On Deck: Colorado Golf Club

Links Confidential is heading out west to experience C&C's work at Colorado Golf Club. Originally built, this National Club has held a US Senior Open, and awaits the Solheim Cup in 2013. Although the project possesses a checkered past with its initial beginnings within a tough economy ala 2008, this great design has survived, was injected with new ownership, and is poised for a revivial. More to come.

Old Kinderhook

Artificial features in a natural setting

During a recent site visit for a project in the Lake of the Ozarks, I had the opportunity to enjoy all aspects of the Old Kinderhook Golf Resort. Designed by Tom Weiskopf, Old Kinderhook provides guests with your typical resort layout featuring holes of moderate strategy, some pretty views, and the occasional “head scratcher” from an architectural standpoint.

Playing Old Kinderhook is like going to Outback for dinner—you know that the menu isn’t going to blow you away, but for a few hours, you are going to have some fun and not leave disappointed because they aren’t trying to be something that they can’t live up to.

Located in the Lake of the Ozarks, Old Kinderhook is roughly a 3 hour drive from both Kansas City and St Louis. A major summer destination, the area features a massive corps of engineers developed waterfront, complete with sprawling resorts and seasonal property. The land down this way is jagged. Large elevation changes, plenty of rock, heavy foliage, and a good dose of lake effect humidity makes the area intriguing for golf. As a resort, Old Kinderhook not only provides the golf course, but has guest condos, a pro shop, restaurant and grill, and conference center that are all themed in a Colorado-style log cabin façade. As I stood on the first tee and took in the surrounding jagged hills heavily dressed in foliage and the complimenting architecture, I did get as sense for a moment that I was in Summit County Colorado looking to tee it up at the Keystone Resort. From a resort standpoint, the developers have done a fabulous job with the architecture surrounding the course to make you feel as if you were somewhere else. I would beg to differ with regards to the newer additions on the back nine as both the residential and resort additions are both tacky and take away from the interior feel of the resort that you begin with.

Before we skip forward to the golf course, let me say these two things:
1. Their staff has been trained very well and they know how to properly treat people during all aspects of the stay.
2. For $99 to stay and play, Old Kinderhook is offering a criminally-priced deal. When you take into account the golf course, a 2-bedroom cottage that I stayed in, and the setting, it’s absolutely mind-boggling to me how the operation can sustain itself on such meager prices. With that said, LC was a big winner later in the evening as I enjoyed beef tenderloin stroganoff paired with a few choice services of Pinot…not a bad way to finish off what was a beautiful evening.

The Golf Course

This course is the tale of your typical resort layout:

1. Make it easy to play and limit people’s need to think around the layout….EXCEPT for the rough….This condition presentation was extremely thick for a resort. In playing with one of the staff members, he commented that their course is for “the players.” Excuse me while I just come out and say this, but if you are a resort course to begin and end with, the LAST person you are looking to cater to is the avid “core” golfer. Cut the rough and let the 4 couples or group of guys on a weekend golf bender keep grooving through your layout free of bloodshed.

2. Lush turf conditions in all areas regardless of whether blends with the natural environment

3.  Give your customers dramatic tee shots and views regardless of the architectural merit of the design.

4. No worries about breaks between holes….all players are using carts and you can sell more condos!!!!


Holes of Note

Hole 2: 386 yards, Par 4
Short by today’s standards, this par 4 demands a well-struck positioning tee shot of 230 yards on the right side of the fairway to give the play a solid look at the elevated green which has protective bunkering. A well-placed green site, Weiskopf fashioned both good strategy and aesthetics


Hole 6: 344 yards, Par 4
Get out the bulldozers folks. The hill-side which is impeding the left-side of the fairway and promotes a bind, awkward shot to an overly-manufactured green site is both goofy and appalling.  It serves as a transition hole to the stunning par 3 7^th….remember what LC said about resort courses….get to those beauty shots at all costs when you are playing the resort game. There is plenty of room to the right whereby the green site could have been better routed therefore eliminating such an awkward design, but we’ll never know.

Hole 8: Par 4, 416 yards
Sitting on the highest point of the property, the player gets to enjoy a beautiful tee shot. The approach shot challenges the player with a green site situated over a pond, and a creek meandering between the fairway. All in all, a fairly solid hole except for the fact that they installed the Bushwood CC pond fountain feature. Nothing upsets me more than to see an artificial feature inserted into a course what is trying to encourage the player to enjoy the surroundings. Axe the “pretty-pretty fountain” for a more purposeful bubbler that will also help to eliminate algae while maintaining a more natural look that is commensurate with the rest of the design

Holes 7 & 11: Par 3
If you don’t score well on hole 7, you’ll have the chance to play pretty much the same design downhill on hole 11. You can tell that this is one of Tommie’s favorite designs from his playbook as they are copies from designs I have seen at other works such as The Ridge at Castle Pines. Thrilling, but overdone.

Hole 15, 402 Yards, Par 4
Similar to hole 2, this tee shot provides a little more real estate with a fairly straightforward approach. What’s great about the hole is not necessarily the architecture, but the surroundings. Take in the cottages, clubhouse, and topography….you will find some brief solace in the setting. The hole design is like the rest of the course—predictable and fun. Order up that “blooming onion” at Outback…this meal isn’t going to raise your pulse, but will tickle you while you eat and have you leave with a modest sense of satisfaction and a smile.

Verdict
Old Kinderhook does a fantastic job in the role it is trying to play: the present a resort course in a captured seasonal setting. I wouldn’t schedule an annual trip around either Old Kinderhook or other options in the area as they lack true architectural intrigue, but if you find yourself in the area like I did, enjoy a mindless round and then a comfortable meal and drink on the deck of their restaurant. For $99, it’s a testament to the true brutalities of the industry that one can stay and play at a fun little resort for such a small price.