July 26th Day 51 - Conquistador Golf Course, Cortez, CO                                                                                                            Drove 267 miles

Even though I had already played golf in Colorado, this is another course I wanted to play in March of 2020. This one got snowed out so I didn't bother to drive there. As a matter of fact, my St. George, Utah course got rained out the day before and I'm sure it was the same weather system. It was so wet they closed all the golf courses so I just went on to Arizona.

Cortez is very near the four corners (where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah come together)
and driving up there through New Mexico and back down to Flagstaff it's almost ALL Navajo reservation.  There was a casino just north of the New Mexico border (Ute Mountain) and another one (ALSO Ute Mountain) in Cortez. I didn't stop at either one because I'm just not a casino gambler guy,
but they usually have good food at casinos at a fair price. 

Conquistador is a municipal golf course and I believe they have hired "Four Corners Golf" to manage and maintain it. The rough was a bit long, but not too thick and  the mowers were out working  as it was Monday. Virtually all golf courses get mowed on Mondays after a busy weekend! The greens were fast and firm and overall the course maintenance was quite good. The course was also fairly busy for a Monday morning. 

I paid $46 for cart & green fee and went out to play the course. There are 5 sets of tees, the black tees play 7195 yards, rating 72.6 and slope of 127. That's a LOT of golf course. The blue tees play 6819 and the white tees (my choice) are 6378, rating 68.9 and slope of 122. Yardage is very similar to my home course, but with a lot more elevation, 6200 feet as opposed to about 700 where I live. The ladies are rated at two sets of tees, the Red @ 5655 and the Gold at 5028, rating 67.3 and slope of 120. Margaret would play the Golds I'm sure. Water comes into play on four holes and there are sand bunkers, but not near as many as I am used to seeing. The sand in the the bunkers here is very firm. I was in two of them and you had to hit the ball a little harder than normal to get through the sand. 

I caught up with Erik and Denise on about the 4th hole. I asked if I could join them and we played the rest of the round together. A nice couple from Aurora, CO, they are a little bit younger than me and both of them were pretty good golfers. The only downer for the day was a local foursome was not going to let Erik & Denise play through so they certainly weren't going to let three of us through. That's OK because they moved along at a pretty good pace until we made the turn at #10. That's when their foursome became a fivesome and their pace slowed CONSIDERABLY. We waited on almost very shot the whole back nine. 

I played OK (NO LOST BALLS!), but I couldn't read the greens very well and had 42 putts on the day, that's a lot for me. I only had two pars all day and nothing worse than a double bogey, but I couldn't get the ball in the hole and shot a 93.

After golf I stopped at a liquor store (G Will Liquors) because I loved the name when I drove into town AND one of my favorite beers is 1554, a Colorado craft beer (New Belgium Brewery) I have a hard time getting at home. I figured being in Colorado they would have it, but they didn't. I didn't buy anything, but I STILL liked the name of the store. 

I could have driven back down  the way I came up and hit I-40, but it such a drag yesterday I went the Four Corners route and through Arizona. The flash flood I experienced was evident along the road to Flagstaff. There had been several mud slides onto the road, but highway crews had already pushed the mud off the road and there were no delays.

By the time I got there and fueled up, it was dinner time and right down the street from the gas station was Fat Olive's Pizza, the place where I had eaten in Spring of 2020. I stopped in and the pizza (and beer) was just as good as I remember it. This is a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives place and there pizza oven is wood fired. There were as busy as I remember them being the first time, but I was able to get a seat at the counter where I could BS with the kitchen staff until my food was ready.

Spent the night in a really weird hotel, Motel De Beau. I don't remember why I picked it, but it's really quirky (but clean!) and I probably would pass on staying there again. 


          Randy’s golf course             ratings          play again               could recommend           Price

Prairieview GC (Byron, IL)               5                  YES                           YES                           $

The Boulder Course (Winchester, VA)    5            YES                           YES                           $$

Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA)         5                  YES                          YES                            $$$

The Walker Course (Clemson, SC)    5                  YES                          YES                            $$

Dakota Winds (Hankinson, ND)        5                   YES                          YES                           $$

The Rawls Course at Texas Tech        5                  YES                          YES                           $$ (Lubbock, TX)                        

The Links at Greystone (Walworth, NY)   4.5        YES                         YES                            $$

Turkey Creek GC (McPherson, KS)   4.5               YES                         YES                            $

Slammer & Squire GC                      4.5                 YES                          YES                           $$$       (St. Augustine, FL)   

Links On The Bayou  (Alexandria, LA)   4.5         YES                          YES                           $ 

Raccoon Creek (Littleton, CO)         4.5                 YES                          YES                           $$

Brooks Golf (Okoboji, IA)                 4                   YES                          YES                           $$

