Most likely, it all started at a small summer fishing resort in Evergreen once frequented by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Nobody knows who designed the original Evergreen Golf Course, but the first nine holes were built in 1929, probably by Irish mineworkers. When they got to where they wanted the third hole (now the 110-yard, par-3 12th), a 60-foot rock was in the way.
“Back then, they didn’t have the machinery to move it,” said Rod Rosa, the head pro at Evergreen. “But you know in Scotland and Ireland, they don’t move the big rocks or the big berms, so you have a lot of blind shots, and that’s kind of where this came from.
“Once they decided they couldn’t move it, they just put the green on one side and the tee on the other side and then painted this big white arrow on the rock – 3 feet wide and 25 feet long – pointing the way over the rock and to the hole.”
In his five years on the job, Rosa said, “I’ve only seen two holes-in-one on that hole. But it’s a lot of fun because if you hit the rock, it comes right back at you. There’s a maintenance building right behind the tees, and there’s not a window in it that’s not broken.”
In the 76 years since that white arrow was painted, Colorado has become something of a natural habitat for extreme golf.
“I don’t think there’s any question that we have some of the most extreme golf holes in the world,” said Ed Mate, the executive director of the Colorado Golf Association.
The first mountain course built in Colorado (1939) was Mount Massive Golf Course in Leadville, the highest golf course in America at 9,860 feet. Situated in the Arkansas River Valley, the course is surrounded by a number of fourteeners, so naturally it is a popular tourist attraction.
“Everybody wants to play the highest golf course in America,” said Bill Wellington, the head pro at Mount Massive. “But it’s also a great golf course with nothing but spectacular views.”
Other extremes?
How about that 8,100-yard layout at Antlers Creek, one of the longest courses in North America. It includes a 690-yard par-5.
But that’s nothing compared with the wildlife on Tall Timber Golf Course in Durango, where play is often suspended to allow the elk on the fairways to feed. Rattlesnakes often come into play on numerous courses along the Front Range and on the eastern plains.
There are countless other intimidating extremes, such as the 200-yard carry over the ravine at Canterberry in Parker, the 7 1/2 miles (most in the world) of shoreline at Pelican Lakes in Windsor, the hangman’s noose dangling from a dead tree at Plum Creek and the winding Franz Klammer cart path down the mountain at Eagle Vail, just to mention a few.
On Colorado’s numerous mountain courses, there are lots of dramatic elevation changes, but probably none more extreme than the downhill run on the 561-yard, par-5 ninth hole of the Ridge Course at Pole Creek in Winter Park, which was recently voted one of the top finishing holes by Golf Digest magazine.
“It drops like 110 feet, so everybody’s hitting a 300-yard drive,” said J.T. Thompson, the head pro who routinely hits 4-iron off the tee and 6-iron to the green.
At Redlands Mesa Golf Course in Grand Junction, there are two large rocks jutting out of the fairway about 200 yards from the 14th tee. To play the hole properly, golfers must hit their tee shots between the rocks. Redlands Mesa was designed by Jim Engh, the prominent Colorado golf course architect who is known for his imagination.
He’s the guy who built the par-5 12th hole around three sandstone pillars at Fossil Trace Golf Course in Golden. And on No. 1 at Fossil Trace there’s a towering incinerator chimney in the middle of the fairway.
Engh said much of his inspiration comes from the same place that inspired the guys who painted the arrow on the rock.
“I guess the willingness to try things and the lack of fear mostly comes from my love of Ireland,” said Engh. “When you get back over here, there’s really no rule book for mountain golf.
“But I don’t think of it as extreme golf; I call it adventure golf. I just think golf needs to be fun, and that’s really all I’m trying to do.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
