“I’ll put that to the test.”
That was my first thought when I heard Eric Iverson of Renaissance Golf Design speak a year ago about the new CommonGround Golf Course and how it was going to be “big, wide and very accessible.”
This guy hasn’t seen me hit tee shots, I thought. As they say in a more complimentary sense in baseball, I have power to all fields. On particularly bad days, I’ve been known to not only miss the fairway of the hole on which I’m playing, but also the fairway on the adjacent hole.
Well, Monday of this week presented my first chance to put the work of Iverson, Jim Urbina, Don Placek — and most notably their boss, renowned architect Tom Doak — to the test. It came during an opportunity for media types to preview the course owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA. The public facility, located just off Havana and 1st Avenue in Aurora, will officially open for general play on May 23.
First of all, we should make one thing perfectly clear. Though CommonGround sits on the same piece of property that Mira Vista Golf Course (previously the Lowry Golf Course) long occupied, the new course bears no resemblance to the Mira Vista layout, which was essentially gutted by Doak & Co. One of my media-day partners, a gentleman who played Lowry and Mira Vista countless times since the 1970s, said Monday that the old and new courses look completely different.
Whatever the case, CommonGround is sure to be a pleasant surprise. Personally, though I’ve spoken with quite a few people about the course over the last year, it was different than I had envisioned. The fairways are indeed very generous — among the widest I’ve seen on a good golf course — but there are places you want to avoid like the plague (that fairway bunker on hole 15 that has a 10-foot-high mound right in front of it comes to mind). And the green complexes will put even the best player to the test with large mounds, swales, undulations, false fronts — you name it. (I often have the short game of a jack-hammer operator, but five three-putts in a round of 89 were high even by my not-so-lofty standards.)
CommonGround is also friendly to the eye — something you may not expect in such an urban area. The panoramic views of the mountains are a sight to behold, particularly with downtown Denver in the foreground. And the group of 10 deer that meandered by us a couple of times during Monday’s round was also a nice touch.
The bottom line, golf-wise, is that given CommonGround’s wide variety of clientele — everyone from a 36-handicapper to a scratch player competing in a state championship — the course strikes the right balance. Average players have an opportunity to hit a lot of greens in regulation — most of the putting surfaces are large — but it’s also a thinking player’s course. Especially for elite tournament-level players who hope to go low with their score, positioning your ball properly on the greens is a must.
More than once during Monday’s round, when faced with a long first putt and a precarious pin position, a “protection” stroke was the order of the day to assure that the ball wouldn’t catch a slope and end up 30 feet from the hole.
Because of the many multi-tiered greens and false fronts, plus some formidable fairway and greenside bunkers, it helps to have some knowledgeable guidance when playing CommonGround for the first time. This particularly hit home when my wedge shot at No. 5 took a 90-degree right turn after landing on a hump on the green. (Speaking of receiving guidance, caddies are an option at CommonGround, with 48 hours of advance notice.)
CommonGround often gives players risk-reward options, which keeps things interesting for everyone. For instance, the par-3 sixth hole, which has water bordering the left and front of the green, can have a far-left pin placement that tempts players. A little daring can result in a short birdie putt — or a watery grave for your ball.
Meanwhile, the fairways are indeed generous — 60 yards wide or so isn’t at all unusual — but even so, it pays to properly position yourself for approach shots into the difficult greens. Plus, on several holes, cross bunkers in the fairways can make for some penal obstacles.
For the record, even a player like myself, who tends to stray more than usual with my driver, can easily keep it in play. Though I missed more than my share of the fairways despite the generous width, long ball searches are a rarity at CommonGround.
Although the property as a whole is relatively flat, Doak & Co. made effective use of mounding — especially around greens — to keep CommonGround from looking commonplace. But in part because there aren’t a lot of big hills, CommonGround will be easy to walk for those who so choose. Also helping in that regard are the short distances between most greens and tees.
As for overall course length on the par-71 layout, it ranges from 5,543 for the front tees to 7,198 from the back. The most formidable stretch of the course, distance-wise, is Nos. 15-17, which includes back-to-back par-4s of 505 and 476 yards from the back tees, then a 243-yard par-3.
One important issue for new courses is often what shape their greens are in from the get-go. At CommonGround, the putting surfaces are in remarkably good condition given how new they are, with putts already running true.
All in all, things are shaping up nicely for an impressive debut come May 23.
As Iverson said last year, “People are going to rediscover what a neat piece of property this is.”
