Forethoughts: Betting the Spread

This article appears in the Fall 2016 issue of Colorado AvidGolfer. Subscribe today!

This issue spans the last weeks of summer and the first days of December. A spread that big would make even a bookie nervous.

Our “lead time” adds to the challenge. We go to press two weeks before the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open and hit the stands shortly after it concludes, which comes days after the finalization of the first eight players on this year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team and weeks before the usually controversial captain’s picks. Forget overnight delivery of FedEx Cup results.

The good news is that our website and e-newsletter covers the spread.

This issue does hit the seasonal sweet spot. Autumn in Colorado rates as one of the best times of the year for golf. Cooler temperatures mean courses will play firmer. The fall colors make for a vibrant gallery. As the foliage turns, so, too, does the state’s collective sporting attention towards the mountains, resulting in more available tee times.

Yes, shorter days shrink the number of those tee times and fallen leaves do make for longer ball searches. But avid golfers remove those impediments without hesitation or penalty. Moreover, they can take advantage of our annual Mile High Golf at $52.80, which delivers BOGOs, deep discounts and other screaming deals at 12 top-tier Colorado courses. Turn the page to see how you can save.

Autumn also brings football. Defense of the Broncos’ Super Bowl title will, appropriately enough, rest on the team’s defense. No longer defensive, however, is Gary Barnett, the 70-year-young former University of Colorado coach who has moved past the controversy that precipitated his departure from the sidelines a decade ago to join the Buffaloes’ broadcast team this fall.  As Andy Bigford reports on page 86, playing roughly 300 rounds of golf a year certainly helped Barnett in that process.

The process by which our climate is changing—manmade or natural—remains a matter of debate. The fact that it’s happening isn’t. How this impacts golf—and your handicap—concerns Curt Pesmen, whose thoughts begin on page 92.

Those wishing to change climates by traveling will hit the mother lode by turning to page 41, the beginning of 45 pages of information on courses, communities, resorts and more in Arizona, Utah and Nevada.

We’ll visit some of those places—and many others—in more depth in our winter issue. Before beginning work on that, my wife and I will head to Malta and Sicily for two weeks. We’ll be there when this issue comes out.

Neither island screams “golf.” However, the Royal Malta Golf Club, built 128 years ago during British colonial rule, is there for the playing, as is Picciolo, one of Sicily’s four golf courses. Situated near Mount Etna at a palatial golf resort, Picciolo lies 65 miles north of my grandmother’s hometown of Mineo.

Six years from now, in September 2022, Italy will host the Ryder Cup during the spread in Colorado AvidGolfer’s magazine production schedule, so I’ll bet we’ll find ourselves in Rome.

Between now and then, of course, there’s un’abbondonza of fall golf to play in Colorado.

More “Forethoughts” from editor Jon Rizzi:

Decoding the Good Life

Summer Called, Some Aren’t

Filling the Bucket

Healthy Concerns

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.