“Great 9-hole golf, brought the kids out for a great day of golf”. This review was posted one month before I visited this course (please imagine my air-quotes). After finally finding the course, my conclusion about the golfer who posted this was…
1) He is quite the jokester; 2) He has never set foot on a golf course; 3) The only important thing to him was spending time with his kids; 4) He’s been smoking too much of that Colorado wacky weed; 5) He is a resident of Red Feather Lakes; 6) He posted his review about the wrong course.
To be honest, I’m not sure this course is actually open. Since no clubhouse exists there is no way of really knowing – just guessing by the condition of the course. After driving around the perimeter and seeing flags, I stopped by the 9th hole tee box. I was lucky enough to find a rough drawing of the course, and discovered I could pay my $5 fee (which was way too much) at the 1st hole behind Dowdy Grocery/Nate’s Repair or the 3rd hole behind the High Country Restaurant.
I never could find the 1st hole but finally stumbled upon Hole #3. The bulletin board (attached to a tree) stated the rules and regulations of the course; how to fill out the fee form and drop it in the locked shoot; and noted that the course would open on May 1, 2011. This being June 1, 2016 it was another clue that this course was no longer in the rotation of the best of Northern Colorado golf courses.
I did secure a weathered scorecard from the secret compartment; exchanged my golf shoes for hiking boots; and set off to explore (not golf) this field. This is/was a par 33 course and I surmised that I would hit six shots (during a round) that would need to find the “fairway” from the teeing area. With the length of the weeds/grass on the “fairways”, that would mean six lost balls as there was no way I would be able to find them in this junk.
Another clue of inactivity was the condition of the sand greens. There were more weeds than sand on the greens and the sand rollers were rusted in place like skeletons from another decade. Just for fun, I activated my fitbit and took off on a little hike. Hole #7, a par 4, is/was adjacent to the par 3 third hole, so I took off in search of a golf course. I reached the only flag in sight and the tattered piece of cloth read “6”. A few steps to my left was Hole #6 tee ground and the only flag and green in view was marked with a big “2”. Confused? Now you know how I felt trying to find a golf course!
Double Bogey or Worse: This is my final theory about our mysterious course reviewer. He had the kids for the afternoon and let them play with the rattlesnakes on the deserted course where they mischievously switched the flag placements while he sat and drank beer at the High Country Restaurant by the third hole. Believe it or not, there is a silver lining to this adventure. You get to spend a day in beautiful Northern Colorado and Red Feather Lakes has an outstanding 18-hole course that in recent years has become a public track. If you want a laugh, visit Mount Meadows Golf Course; if you want to play some serious golf, visit Fox Acres Golf Club.
1 Mile West Dowdy Lake Road, Red Feather Lakes, CO 80545
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