Arrowhead

Arrowhead

#1 Teebox

#3 Teebox

#3 Green

#4 Fairway

#5 Teebox

#9 Teebox

#10 Teebox

#13 Teebox

#14 Teebox

Arrowhead - Overview

If you play a lot of golf in Colorado, you’re probably used to breathtaking views and scenic vistas. But even by Colorado’s high standards, Arrowhead Golf Club is something special. The scorecard has the following quote by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., who designed the course: “When I first saw the site of the golf course at Roxborough Park, I was overwhelmed by the magnificent gifts that nature has bestowed on the property. The cathedral-like conglomerate rocks jutting up from the rolling terrain at the foothills of the Rockies is a majestic setting in which to establish a unique golf course …” And that’s just the view from the parking lot!

As you might expect in such a pristine setting, there’s plenty of wildlife to be seen. Fox, deer, etc. If you’re off the beaten path exploring the knee-high rough, be wary of snakes.

If you ever shake yourself out of a dazed reverie to remind yourself that you came to play golf, here’s a few words of wisdom before you start the round. The practice putting green ran a lot faster than any of the greens on the course did – I was leaving putts short all day. The course for the most part is “honest” – what you see is what you get. There a few important exceptions: pay close attention on 7,13, 15, and 18. This writeup is done from the black tees, which play at 6269 yards. The gold tees are only 6682 yards, so the course is not that long. It has plenty of 400+ yard par 4s, and the ones that are shorter are well defended in ingenious ways. Par is 70 – the front nine only has one par 5, and the back nine has three par 3s.

Since this is written by and for the Bogey Golfer, the advice is slanted a bit more conservatively than a scratch golfer might look for. Improving your score is mostly about eliminating the blow-ups… Off to the first tee!

Arrowhead Course Detail

Hole #2 – Long uphill par 5 – 525 yards – feels more like 600+. The rough is punitive – keep the ball in play. You need distance here because of the uphill. Driver off the tee, and long irons off the fairway. If you can’t hit your driver or your long irons straight, take four shots to get there, but stay in the fairway!

Hole #3 – Gorgeous par 3 nestled in amongst the red rocks. The green is really long, so pay close attention to the pin placement if you’re going for it. Landing short right and bumping up onto the green is a good strategy regardless of pin placement. As a brief aside, I have to tell an amusing story on my playing partner. For reasons we won’t go into, he wound up in the sand trap on the front left of the green. Since the wheels were falling off anyway, he picked it clean, and lofted the shot completely over the green, where it hit the rock wall on the other side. You guessed it … the ball caromed back across the green and rolled back into the trap at his feet.

Hole #4 – Great downhill hole with a chasm to cross before coming into a visually stunning green with a huge cliff backdrop. Pay close attention to your yardages here. Plan on your tee shot getting an extra 20 yards of carry because of the elevation. The green is very deceptive in its breaks, sloping severely from back to front. Pay attention!

Hole #5 – Back across the chasm, this short par 4 dogleg right has a humongous rock formation keeping you from cutting the corner. Hit a long iron or a fairway wood. Just aim anywhere left of the rock formation and you’ll have anywhere from 150 to 75 yards coming into the elevated green.

Hole #6 – The tees are nestled in amongst a rock formation. Favor the right side of the fairway, because the slope wants to drag everything into the left rough. Also, once you get to the green, there’s a huge bunker on the left side.

Hole #7 is a strategy hole. There’s a pond about 30 yards in past the 150 marker, and a sandtrap down the left side. There is NOT room to squeeze between the trap and the pond. The black tees are only 350 yards, so do not hit it much further than 200 yards up the middle. Aim at the pond, not the trap (the trap is closer, and a 200 yard shot might roll in). Although it doesn’t appear so from the fairway, the green slopes severely from left to right, so don’t hit any fades coming in (at least on purpose) or the ball will roll off the right side.

Hole #8 is an uphill par 4. The fairway is like a chute or a funnel (raised sides). At 383 yards, you’ll need all the distance you can get off the teebox because of the uphill slope, so go ahead and use your driver (be mindful of the bunker on the right if you’re a big hitter). The green is elevated, and has a backstop above it, so make sure you use plenty of club on your approach shot.

Hole #9 is a short downhill par 3. The hole will play 15-20 yards shorter than whatever it says the distance is. The scorecard says 177, but find the yardage disk on the tee box to double-check – sometimes they move the tees around, you know.

Hole #10 might well be the most beautiful hole in golf (no, I don’t want to hear about Pebble Beach or Pinehurst or Ballybunion). The distracting scenery makes it hard to hit the fairway. It’s only 398 yards, and you get a lot of help from the elevation, so don’t pull out the driver here. Use a club you’re confident you can hit straight. The green is well protected, so lay up on your second shot if you have to.

Hole #11 is a par 3 backing into another huge rock formation. The green is pretty big, so feel free to go for the pin here, wherever it is.

Hole #12 is another 400 yard par 4 that feels more like 450 because of the elevation gain. You need a good tee shot, and the fairway is going to feel pretty narrow because of the angle you want to take to reach the 150 yard marker. Slow your swing down – keep “uphill thoughts” out of your head!

Hole #13 is a breathtaking par 3 off what feels like a cliff. Back off two full clubs from whatever distance the tees put you at. There’s nowhere to land short, so once you’ve made your club selection, take a full swing.

Hole #14 is another stunning hole – especially if you want to go back and play it from the golds. (Even if you don’t play it from the back, you owe it to yourself to go up there and look at it!) The back tees put you in a notch in a rock formation, teeing off from an elevated tee across a lake. You need a 200 yard carry to clear the lake. It’s a gorgeous hole. The green is really wide, and not very deep. Try to come in from the right, because the left is well guarded by bunkers.

Hole #15 is another uphill par 4. Like #5 on the front, you have to go around a huge rock formation. At 361, the hole is not terribly long, but the uphill slope is enough that you need to take at least one extra club to reach the green. The bunker on the right basically wraps all the way around the back of the green, so stay away from it!

Hole #16 is a reasonably benign par 5. It’s uphill, which effectively adds 30-40 yards to its not inconsiderable 549 yard length, but the fairway is nice and wide, so go ahead and hammer away on your tee shot. Hit a solid mid iron or long iron on your second shot, and keep it in play. You need a good setup for the approach shot into the green. There’s a valley of rough right in front of the green that won’t help you, so take enough club and rap it smartly!

Hole #17 is a tasty medium length par 3, over a pond . If you have a tendency to stray a bit right, make sure you’ve got enough club to carry the pond.

Hole #18 is a par 5 coming back up a huge hill. There’s a sign warning you that it’s 250 yards to reach the water. What you can’t see from the tee box is that the fairway basically dead-ends over the hill where you can’t see from the tee box. Because of the hill, it’s unlikely (but not impossible) that you’ll hit into the lake. Once you get up the hill, you’ll see that there’s another fairway on the right side of the lake that you need to get to. The green is huge, so there’s a good chance to make a score to feel good about as you finish the round.

This course is a real treat. The green fees run from $90 to $125 (based on midweek vs. weekend, and off season), which is a bit pricey, but the wow factor is incredible. If you ever come across any discount coupons that you aren’t able to use, please forward them to me!!!