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A one-of-a-kind course that's in harmony with nature The hallmark of each of my golf courses is beauty and aesthetics because every good golfer, regardless of handicap, enjoys the outdoor experience. Golf course architect Jeff Brauer, co-designer of Colbert Hills.
Colbert Hills also follows the traditional Scottish Links style,as David Gourlay, General Manager of the course, describes it. It's not a woodlands course,he said. You're never going to find yourself behind a tree generally. The course was built with mounds along the sides and as you play the various holes you play through valleys and you go up and down. The front nine and the back nine have very similar styles of design. They're laid out in a big figure-eight configuration. All the tees are elevated and have breathtaking, panoramic views. The contours are very unusual for Kansas,?Gourlay said. According to architect Jeffrey D. Brauer, The primary design challenges were routing the golf course through the hilly topography with some holes reaching 100-foot elevation changes (who says Kansas is flat?) and minimizing grading because of rock just under the soil. Although distance from the stunning Black and Blue tees is 7,525 yards with a rating of 77.5 and a slope of 152, there are five tee blocks and seven sets of tees in all. Just so the golfer won't be confused, there are recommended handicap numbers for each set of tees. The forward tees are more manageable, of course, as they play at 4,947 yards and have a rating of 69.4 and a slope of 116. The course is Tiger Woods-proof from the back, said Gourlay, and could be used on the PGA Tour. One of the reasons why the length of the course is so huge is to provide the K-State golf teams with a real test for their skills, and both men's and women's teams have made great progress in rankings since the course opened. The school's men can easily hit 300-yard drives here. This is your chance to try it as well. In the spring of 2004 the men were ranked 22 and the ladies ranked 32 in the nation. In 4 short years the teams have both moved over 150 spots in the rankings! Because of Colbert Hills, Kansas State is also holding golf tournaments on a national level unlike any other university, like the NCAA Central Men's Regional Golf Championship held May 14-17, 2003. There were 30 teams here, and they were all challenged, Gourlay said. That humbling experience begins on the par-5 No. 1 hole (590 yards from the back tees, 444 from the forward). Make sure the Global Positioning System is in good working order on your cart because you're going to need it here.
I have to think that Colbert Hills will surpass anything that has been in Kansas before and will be comparable to any of the courses you'll see on the PGA Tour. David Gourlay, Director of Golf Operations and General Manager of Colbert Hills. "I recently played your facility on June 27, 2003. It was the most wonderful, memorable, fantastic golfing experience I have ever had the priviledge of participating in. Everything about Colbert Hills is "First Class". There just are not enough superlatives to descibe your course, it was worth every penny of the green fees. I would say it was a bargin at Twice the price.
However, I do have one suggestion for you. You need to post a warning sign to the effect that
" Playing Colbert Hills might ruin your golf game for life, no other course will ever match up to what you are about to experience" I hope to play your course again.
Sincerely,
Anthony Peal
No. Platte, Nebraska
What about a signature hole on this course? We like to think there are 18 signature holes here, said David Gourlay, but probably the one that we're really known for is No. 7. No. 7 is a par-5 from all sets of tees but the forward tees, which are a par-4. It plays at 600 yards from the Black and Blue and 295 from the Gold tees. At 600 yards, said architect Brauer, but downhill and downwind, the hole doesn?' play quite as long as its scorecard. Even if you are playing the middle tees, I suggest a quick trip to the top of the hill to take in the Kansas panorama. The view is spectacular, Gourlay added: You go up about 100 feet to hit down to the fairway and you can see from there for 25 miles. It's the highest point in Manhattan. The par 3 No. 8 (210 yards from the back tees and 109 from the forward) is a great display of Jim Colbert's design touches, according to architect Brauer. It has an extremely deep bunker left and an inviting bail-out area to the right, creating just the right dilemma for the golfer aiming at the green, he said. The front nine finishes with a par-4 that is the most difficult hole on the course (462 yards from the back tees, 308 from the forward). It's a dogleg left that rolls up and down and has water all along the left-hand side.
The short, par-5 No. 16 (513 yards from the back tees, 364 from the forward) runs uphill through a valley. The green has an open front, enticing golfers to reach the green in two. However, the green falls away in all directions requiring an excellent short game if recovery is necessary, Brauer said. No. 17 is a par-3 that demands a strong tee shot because you're almost always playing into the wind, according to David Gourlay. From the back tees (237 yards), some golfers actually hit a driver here because of the wind. That's because it plays considerably longer than the yardage indicates. There's usually wind blowing in your face on the par-4 No. 18 as well (453 yards from the back tees and 333 from the forward). But it's hard to use a driver here because the fairway curls around a large pond on the right and falls off into rough on the left. You need a precise shot off the tee to make the fairway. You'll come back home with an approach shot to a slightly uphill green. There is probably not a weak hole on the golf course visually or strategically, said Brauer, but the golfer looking for birdies may consider 1, 2, 6, 12, 13, 15 and 16 as his best opportunities. |
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When you're face to face with Colbert Hills, you'll be impressed with the length and the difficulty, of course, but you'll also notice the sheer beauty of the site and the way that the course winds its way through the Flint Hills without leveling or disturbing the landscape. This course has also been honored by Audubon International Research as a Silver Signature course because strict environmental guidelines were followed as it was built.
You'll find out quickly that this is not a course that gives you an easy start to build up your confidence. This hole is one of the most challenging on the course with a fairway that has been split into right and left sections by a large pond. You make your first shot downhill from a dramatically elevated tee box that gives you beautiful views of the challenge ahead. Once you're safely on the right-hand fairway, you have to decide whether to make your second shot playing down the right fairway or if you should cross the water to the left fairway which runs up to the green.
David Gourlay's favorite hole is one of the most scenic the par-4 No. 13 (357 yards from the back tees and 261 from the forward). This is a great one, he said, because it's a drivable par-4 from the purple tee blocks (316 yards). But the green is completely surrounded by bunkers and you're going into a very narrow fairway. Another memorable moment is when you realize that two of those bunkers near green are in the shape of a J and a C in honor of Jim Colbert.