The Legacy (Springfield, TN)            4                   YES                          YES                           $

Awarii Dunes (Kearney, NE)              4                   YES                          YES                           $$

Chicopee CC (Chicopee, MA)           4                    YES                          YES                           $ 

The Architects Club (Phillipsburg, NJ)   4               YES                          YES                           $$

Lake Panorama Nat. (Panora, IA)      4                   no*1                           YES                          $$

Heritage Shores (Bridgeville, DE)      4                   YES                           YES                          $$

Houston Oaks (Paris, KY)                  4                   YES                           YES                           $  

Eagles Landing (Ocean City, MD)     4                   YES                            YES                          $$

Conquistador Golf Course (Cortez, CO)   4        YES                            YES                         $   

Brandon GC (Brandon, SD)               4                   YES                             YES                         $

Viroqua Hills GC (Viroqua, WI)        4                   YES                             YES                         $

Magnolia Grove Crossings GC          4                   YES                             YES                         $$$

Portland GC (Portland, CT)               4                    YES                             YES                        $

Green Valley CC (Portsmouth, RI)    4                    YES                             YES                        $$

Snow Hill CC (New Vienna, OH)      4                    YES                            YES                        $

Eldon Golf Club (Eldon, MO)            4                   YES                            YES                         $

Links at Union Vale (Lagrangeville, NY)   4           YES*2                         YES                        $$$

Championship GC at U of NM           4                   YES                             YES                        $$$     (Albuquerque, NM)                  

Bear Slide GC (Cicero, IN)                 4                    no                               YES                        $$

Pilgrim's Oak (Peach Bottom, PA)    3.5                  YES                             YES                        $

Lochmere G & CC (Tilton, NH)       3.5                  YES                             YES                        $$

Rivers Edge (Burley, ID)                  3.5                  YES ?                          YES                         $

Natchez Golf Club at Duncan Park  3.5                  YES                             YES                        $                 (Natchez, MS)

Eastern Hills (Kalamazoo, MI)         3.5                  YES                              YES                        $

Brattleboro CC (Brattleboro, VT)     3.5                  YES  ?                          YES                        $$          

Monroe CC (Monroe, NC)                3.5                  YES                              YES                        $

Martindale CC (Auburn, ME)           3.5                  YES   ?                         YES                        $$$       

Birch Creek (Smithfield,UT)             3.5                    no                       good golfers only           $

Fort Myers CC (Fort Myers, FL)        3                    YES                             YES                        $

Kimball Golf Club (Kimball, MN)     3                      no                                 no                         $

Buffalo Golf Club (Buffalo, WY)       3                      no                                 no                         $$

Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT)                 3                      no                                 no                         $        Johnny Walker Course (there’s also a Country Club course, but you need to play with a member!)

Westwood Park GC (Norman, OK)     3                   YES                                no                         $

Indian Hills Golf Resort (Fairfield Bay, AR)  2.5       no                                 no                         $

The Brookside Club (Bourne, MA)    2                      no                                 no                         $$

Crosswinds Championship GC          1.5                    no                                 no                         $  (Savannah, GA)

Jones Course (Wheeling, WV)            1                      no                                 no                        $$$

Langston GC (Washington D.C.)        1                       no                                no                        $$

*1 = would play again if a different yardage was offered, with slope and course ratings

*2 = would move up a tee and NOT pay weekend green fee. M-Th fee is $ 77 and $ 61 after 2 p.m. 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
                                          August 3rd  Day 59 - NO GOLF, a travel only day!                                                                                                                      Drove 382 miles We traveled up US 101 to Port Orford, OR and spent the night. 101 is a scenic highway if you like trees. Until you get to the small cities on the Pacific Ocean, that's about all you're going to see. I had never been on this part of 101 and I'm glad we came this way. Tomorrow we have a shortish drive up to Bandon, OR for a round of golf and then onto Longview, WA. W...
Read more
Image
                                               August 5th,  Day 61 - Mint Valley GC, Longview, WA                                                                                                                          Drove 380 miles The LAST DAY of this golf trip began in Kelso, WA. Kelso and Longview are separated by the Cowlitz River and though Longview is much bigger, Kelso is the county seat of Cowlitz County. The Mint Valley Golf Club is in northwest Longview and very close to the Longview Country Club where Margaret ...
Read more
Image
                                                August 4th,  Day 60 - Bandon Crossings, Bandon, OR                                                                                                                         Drove 318 miles It was a short drive up the coast to Bandon from Port Orford. Bandon is the home of the famous Bandon Dunes Golf Resort and Margaret & I played there, way back in 2007 when walking the golf course was easier and prices were not as steep there as they are now. You can't take a golf cart at an...
Read more