lowland pond areas (holes 10, and 16-18).

"Fossil Trace easily had the most trade-offs and environmental restrictions of all the sites I've worked on. Between wetlands and the archaeological treasures, it took twelve years from the start of the project until opening day" Engh noted. "It was going to be a detention center for juveniles, but I told the city I could give them a golf course and there would be room for their center as well and we could preserve the fossils" he says with a knowing smile.

The result is a phenomenal triple use of the land, but only after a grueling twelve year battle fought on many fronts. The land on which the fossils resided was owned by the Parfet family who had mined clay on the property for five generations. Fossils were known to be there since 1877 when the family bagan mining, but since the land was private, no amount of public outcry could influence the Parfet’s use of the land. Mining went on continuously until 2001, although the family took great care to preserve all the archaeological treasures they found.

However in 2001 when the Parfet family donated to the city of Golden the 52 acres upon which holes 11-15 now sit, the land became public and well organized resistance to building the course erupted. Skeptical that a golf course architect could ever be respectful of the ultra-sensitive environment and claiming that development of Fossil Trace would spoliate the precious remnants of history, paleontologists and environmentalists united with a neighboring co-housing community in a determined effort to convince the Golden city council to scuttle the project.

But Engh knew the first duty of a golf architect is to be respectful of both the land and the history of the property and to preserve and promote both at all costs. Turning lemons into lemonade, he convinced the Golden city council, the well-meaning researchers and the fervent environmentalists that golf course architecture is not merely an excrcise in land development and money grabbing.

To their credit, despite years of fervent battles, the course’s opponents proved not merely “loud for loud’s sake” and blindly political to their agenda. Perhaps showing deference to Engh’s prior successes at beautifully natural sites like Redlands Mesa and Sanctuary, perhaps heartened that a fellow Coloradan was the architect chosen to promote and protect a state geological marvel and perhaps buoyed by the thought that Engh could work productively with Dr. Martin Lockley from the University of Denver and archaeologist T Canner on the site, foes became friends and dream ultimately became reality to the golf world’s inesteemable delight.


**********************AUTHOR'S ASIDE************************

One of the ancient creatures whose tracks found are found in the clay pits has been named Champosaurichnus parfeti, in honor of the Parfet family. Now extinct, this animal resembled a crocodile, but was more closely related to a lizard.

**********************************************************

Fossil Trace contains many of the trademark features Engh's fans have come to embrace. "Muscle bunkers" (as the Engh design team calls them), i.e. deep, rolling bunkers lined with bumpy hills that resemble a flexed muscular bicep, are turned perpendicular to the line of play, often with their axis pointed directly back down the fairway. They can be as much as ten feet deep.

Engh also likes greens that have many small nodes to place tucked pins. There is usually between five and seven paces of diameter from hole to fringe, so the hole locations look tougher from the fairway than they actually are, yet they are still challenging visually and in practice. Believing that undulation is the unsung soul of the game, Engh designed greens and fairways surrounded by high, pronounced sidewalls which rebound approaches, chips and even putts back onto the green and closer to hole locations. As a result, there are a lot of muni-friendly good bounces at Fossil Trace.

Finally, Engh takes full advantage of the stunning natural settings the site enjoys. Elevated tee boxes showcase stunning panoramas and green backdrops are idyllic. Native grasses serenely line the edges of the sidewalls adding color and texture to the canvas. No slave to traditional routing, Fossil Trace features five par-3s and five par 5s.

ON THE COURSE

Like any world class course, the first hole sets the theme of the round admirably. The first part of this par-5 has a dramatically downhill tee shot that plays to a sidewall lined fairway. The second shot can reach the green only by negotiating a tight gauntlet of cottonwood trees jealously guarding the right side and a long deep muscle bunker guarding the left. Short hitters can play safe and easily reach in three. Engh creatively left the remnants of a 100 year old incinerator chimney in the middle of this bisected fairway.

