The Bogey Golfer © Course Guides
City Park Nine Overview
City Park Nine, in Ft. Collins, CO, was built in 1940, making it one of the older courses in Northern Colorado. It's a nine-hole track, playing at 3335 yards from the tips, and its par is 36. As the name implies, it's part of the City Park system, and is next to the baseball fields, a swimming pool, and large grassy swatches where little kids play flag football on Saturday mornings in September. City Park Nine is everything you'd expect -- lots of tall shady trees, an irrigation canal wandering through the middle, and a stately old clubhouse that must have been something special back in the day.
One corner of the course is a bit cramped, with the short 300-yard par 4 third wrapped around the second hole (a par 3). The rest of the layout is pretty spacious in that one hole doesn't come into play on the next. The par fives are a respectable length (535 and 573 yards), the par 3s are a healthy 181 and 228, and the rest of the par fours play at 350, 360, 380 and 418. Since the course is part of a park in a residential part of Ft. Collins, out-of-bounds comes into play on almost every hole (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9). There are the normal complement of sand traps scattered around the greens. Pay special attention to the grass bunkers protecting the edges of the fairways. They're often more difficult than sand traps.
The staff is laid back and friendly, the pro shop is well stocked with equipment and snacks. There are chipping and putting greens, and a driving range. Green fees are reasonably priced at $15 for nine, and $24 for eighteen (two laps). Riding carts are available, but it's also a very walkable course. All in all, City Park Nine is a thoroughly enjoyable course.
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City Park Nine Golf Course - Detail
This review was written from the blue tees. Two laps from the blues runs to 6670 yards, which is not too imposing for a Bogey Golfer. Two laps from the whites is 6180 -- you choose.
Hole #1 is a 380 yard par 4 with a little bit of a right hand bend to it. There's OB right of the trees on the right, so you want to favor the left side of the fairway. And because of the fact that the hole bends right, you can hit through the fairway pretty easily, so a fairway wood or a long iron is a better choice off the tee than a driver. On your approach shot, you can go right at the pin, because the green slopes from back to front. However, you do not want to be long, because if you get over the burm behind the green, the chip back will be extremely difficult. (Furthermore, the second tee box is back there...) Landing short and chipping on is also a good strategy.
The second hole is a par 3, guarded right and left by sand traps. The green is pretty small. Unless you're really good out of the sand, it's probably better to land a little bit short, and chip up.
Hole #3 is a little bit bit funky. It's only 300 yards, and it has a 90 degree dogleg. Play your 150 yard club off the tee. The left hand side is marked OB in order to discourage you from whistling the ball over the heads of the people chipping and putting on the #2 green. It's an easy hole if you just play it the way you see it. If you get tangled up in the trees on the left by getting greedy and cutting the corner, it becomes a very difficult hole. The green is two-tiered with the higher tier on the front.
Hole #4 is a 573 yard par 5. This is a difficult hole because it's long, and narrow. The rough is rough, accentuated by a couple of grass bunkers on the right. There is also a row of cottonwoods down the right side, separating the golf course from the cemetery. Despite the length of this hole, accuracy is more important than length, especially off the tee, and especially from the back tee. The blue tee really makes you feel like you're hitting from inside a tunnel. If you have any doubts about your driver, hit your five or six iron from the tee in order to stay straight, and then try longer clubs on your second and third shots, when the fairway opens up a bit. Bogey is a good score on this brute.
Hole #5 is easier to reach in regulation, playing at only 352 yards. Hit a long iron or fairway wood off the tee, and aim right down the middle. The fairway angles away from Taft Hill avenue, and then doglegs right back into the green at the intersection with Mulberry. There's a sand trap in the middle of the fairway about 80 yards from the green, and a grass bunker in the right rough past the trees. This hole is a scoring opportunity, but only if you play it the way it's laid out. Get greedy, and you'll get in trouble.
Hole #6 is a deceptive hole. From the tee box, it looks wide open and dead easy, running 363 yards straight up to the green. What you don't see from the tee box is that an irrigation ditch crosses the fairway immediately in front of the green. So your strategy off the tee is -- go ahead and hit your driver -- it's one of the few wide holes on the course. If you hit it good, you're well-positioned to hit a short iron to the green. If you hit it bad, chip back out to the middle of the fairway, and then hit a short iron to the green. Don't try and hit a long iron in, because the irrigation ditch will gobble you up.
Hole #7 is a long par 5 with a dog leg right. The scorecard says 535 yards, but it seems much longer because a) the blue tees are 50 yards back from the whites, and b) you can't see the green from the tee. As far as that goes, you can't see the green on your second shot either. The right is nothing but trouble -- trees, grass bunkers, and out-of-bounds stakes (the scorecard points out that the OB stakes are for #7, not for #8 coming back the other way). So cutting the corner is a bad idea, don't do it, not even by accident. There are many many extra strokes awaiting you in the right rough. Get to the left hand side of the fairway off the tee, even if you have to hit a six iron. Then stay to the left hand side of the fairway on your second shot. Your aim is to get to a position inside the 150 marker on the left side of the fairway, so you can see the green, and then reach it. Bogey is a good score here, but you can make par if you're able to avoid the right rough.
Hole #8 is long -- it's 418 yards from the blue tees. And it has a ditch crossing the fairway just in front of the green. So reaching this monster in two is unlikely if you're not Ernie Els. The fairway is wide enough to hit driver, but doesn't gain you much advantage since I'm going to recommend a lay-up on the second shot anyway. The green is small, so figure your distance backwards to where you'll get the best accuracy. Some players don't like half-wedge shots because it's too difficult to guage distances -- others like them because it's easier to hit straight with a half swing. Whichever your style is, the ditch runs about 40 yards in front of the green.
Hole #9 is a tough finishing hole -- a 228-yard par 3. Some people like to hit a high soft shot, like a 7 wood; others prefer a low running shot like a 2 or 3 iron. Use whichever long distance club that you have the most confidence in. Two pitching wedges can work too... The green is tricky -- it has two tiers, with the lower tier at the back.
There are some pars to be made on this course (1, 2, 3, 5, 6), if you're able to avoid trouble (especially on 3 and 5). Be patient and accurate on 4, 7, and 8, and feel good about a bogey. #9 is kind of a crapshoot, depending on how well you hit your tee shot.
This shady old course is a real treat, and offers as much enjoyment to today's golfers with graphite shafts and titanium heads as it did more than half a century ago to our grandfathers who wielded hickory shafts and persimmon woods. |
