Walnut Creek Golf Preserve

We'd planned to make up a combo tees round using Tee 3 and Tee 4 where appropriate.  But it was so windy the day we played we opted for Tee 4.  The westward holes were still tough with this wind but the eastward par 5s were quite easy to reach in 2.

This was again the perfect course for our annual 8 man Colorado Golf Binge to play as a wrap up from our 5 days of tough mountain golf.  I'd played this course years ago when it was Heritage Golf Course at Westmoor.  I enjoyed it then and I feel we all enjoyed it even more this week. 

The course is in super condition.  Greens are fast and true.  Fairways are lush but not mushy.  The course was renamed as Walnut Creek Preserve April, 2017 and became Colorado's first golf preserve with lots of special attention to protecting the environment and practicing astute sustainability.

The fairways are generous but the roughs are rough  The greens are extra large and quite penal if your approach leaves you above the hole.

Trees are generally not a factor although I managed to crash high into a big Cottonwood on the inside of the dogleg right par 4 8th hole.

The back nine plays relatively close to the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport with lots of air traffic to divert your attention rather than dwelling on your last 3-putt.

The course is generally a Scottish links style track with loads of inviting bunkers….90 total: 38 on the front nine and a whopping 52 on the back.  Water is only a real factor with ponds on the par 3 7th hole, the par 4 16th hole and the tough par 5 18th hole.

Rather than having 5 tees of varied colors or names Walnut Creek simply has 5 numbered cut wood limbs with a neat western style WC brand burned into each pc.  Our group handicaps are in the 6-17 range and we normally play courses in the 6,200 yd range.  We found it a little strange that Walnut Creek doesn't offer tees in this range. Tee #4 measures 5,975 yards while Tee #3 jumps to 6,528 yards.  Possibly offering a combo tee option would be a good fit for this gap.

We ended our Binge with pitchers of beer and great food while settling our bets and reliving our stories including one of our players holing out from 60 yards on his last shot of the week on #18.  'Great memories from a great golf perserve!

Sam Sherstad