HOLYOKE, Colo. – Golf is supposed to be fun. It’s a game, and the inherent uncertainty of trying to strike a small ball long distances across uneven terrain is the best part. Ballyneal nails that quality better than most.
Firm and fast with its fescue fairways, hilly and bouncy and somewhat unreal setting on a great natural pile of sand in the middle of flat Midwest plain, Ballyneal has earned a ranking of No. 4 among Golfweek’s Best modern courses built since 1960.
Because it’s a blast.
“I had a really great crew out there, and they were all just having fun building something really wild and different,” said Tom Doak, who designed the private layout in middle-of-nowhere eastern Colorado that opened in 2006. “The client was not really a golfer, so the only instructions we were getting were to make it fun.”
Despite so many inland courses abusing the word links in their names, there’s not a lot of true links golf in the United States. But despite being so far from an ocean – a requirement to be a true links – Ballyneal is about as close as you can get without saltwater. Built on pure sand dunes, the layout sends golf balls rocketing into all directions. What happens after landing is more important than how the ball flies.
“You just get a lot of variety out of that site,” Doak said. “And of course it’s always windy, and they maintain the fairways pretty firm and fast. That’s the most fun kind of golf you can play, right?”
Editor’s note: Golfweek’s Best course raters judge courses in 10 categories on a points basis of 1-10, then offer a non-cumulative overall rating.