The third green exhibits Engh’s philosophy of design perfectly. The green has severe sloping sidewalls that bump errant shots back onto the green. “You can putt completely off the edge of the green, and the ball can roll back toward the hole location” he says, knocking a Pro V-1 that was two feet from the cup completely off the green in the wrong direction and onto one of the side ramps. The ball rolls back down the slope to within inches of the cup. “Jay, your sculled bunker shot did exactly that – rolled past the pin, up the slope and back down to the cup’s edge. That’s the way I like my holes to play. There is more than one way to get it close” he says with a nod and a wink.

The tight fourth may be the toughest hole on the course. A 426 yard par-4 (480 from the tips), Engh requires a fairway metal or long iron approach to a heavily guarded green. Most players fear the pond on the left, but that plays into the designer’s hands. “There is more room behind the pond than there appears” Engh says pointing to a forty yard patch of safe landing area behind the hazard. Those afraid of the water end up risking finding the deep muscle bunker guarding the right. Fearing one hazard, the player inadvertently points himself right into the other. The key to playing the fourth is reading the hole while playing it that the extra room is hidden back and left.

The fifth is perhaps the only shortcoming on the course. Engh had a tough choice. With an access road dangerously close on the left, a par-4 or par-5 were out of the question – too many shattered windshields would result. Engh decided on a 100 yard par-3. The green is well defended by deep bunkers on three sides and by undulations and swales. Topped or sculled shots are severely punished by a marsh in front of the teebox. If you play that bad a mishit, you deserve a six. Finally, the target is particularly narrow, so although the hole is short, it is not as much of a pushover as it appears.

Engh offers a good mix of short and long holes at Fossil Trace. "I get alot of my ideas from the great links courses of the U.K. he recalls. "Six and seven are a good example. Six is Scottish in flavor with its openness and lack of hazards from tee to green. Seven is Irish with its high dunes lining the fairway." The two par-4s are completely different lengths and have a completely different feel, but the variety never feels unnatural or contrived. Instead, they are a good microcosm of the course's flow. Six plays uphill and is wide open. Bunkers behind the green give the hole some definition. “They also add some depth perception for players” Engh adds. The seventh green is a wild, undulating bowl.

Many of the par-4s and par-3s are short. "The shorter the hole, the more sex appeal - you know - design features that I can throw in. These added features result in lots of creative ways to play the hole" Engh says.

Nevertheless, Engh makes up alot of ground at his 660 yard par-5 9th. The hole plays shorter at 6500 feet above sea level, but it's still a bear. Engh hit a 325 yard 5-metal to reach it in two. Never having seen anyone achieve that feat, PGA Head Professional Jim Hajek fell to his knees and cowtowed repeatedly, bowing in half-mocking, half-sincere homage. Engh two-putted for birdie, breaking a string of eight consecutive pars. “Damn. There goes my streak” he quipped, needling Hajek.

Almost every great course in Ireland or Scotland has one par-3 that requires driver and Engh, like all great architects, taps this design feature at the uphill eleventh. At over 200 feet deep, the green is the longest in the state of Colorado.

The most celebrated hole on the course is the show-stopping, eye-popping twelfth - lined by the fossil encrusted sandstone monuments for which the course is named. Twenty foot tall pillars of sandstone line the left of the fairway. More monuments featuring the 64 million year old trace fossils of palm fronds and triceratops footprints pepper the landing area on the second shot and frame the backdrop of the green. Engh even made creative use of fine ceramic fly ash waste by-product left by an uncaring prior landowner. "We just piled it up and built the pulpit tee for the twelfth."

***************************AUTHOR'S INSERT*********************

During clay mining, logs inserted horizontally between the fissures in the sandstone walls served as a warning alarm to miners. If the walls started to give way, the miners would hear the logs creak and immediately scramble to safety. Several massive relics of clay mining equipment remain throughout the course as a reminder of the property's rich and diverse history. [INSERT PHOTO]

*********************************************************

The finish offers all sorts of opportunities to save or squander strokes. The gorgeous, rumbling par-5 fifteenth rolls through the rugged remains of the old clay mine, before ending with a semi blind approach to a green set well below fairway level in a small dell.

