The River Course

After 8 years of living in Colorado, my Mountain Golf experience was limited to a few trips up to the Evergreen City Course. Beautiful as the location is on a crisp morning, it’s a bit of a dog track in terms of layout and conditioning. So, I was pretty excited on my recent trip to Denver that we had a tee-​time up at the River Course.
For a first experience of truly high-​end Mountain Golf, this was a winner. Boy did we luck out — it was a perfect Fall day. Weather in the high-50’s, Aspens were near peak-​color, and the sky was crystal clear. Oh yeah — and I was smoking the ball on the range.
I have as close to entirely positive things to say about the course as is possible. Stepping up to the first tee, a nice elevated look down over the fairway, it was clear that this is a beautiful location and a well designed and well maintained track. It’s more of a resort-​style course, so it is accommodating. While you can get into trouble if you stray too far, the fairways are generous and leave some margin for error. Overall, the course is fair — although there were number of holes I’d like to have a second crack at, since I might play differently with local-​knowledge. The greens are fairly quick, and they are challenging.
The super-​star is the beautiful mountain scenery. The front nine is nice. There are some nice holes along the river, and a couple of cool elevated tee-​boxes. #9 is a dramatic downhill Par-​3 to end. The back-​nine is off the hook. There were at least five awesome tee shots, including the fun (but frustrating) #16, and the magnificent #18 Par-​5 to finish. The look down over Lake Dillon towards the range to the West is just beautiful.
This is a fun place to play — and yes, the ball does fly at this elevation. If you are looking for a place to come and enjoy yourself, without driving yourself nuts, this is a good course. If you are visiting, this is easy to access, and it’s a nice drive up from Denver. I believe that we also took advantage of a deal for Epic Pass (Vail Resorts — Ski Pass) Holders. $ 69 with a cart. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon.