Dalton Ranch Golf Club

Review of Dalton Ranch Golf Club

Wow, what a fantastic 18 holes of golf just north of historic Durango.  Dalton Ranch and Golf Club was built by Ken Dye in 1993 and it winds its way along the Animas River with scenic vistas of the towering red cliffs of the San Juan Mountains.  Dalton Ranch is an American Links style course that’s relatively short at 5539 to 6934 yards but challenging because it requires some strategic shot making and according to the head pro it has “tougher approach shots than any other course he has played!”  With a slope and rating of 73.6 and 138, Dalton Ranch Golf Club is no walk in the park and you need to make sure that you pick the right set of tee boxes and don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Some of the reasons we think Dalton Ranch and Golf Club a must play include:

• It’s very scenic with the Animas River, colorful San Juan Mountains, and a wide variety of towering trees
• The conditions are near perfect – the fairways are lush and plush, the greens are true and fast, the rough is thick and playable, and the course is very well maintained and manicured
• The Ken Dye layout is excellent – fun, fair but demanding, lots of variety, and memorable
• The course will throw a lot at you including lots of tall mounds and deep swales, water that will come into play on several holes, big strategically placed bunkers, and dog legs
• It’s a layout that demands good course management and putting skills and strategic shot making if you want to score well
• The greens are excellent – big, true, fast, soft, tiered and contoured, raised, and well-guarded

In addition to all of that, Pete Dye has designed some very fun, memorable, and demanding holes, some that we really liked included:

• all of the par 3s are outstanding with some mixture of water, big bunkers, and demanding green complexes that require precise shots
• #4 is the #1 handicap hole – a 558 yard par 5 that requires accuracy from tee to green to manage the dog leg left off the tee (a risk reward shot if you think you can fly the tall tree), a good second shot to position you for a tough approach with sand, the Animas River and trees guarding the green
• #7 is a beautiful par 5 with water on the right from the tee to the green and also across the front the green plus 3 huge bunkers one of which pinches the fairway, one that wants to catch your second shot and one that guards the green
• #11 is a 479 yard par 4 that offers a great risk reward shot to try and carry more of the lake and huge bunker to shorten the approach shot to another big bunker and a small pot bunker guarding the green
• #13 will test your skills at keeping the ball in play – water along the left from the tee to in back of the green, six bunkers most of which are huge, and another tough approach shot

The fairways are tree, water, or sand lined and range from generous off the tee box to tight on the approaches.  The terrain plays in the river valley and is flat, but Dye added a lot of contour, slope, and mounding to create uneven lies.  Mounding is everywhere and most of the mounds are huge, some are strategically placed and split the fairway, and all of them will cause a very uneven and challenging shot if you land on them. When we played the fairways were lush and plush and in fantastic condition.  The rough was wide and in excellent condition and ranged from thin and playable to a tad thick. 

The Dalton Ranch and Golf Club greens range in shape and size with most being above average size.  All are raised and well guarded with some combination of trees, water, bunkers, mounds, and swales – which puts a premium on your approach shots.  Once you're on the green, study them carefully – they were fast and true but heavily contoured.  Two and three putts were common for us.

The bunkers are treacherous – most are large enough for a semi tractor trailer and the sand is soft and deep.  I was tempted to pull out my umbrella and beach chair and order a pina colada and pretend I was at the beach in Florida. 

Bottom line:  Dalton Ranch and Golf Club is a must play that's fun, demanding, scenic, and in excellent condition but a  little pricey.

Read all about this fun trip to Southern Colorado/Northern New Mexico where this is one of the courses we played.