Denny and I played one of the nicest municipal golf course we've ever played yesterday at The Olde Course in Loveland, CO. Despite a brief spate of lightening, increased winds and threat of rain, we spent an enjoyable day trying to avoid water hazards and sand traps and putted on the trickiest, slickest greens we've seen in a while.
There are four sets of tee boxes on the Olde Course and the slope rating for the blue tees is 127/71.3 at 6806 yards. Denny played from the white tees at 6326 yards with a slope/rating of 123/68.9 and I played from the senior tees at 5752 yards with a slope/rating of 128/72.4. Because so many people walk the course, they set the speed of play for a round at 4 hours and 25 minutes. We were going to be well over that until the storm threat came up which caused most of the walking players to stop at the turn, so then Denny and I were able to speed up quite a bit. The course is extremely scenic with view of the nearby Rockies when there is no haze and no storm clouds. The course designer even threw in an island green as an additional challenge at the 14th hole, just in case the six ponds, trees and sand traps weren't enough of a challenge to your golf game.
By making tee times online we were able to take advantage of an online coupon which saved us quite a bit. Prepare to be paired with other players as the course gets a lot of use, even in the middle of the week. We were paired with Paul, a West Virginia native who has lived in Loveland for many years and he was able to give us some travel route information for better sightseeing on roads good enough to handle our fifth wheel while avoiding the monotony of the interstate. All in all, a very enjoyable experience and Denny even started to enjoy his new golf clubs a little more with the additional practice. A few more rounds and he might even start to love them!
