Ballyneal

You will never understand the true meaning of golf until you arrive at a place with absolute vision. This is not the type of golf course for everyone, but it demands respect. There are no tee markers, no cart paths, no beverage carts, no distance markers. Located along the eastern plains of Colorado, a stones throw from the Nebraska border, is a little well-known golf course called Ballyneal. It opened in 2006 and its only vision is golf, and guns, but predominantly golf.

What you will find there is the most natural setting that challenges every shot you have in your bag. Five of us from Vail played two round this past Friday and Saturday and loved every minute. The heat was a battle in itself. It hit 100 degrees while on the links. There are no trees for shade either. Oddly enough, way out in the plains, we had zero wind! But the golf was fun, the course was amazing and the company was the best.

Superintendent Dave Hensley has this links design in phenomenal shape. The greens are a little unusual for this climate, fescue is the grass of choice, which is more common in the UK. There is a little bent mixed in as well, but the fescues dominate the entire course. Chambers Bay in Washington and Sand Hills in Nebraska are similar courses both in design and turf conditions. Chambers Bay is the host of the 2010 Men's Amateur and the 2015 US Open.