Estes Park Golf Course is more famous for being a popular grazing spot for elk than a tony golf venue, but the combination of the golf and wildlife can lead to some very entertaining moments (see photo at left). And, even without the elk, it is impossible to separate the golf experience at Estes Park from the natural surroundings because the very air up here at 7500 feet is charged with Rocky Mountainness - everything is rendered in hyper clarity as if seen through a magnifying glass. The sky is a little bluer, the rays of the silver sun a little sharper and the split, rocky face of 14, 250 ft Long's Peak seems much closer (and much more easily climbable) than it really is.

When I am reviewing golf courses I try to avoid being overly "clinical" because the experience of playing a course, either good or bad, often has less to do with a courses difficulty or architectural merit and more to do with simple joys of the game itself. It is a pleasure to play world class tracks like Pine Valley, Shinnecock, Pebble, St Andrews, etc - they are the Monets and Rembrandts of the game playing them for the first time is as much about "seeing" them and basking in their glory as enjoying your own game. But we wouldn't even care about the Shinnecocks of the world if we didn't love golf to begin with and many of our most memorable moments happen on the Estes Park Golf Courses of the world.

And in fairness there are a lot of good holes out here - this is a very nice, well-maintained local golf

course. It is just not a remarkable course in and of itself, but the town of Estes Park is remarkable as are the natural surroundings and the wonderful people who live here and there is no way to separate the experience of playing here from these other factors. I was very lucky to be invited to join three locals for their weekly game and we had a match that came down to the eighteenth and then settled the bet in the clubhouse bar afterwards with the usual good natured boasts and heckling that are common among golfing friends. In this regard, Estes Park Golf Course is truly as good as it gets.