Playing through the lowland, pond areas, Engh uses water hazards to guard the greens at sixteen and eighteen and at the seventeenth tee. At a mere 320, seventeen can be driven, but the shot must avoid deep muscle bunkers on both sides.

Engh loves a short par-5 as a finishing hole as both a comfort to amateurs and for a thrilling finish for experts and tournaments. With water guarding the right side and front of the green and with the front portion of the green narrow and rolled off into the hazard, no lead is safe until the final putt is holed.

CHIP SHOTS AND TAP-INS

Fossil Trace is a triumph on more levels than most golf courses can even imagine. With the forces that conspired to scuttle the effort from its inception, it’s a miracle the course exists at all, let alone as the strategic and historic tour de force that into which it has evolved. Although he moved about 400,000 cubic yards of earth – a goodly amount, Engh still made the course flow naturally with the landscape. It won second place for best new public course in 2003 from Golf Digest, and deservedly so.

"The course is not only beautiful," says Hajek, "but you have to think the whole way around. People really love this course. It's so popular, we've even seen people scalping tee times on eBay."

Hajek is right. Unthinking bombers will be confounded by the hurly-burly bumps, twisting fairways and unique muscle bunkers. Yet for careful planners, strategic options abound to shave strokes. At 6,500 feet above sea level, the 6,400 plus yards play shorter, but still present plenty of challenge. For a muni, it’s downright stellar and a steal at $60.

Questions from the test each Fossil Trace employee must pass before receiving playing privileges at the course.

(Reprinted with permission of PGA Head Pro Jim Hajek and Fossil Trace.)

Q. Where did the city of Golden get the land to build Fossil Trace Golf Club?

A. Jeffco Open Space Co., The State of Colorado, Chip Parfet and the Parfet family.

Q. How much did Fossil Trace cost to build?

A. $14 million.

Q. What substance was mined on the property before it became a golf course?

A. Clay.

Q. What holes are located where the mine was?

A. 11-15.

Q. What is the chimney in #1 fairway and when was it used?

A. A kiln/incinerator used in the mid-1900s

Q. The boys’ school (Lookout Mountain Youth Service Center detention facility) was originally a farm. Besides farming, what other activities took place on the land?

A. Tailor, blacksmith, laundry and plumbing.

Q. How were the dinosaur prints created?

A. Sand and clay were piled on top of each other in a layering process and when dinosaurs stepped on the softened sand, they left behind their prints. On top of the prints more clay and sand fell into the prints solidifying them. When the land shifted and the mountains were created, the sandstone and clay layersshifted from their horizontal position to a vertical position saving the prints and simultaneously making clay mining easy.

Q. Name the dinosaurs whose prints were found.

A. Triceratops and hadrosaurs.

Q. What was the clay that was mined here used for?

A. Brick making.

Q. Why is there a path that goes by the fossils on #12 and who created it?

A. Eagle scouts did it so the public could view the fossils.

Q. On which holes are the machinery found and when were they purchased?

A. Yard shovel (#11), Dragline bucket (#14), shovel boom (#14), all purchased in 1954 and 1956.

F

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Where to stay in Colorado for your golf trip

In Western Colorado, the Hamton Inn in Glenwood Springs in not only convenient to Lakota Canyon Ranch and Redlands Mesa, they are walking distance from the natural hot springs spa that is open tothe public year round. Ask for Edie Dutton or Becky. Rates are very reasonable, the hotel has all the basic amenities and a wide variety of excellent and affordable restaurants are walking distance. The hotel sits right at the scenic foothills of the Colorado flatirons.

In Denver, try scenic and inexpensive Golden for quick access to Fossil Trace and the Castle Rock courses. Either the Courtyard or Residence Inn have upscale amenities and big, fat suites at excellent prices. Ask for the Denver West locations.