Walking Stick: Wind and Arroyos
Walking Stick features one of the most distinctive natural features in Colorado golf, a gaping, rocky arroyo, yawning wide in anticipation of errant shots.
Too bad it’s an almost irrelevant golf feature.
Maybe architect Arthur Hills was shy about having public players hit over the chasm, or there was no affordable way to get golfers across it. Or maybe there were permitting or liability issues that prevented the design from using it more strategically (although Cougar Canyon, the now defunct Nicklaus course down the interstate in Trinidad, found a way to integrate a similar arroyo, even building an “island” green propped up on a rocky pedestal in the middle of the canyon). Which is all a shame because some potentially great holes at Walking Stick were left on the board by not arranging them at various angles against it and over it.
The fairways are extremely wide — necessary in the robust southern Front Range winds — though the greens aren’t generally contoured or positioned to really reward the flexibility the angles provide.
I also think if Hills were building this course today he’d try to route the holes differently, giving them more bend and orienting them to better expose the player to all facets of the winds. Right now too many holes run parallel east-west or north-south. He’d also, I’d like to think, do more with the shaping around the bunker edges and pull the native grasses down into them.
Or maybe not — this wasn’t the firm’s first rodeo. I’m sure maintenance concerns were at the forefront of many decisions.
The par-5 fourth holes hugs the edge of the ravine.
It sounds like I’m bagging on the course and I’m not; it’s a cool site and there’s a lot to recommend here for the public player, including the grand size of the holes, the nice natural ground contour, the comfort of the walk and the wild border grasses. But the property had much more potential than what’s here, and I can’t help but think of what could have been done better. (85)
Pueblo
Architect: Arthur Hills
Year: 1991