¶ Notes
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The August 2022 HAF League monthly outing was played on 3 courses in the Denver area between 19 and 21 August. Click their logos if you'd like to visit their Web site to learn or remember more about them.
The weather for the weekend was perfect for golf. All three days were slightly overcast, warm without being hot with slight breezes that cooled one off without affecting play.
The League played all 3 of the courses for the first time. They were all very different challenges. I think everyone that attended would happily play any of them again.
¶ Day 1 - Thorncreek Golf Course
Thorncreek is a links-style course (few trees, long native grasses in the rough). The fairways are generally generous and the rough was not overly punishing. The Baxter Spann design is fun. There are lots of elevation changes, just a little bit of water and fairways that turn just enough to make things interesting. The greens had plenty of movement to them but the speed made them playable. This course would be a challenging walk because of the elevation changes and distances between many of the holes. Riding is recommended (and very affordable). Beverage service was almost non-existent so plan accordingly.
The practice facilities at Thorncreek were good. They have a nice but relatively small putting green right by the driving range. The driving range has room for about 20 golfers and is somewhat short and tight to the 10th and 18th fairways (on which you'll find lots of practice balls). It has a separate chipping area. The rate we got included a small bucket of range balls. The clubhouse features a good food menu, good beer selection and limited but sufficient spirits selection. It has a small-ish indoor seating area and a large, covered outdoor seating area. Table service is available. For the price ($79 riding with practice balls) and facilities, the quality of this course is outstanding. It will definitely be in the rotation for future HAF League outings.
The competition was a modified Stableford. Points awarded for each hole based on gross hole scores as follows:
| Score | Points |
|---|---|
| Ace/Albatross | Win the whole thing |
| Eagle | 8 |
| Birdie | 4 |
| Par | 2 |
| Bogey | 1 |
| Double bogey | 0 |
| Triple bogey | -1 |
Each player was assigned a target number of points based on their course handicaps. A starting value of 36 was used. Each player's course handicap was subtracted from that value to arrive at a number of points required. Each player's points accumulated were subtracted from the points requied to arrive at a total score. Scores were negative for players that accumulated more than the required number of points. Lowest total (of 2 by Scott O'Hare) was awarded 40% of entry fees and second lowest (of 7 by Travis Hubbard) was awarded 20%. The remaining 40% was awarded (to John Allen, Scott O'Hare and Ryan Sagastume) for being closest to the pin on par 3s.
The scoresheets and prize awards for the event are available below in Excel and PDF formats.
¶ Day 2 - Green Valley Ranch Golf Course
Green Valley Ranch is a bit of a hybrid between a typical Colorado parkland course and a links-style course, changing hole by hole. The Perry Dye design has typical Dye architectural features - fairways with lots of movement, long fairway bunkers and well-protected greens with deep bunkers. The greens themselves have lots of slope and play on the faster side. The hole designs are challenging on a good day but not usually intentionally hard. On this particular day, the course was set up for the Colorado Senior Open. The pin positions were brutal. 😄 We wouldn't expect it to play that way when we play it again in September. This course is extremely well designed for walking, too. Distances from one green to the next tee are fairly short and elevation changes are small, especially for a Colorado course. It is possible to call for beverage service directly from the golf GPS system built into the carts. The beverage cart arrived within 2 minutes of calling. The beverage selection was typical.
The practice facility may be the best of any public course in the state of Colorado. It has many hitting bays on a large driving range that plays away from the golf course and has many flags with published distances to which to hit. It has a pitching area by the driving range and a separate chipping and putting area by the golf shop. It also has a large putting green by the first hole. Practice balls are included the greens fees, making it even better.
Green Valley Ranch doesn't have a "clubhouse" in the traditional sense. They have a pro shop and an entirely separate restaurant. The restaurant has excellent food at reasonable prices (but somewhat higher than traditional clubhouse fare because it's a real restaurant). They have an average beer, wine and spirits selection. They also have a snack bar right at the turn that has all kinds of beverages, food and cigars. All in all, there is nothing not to like about this course and the facilities. We will very definitely play this one in the future (beyond September when we're playing it again.
We conducted a stroke play tournament with a Peoria handicap, a handicap determined by adding up the net scores to par on 6 randomly chosen holes and multiplying that sum by 3. We also did a skins competition using the Peoria handicap to come up with net hole scores and awarding skins if a player had the lowest net score on a hole by themselves. Half the pot ($40) was awarded to the player with the lowest net score with the Peoria handicap, Chris Lundhagen. Nine skins were won and the remaining 50% of the prize pool was awarded between them. The scoresheets and results may be found below in Excel and PDF formats.
¶ Day 3 - Murphy Creek Golf Course
Murphy Creek is a prairie-style links course. It often feels like it is in the middle of a farm and the design is intentionally done to promote that feeling. Being a links course, it has the expected long native grasses in the rough. It is a course that very much encourages playing in the fairway but fairways are accomodating. Green have some undulation to them but speed made them playable. All-in-all, it is a challenging but fair test of golf skill. The beverage cart made one appearance very early in the round. Maybe this isn't typical, but plan accordingly if planning to play there again.
The practice facilities are very good. Range balls were included in the rate. The range is relatively short but plays away from the golf course and is large enough to accomodate all the golfers that want to use it. There is a small practice green by the first tee and another larger one around the corner with room for chipping practice and some practice bunkers. Also included in the rate was $10 for use at the golf shop. The shop staff at this course were among the friendliest and most helpful of all the courses we've played. The offered to provide custom signage for our group and other tournament amenities for the same low rate that included cart, practice balls and shop credits. We very well may take them up on that in the future.
There restaurant and bar had typical golf course fare. The service was very slow but the food was good. The beverage selection was typical, most beer (decent selection) and a little wine and spirits.
We conducted a stroke play tournament with a Peoria handicap, a handicap determined by adding up the net scores to par on 6 randomly chosen holes and multiplying that sum by 3. We also did a skins competition using the Peoria handicap to come up with net hole scores and awarding skins if a player had the lowest net score on a hole by themselves. Prizes were awarded for lowest (40%, to Travis Hubbard) and next lowest (10% each for two way tie between Brad Pace and Ryan Sagastume) net scores based on the Peoria handicap. Eight skins were won and the remaining 40% of the prize pool was awarded between them. The scoresheets and results may be found below in Excel and PDF formats.
¶ Tee Times and Pairings [Tees for competitions in square brackets]
¶ Friday - Thorncreek
12:33
John Allen [Four]
Ryan Sagastume [Five]
Scott O'Hare [Three]
Kelly Banta
12:44
Todd Hubbard
Travis Hubbard [Four]
Marcus Fast [Four]
Curt Balcerzak [Three]
¶ Saturday - Green Valley Ranch
9:20
John Allen [Gold]
Scott O'Hare [Blue]
Chris Lundhagen [Gold]
Dante Kobek (Chris' friend) [Gold]
¶ Sunday - Murphy Creek
9:30
Todd Hubbard
Travis Hubbard [White/Gold]
John Allen [White/Gold]
Curt Balcerzak [Blue/White]
9:40
Scott O'Hare [Blue/White]
Brad Pace [White/Gold]
Ryan Sagastume [Gold]
TBD