November 2024Closer Look

1TitleFor diehard players, the game’s not over until the course is closed.By Susan Fornoff, aka “Molly McMulligan”Wellshire Men’s Club members Brett Welker and Steve Lyons had been playing golf in the winter for years. It took a Buffalo Run Golf Course marshal to finally draw the line.“There was about two inches of snow already on the ground, and we had push carts and the snow was piling up on our wheels,” says Welker. “If you hit the ball on the green you couldn’t see it, and then if you found it, you’d putt and it would snowball on you. They finally kicked us off the course. We don’t have a lot of boundaries.”Well, why should we? For Welker, “I’d much rather play in the spring and summer, but if I can get out and play, it’s better than not playing.” But for many of us, winter golf in Colorado beats high-season golf in, well, let’s count the ways:

We can reach greens in regulation. We short hitters love the long roll we get on asphalt fairways in the winter. The only problem here can be staying on the green.

We don’t have to worry about hitting fairways because pretty much the whole course is fairway. There’s no rough in the winter.

We get an entirely new challenge from the game we’ve played all summer. “You have to learn a new golf game, a British Open bump and run, because the greens are so hard and you have to bounce the ball up to the pin as opposed to hitting it onto the green,” says Wellshire member Jay Gleason, who spearheads a group that makes year-round tee-times at the Denver courses.

It’s easier to get tee times, Gleason points out. No setting alarms to go online at midnight. And if you don’t get the time you want, just wait until the weather forecast chases off the fair weather players.

Many Colorado courses are following the Denver precedent and moving to later split-tee starts in winter to minimize morning frost delays and maximize the shorter days. So, yay, we get to sleep in on cold mornings and still have time to hit the range.

Those of us who love to walk 18 holes no longer worry about heat stroke. Consider – in summer, there’s only so much we can remove without getting arrested. In winter, we can layer up. “I get a box of disposable hand warmers for winter, and wear a ski hat and neck gaiter,” says Welker, who wears shorts as long as it’s 40 degrees out. “As long as my head and hands stay warm, I can play any day.”

Our scores don’t matter because in Colorado we cannot post after November 15. That means we’re playing for fun, for the company, for love of the game. I wouldn’t say “all bets are off,” not with the diehards I play with, but the pressure surely is.

Rounds almost never take more than four hours. I was thinking this was because of No. 6, but Gleason points out, “Winter golf, you get more serious golfers as opposed to casual golfers who come out once in a while with their college buddies and just want to drink beer and play music real loud.”

When conditions get gnarly, most courses declare “walking only.” That makes for fewer players and fewer casual players, and a twosome might get around in little more than three hours. If we can keep moving, we’re not going to feel as cold.

It’s so cozy in front of the fire after a round at Lakewood’s Fox Hollow or with a hot adult beverage gazing out the big window at Denver’s City Park.

OK, let’s stop at 10 reasons to revisit your own personal boundary line on golf weather. And yes, Brett and Steve do draw the line, somewhere around 25 degrees and windy, but otherwise they’re on the course if it’s open.If it’s not, well, there’s a certain Denver-area driving range that almost never closes. And, anyone for Topgolf?--------Journalist Susan Fornoff has written about golf for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, ColoradoBiz Magazine and her own GottaGoGolf.com. She belongs to the Overland and Links at Highlands Ranch ladies’ clubs and ghost-writes as “Molly McMulligan,” the CGA’s on-course consultant on golf for fun. Email her at mollymcmulligan@gmail.com.CoverEDs MessageMember ZoneRules VideoCITYWIDEOn the CoverCO Cup MatchesCommunity ImpactCloser LookBMWTravelInside the RopesSwing TipOutside the RopesSPIRIT of the GAMEColorado Golf Hall of FameRMGCSAVolunteer LeadershipGearFeatured Club