Forethoughts: Golf Done to a Turn

Jon Rizzi

I’m at the meat counter at my local King Soopers when it hits me. That boneless rib eye behind the glass looks remarkably like an aerial view of a golf hole—a slight dogleg left, with the fat shaping a bunker at the elbow and the marbling suggestive of the cut of the grass. At the tip of the steak, just beyond a ribbon of fat representing a water hazard or waste area, hangs the meaty lobe of a green.

Rarely has grass-fed red meat fed dreams of lush bentgrass fairways.

Clearly I’m hungry for golf. Or maybe I’ve just been working too hard.

Either way, after a long winter, I’ve got golf on the brain and I’m sure you do too.

This issue, which marks the beginning of Colorado AvidGolfer’s 15th year, kicks off the season with two annual staples: our gear guide (p. 23) and private club directory (p. 45). Both present different kinds of clubs that can transform the way you experience the game.

As someone who has played the same Dimension Z irons for the last 10 years, I’m in the market for some updated sticks. And with my son graduating from college in May, I can now afford to join a private club, although, to paraphrase Groucho Marx, I don’t know if I’d want to belong to a club that would have me as a member.

Sportscaster Vic Lombardi belongs to The Club at Rolling Hills in Golden, which is where we photographed him for our cover story (p. 72). Lombardi grew up in North Denver, not far from Willis Case Golf Course, but never played golf until his senior year at the University of Notre Dame. He says his January jump from CBS4 to Altitude Sports wasn’t just good for his career; it was potentially good for his golf game. A change in work schedule could finally get him enough practice time so he can finally break par, which he’s shot twice, carding 72s at Broomfield’s Omni Interlocken Golf Club.

Lombardi and agent Peter Schaffer won our 2008 Corporate Cup at Red Sky Golf Club’s Fazio and Norman courses. On June 3-4, for the 11th straight year, Red Sky will host this premier event. See page 33 for details and contact Special Events Manager Ryan McLean (720-493-1729 ext.15; [email protected]) to find out more.

Not many people know that the Silver Sage Restaurant in Red Sky’s member clubhouse is open to the public for dinner. Fewer still probably know that another private club, The Club at Flying Horse in Colorado Springs, recently converted its member’s dining area into The Steakhouse at Flying Horse, a fabulous public restaurant I savored with CAG food writer Gary James and our lovely wives. That experience, which we followed with a night at Flying Horse’s spectacular 40-room Lodge, appears on page 76.

And for the record, the filet mignon I had that night didn’t resemble a par-3, though the chef certainly aced it. 

More “Forethoughts” from editor Jon Rizzi:

It Happens Every Spring

To The Good Life?

Fitting Your Top Club

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.