I had a few days off from work and decided to check out some Colorado courses. Golf isn’t as important to me these days as it was a couple years ago, but this part of the country is so scenic that I couldn’t resist doing a little course collecting. On Friday I played 36 holes at two different courses in the mountains.

I got my day started at Eagle Ranch Golf Club. It took me a little over two hours to get to the course from where I was staying in Denver. Thankfully, the scenery is stunning along this part of I-70 and there wasn’t much traffic so early in the morning.

Eagle Ranch is an Arnold Palmer Signature Design, which is the main reason the course grabbed my attention. I usually like Palmer courses and not surprisingly, I ended up enjoying Eagle Ranch a lot. The course has a high desert vibe when it comes to scenery. That is interesting because the landscape near Vail, only about a half hour away, is much more wooded. In many ways, Eagle Ranch reminded me of a course you’d find near Bend, Oregon.

The front nine has a good collection of holes and is highlighted by the downhill par-3 5th. I played the gold tees and from there the hole plays 172 yards. With the elevation drop it probably played closer to 140 yards. A pond guards the green and the green slopes from back to front with a couple different tiers. So, only a very good iron will get close. The 9th is also a strong hole – it is a 462 yard par-4 with water to the left.

While the front nine is mostly flat and scorable, the back nine has more elevation change and is the tougher nine. I think the 11th through the 15th is the signature stretch of holes at Eagle Ranch. The 11th is a fun par-3 that is uphill and has a green that angles to the right, around a hazard. The 12th is a long par-5 with great views of the mountains. It reminded me of some of the holes at nearby Lakota Links Golf Club. Make sure your camera is ready for the back nine.

I think the biggest challenge here will be trying to putt the greens. From the gold tees the course plays 72.7/131/7095. The greens are large, but have many different sections for flags. So it always felt like I was firing an iron to a small target. If you know what you are doing, there are slopes you can use to feed the ball close. However, if you miss those slopes then it will be tough to get the next shot close. The course gives you space to miss off the tee on most holes.

The conditions were excellent and for $113, I’d say that Eagle Ranch provides a great value. The tees, fairways and greens were all in near-perfect shape. The greens were receptive, but slick. Putts that missed just continued to trickle past the hole.

I’d highly recommend a round at Eagle Ranch. It doesn’t have the wooded scenery that the Vail courses do, but it is a playable course for the average golfer and has some cool features. For example, in typical Palmer fashion, there are a couple “beach bunkers”. There are also many tall-grass mounds and grass bunkers that add to the course’s look. Make sure to put Eagle Ranch on your list if you are traveling on I-70 or staying in Vail.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):