The Golf Club at Redlands Mesa

I had the pleasure of playing this beauty again with a good Colorado golf buddy July 21, 2018.  What a great day.  Weather was great in the early AM but got pretty warm on the back nine.

Redlands Mesa is another classic Jim Engh designed track including 11 elevated tee boxes. The Golf Club at Redlands Mesa appears to be a lush dark green carpet flowing through rugged red rock formations with a backdrop of the beautiful Colorado National Monument. Who could ask for anything more for super photo ops?

Grand Junction has a high desert climate and therefore a longer and dryer season than the courses up in Summit and Eagle Counties. 

Your golf experience at Redlands Mesa will long be remembered for the incredible views from each tee box. The first few holes have the rugged backdrop of Colorado National Monument (which is definitely worth a side trip for a winding road drive comparable to the Grand Canyon in beauty and history). If you're really brave and strong do this on a bike.

Back to the golf review…… Hole #3 is an almost blind par 3 with a huge green divided by a ridge in the middle. Get on the correct side of the ridge and you're rewarded. On the wrong side you'll get the usual Jim Engh punishment.

Hole #5 is a dog-leg right par 5 with the Jim Engh signature clown's tongue green. When I played it with my brother years ago we both narrowly missed the elevated green to the right on our third shots. When we got to the green we found my ball 2" from the hole for a tap in birdie and my brother's ball was in the hole for an eagle 3!  

Another classic hole is the #17 par 3. It's a long downhill shot from a very elevated tee to a narrow green in a rugged rock cove. When I played this hole in 2007 a bobcat chased a rabbit across the green as we were about to hit our tee shots. This year the rabbit population was way up and no bobcats visible. Nature's way, I guess.

The only hole that I feel is too crazy is #13.  From the Redlands tee one must bust a 280 yd drive down the middle then cut back more than 90 degrees to have a clear shot to the green.  I guess I'll drop back to the Canyon tees next trip.

Redlands Mesa ranks very high on the fun and beauty scales. It's a great course to play at least twice due to some pretty tricky layouts. 

Bring your camera and your shot making imagination when you come to play Redlands Mesa.

Redlands Mesa has won many national awards including Best New Affordable Public Course in America by Golf Digest 2001 and many more. Grand Junction is becoming famous as the Colorado Wine Country. Winery tours are available. And restaurants of all types abound in Grand Junction. We enjoyed some beer and a casual dinner with the locals at Breckenridge Ale House in Grand Junction. Grand Junction offers all the national chain eateries like Olive Garden, etc. but more unique options include The Winery Restaurant, Dolce Vita, Bin 707 and 626 On Rood.

Grand Junction is an interesting city with a great Main St. and lots of history.  It's also a great mix of  the beauty of Colorado with the climate of Spring and Fall in Arizona….and some super golf. It's a tempting place to retire like many of the homeowners around Redlands Mesa.

Sam Sherstad

Writer, Recreation Travel Reviews