Long Ain’t Wrong

RAINDANCE
Arroyos wrap the gren on RainDance National par-3 eighth. Two of the course’s nine bridges connect to other holes.

In the case of 8,463-yard RAINDANCE NATIONAL, the fit could not be more right.

Text and Photography by Chris Wheeler

When discussing RainDance National, Colorado’s newest golf course, lots of numbers enter the conversation: 300 acres; a 8,463-yard layout; a 752-yard par 5, 602-yard par 4 and a par 5 that takes a 293-yard carry to reach the fairway. There’s also 225 feet of elevation change, a putting course measuring more than three acres and nine bridges.

But metrics tell only part of the story of RainDance National, which opens this month. To truly appreciate the grandeur of this project outside of Windsor, you have to see it for yourself.

With all the changes along Colorado’s Front Range during the past 30 years, RainDance sits in a place where time stands still. Atop the 18th tee box, it’s not hard to imagine a party of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers roaming the plains, or a line of Prairie Schooners grinding their way to the new town of Denver City. The nine bridges throughout the course seem like smaller-scale versions of historic railroad trestles that hauled gold and silver from the Rockies more than a century ago. The bunkers, rimmed with native grasses, look like they have been there forever.

Located in Colorado’s Big Sky Country between Fort Collins and Greeley, RainDance National is the dream of eight-time PGA champion Fred Funk, renowned golf course architect Harrison Minchew, and owner/developer Martin Lind. It is the longest course in North America and second to only a course in China for most yardage.

A PLAN FOR THE LAND

Raindance
The Mummy Range of Rocky Mountain National Park provides a picture-perfect backdrop for RainDance National’s fourth green.

In the fall of 2011, Design Consultant Funk sent Course Architect Minchew topographic maps of the proposed RainDance site, which sits two miles due west of Water Valley, a 25-year-old Lind development that includes the 27 holes at Pelican Lakes and Pelican Falls golf courses. The maps offered clues, but nothing could have prepared Minchew for what he saw on his first visit.

“I was stunned,” he remembers. “When you see it, touch and see existing vegetation, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ I have been doing this for a long, long time and I do not remember a site as good as that site.” That’s heady praise coming from the architect who worked with Arnold Palmer for 26 years and who has designed 150 golf courses worldwide.

If you are imagining this site, situated three miles east of I-25, to be gently rolling grasslands punctuated by meandering streams, you could not be more wrong. Instead, RainDance is a badland of steep hills, deep arroyos, jagged rocks and surprisingly little water.

The only hole where water comes into play is the 541-yard 15th, which curves around a large pond. RainDance’s rugged beauty is softened by tall prairie grasses and colorful wildflowers. Sprinkled amongst the native flora are red poppies. Last year, Minchew scattered the poppy seeds in strategic locations around the course. The architect describes designing a golf course on this Oz-like land as a dream come true. “On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 15,” Minchew says.

“It’s going to shock people when they see it,” RainDance owner Martin Lind says. “Within one hour of seeing it, Fred (Funk) said it’s the most natural place for a golf course he had ever seen.”

RainDance National
From a rusting vintage tractor to gravel paths to rotary-hoe tee markers to directional signs fashioned from discarded fenceposts, “the whole goal is to make everything look like it was 100 years ago,” PGA Professional Christopher Williamson says.

THE MAN WITH THE PLAN

A fourth-generation Coloradan, Lind’s German-Russian ancestors immigrated to Windsor around 1900. They labored in the sugar beet fields, endured the Dust Bowl and carved a living out of the harsh lands.

By the time Martin arrived in 1961, the family had a 160-acre family farm south of Windsor. He’d planned to go into the family business, but after a crop-destroying hailstorm forced his father to quit farming in the mid-1980s, Lind found jobs selling oilfield supplies and automobiles. In 1989, he formed a partnership that purchased the 1,200 acres to start Water Valley.

Over the course of the next 32 years, Lind bought out his partners as he and his family-owned Water Valley Land Company started reshaping Northern Colorado with numerous commercial, industrial and residential projects.

RainDance, however, is personal. To honor his ancestors, Lind tapped into his large collection of agricultural artifacts.

The tee markers of RainDance are old rotary hoes. Just behind the 11th green rests a classic John Deere harvester. More historical treasures sit on a driving range dubbed “The Funkyard,” and at the “Firepit,” an on-course precipice that offers sweeping views of holes 4, 7, and 8 as well as the Rockies beyond.

“It’s an important part of our heritage,” says Lind. “To me, it’s personally important.”

THE LONG VIEW

For all its outstanding natural beauty and colorful history, RainDance is all about the golf. Bogey golfers need not fear. At an elevation of 5,000 feet, Minchew says, the 8,463-yard RainDance plays more like a 7,700-yard course at sea level. The holes have six tee boxes, making RainDance accessible for players of all abilities. The firm fescue fairways are generous to say the least. The fact that course maintenance only owns one mower for the rough tells you everything you need to know.

Despite the dramatic elevation changes, Funk and Minchew designed the course to have only four uphill holes. “For the average golfer, it’s going to play easier than you think,” Minchew says, adding that RainDance will bring to mind a links, where “you want to keep the ball on the ground.”

The greens average 6,504 square feet, which is comparable to courses that host PGA TOUR events. “This course is going to stand up to the best players in the world,” Funk said. “But the goal is for any player to walk off the course and say, ‘I can’t wait to do that again.’”

For all the efforts to accommodate recreational golfers, RainDance was created with a dream of bringing professional golf back to Colorado. Funk’s PGA pedigree is crucial, as is Minchew’s 35 years of design experience. “It’s got not only the length, but the space between the holes makes it a potential tournament venue,” Minchew says. He’s confident RainDance National will be hosting the pros “sooner rather than later.”

Due to open July 12th, Funk, Min-chew and Lind have created a golf masterpiece on the northern plains of Colorado. Just outside of Windsor is a place where raw beauty, innovative course architecture and Colorado heritage all converge.

RainDance National lays on the land without spoiling its pristine beauty. The historical treasures scattered throughout the course provide a fitting tribute to those who have toiled on this land for centuries.

For all the accolades Colorado’s newest golf course deserves, the highest praise may be this: RainDance looks like it belongs.


This article can also be found in the July Issue of Colorado AvidGolfer.

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.

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