Glacier and the Bridges: A Golf Weekend, August 22–23
Jake won a raffle for a foursome at Glacier — the Valley Course near Durango, normally $250 a round, landed for just over $400 for all four of us. That kind of deal doesn’t come around often, so Friday we drove to Montrose, then got up early Saturday and pushed on to Durango to cash it in.
New courses always come with a little friction, and Glacier had its share. The staff seemed to assume everyone already knew the drill — tee times, layout, when things opened — and weren’t much help sorting out the confusion. We thought we were off at 10:45; turned out to be 11:05. The range was small, tight, tucked right next to the first tee, barely enough room to let a driver loose. We waited, we figured it out, we teed off.
And the course itself deserved better than the round I gave it. Short by most standards, but full of the elevation swings you’d expect in the mountains, with tight fairways lined by trees that made stray shots expensive — I lost a handful of balls to them. The first hole gave me hope with a par, and then things came apart. A mix of solid shots and head-scratching ones, the kind where you’re not even sure what just happened. Frustrating, but pretty enough — and short enough. Id love to play it again when I’m hitting better but $250 seemed a little cheap plus who knows when I might get back to Durango.
Sunday was a different story. Back in Montrose, we played The Bridges and I played noticeably better, even with a few odd shots mixed in. The real insight of the weekend showed up here: the course that used to feel long to me doesn’t anymore. My irons are traveling far enough now that I’m dropping down a club, sometimes closer to a club and a half, since starting lessons. That’s not a small thing — it’s proof the work is translating to the course, even on a day that wasn’t clean start to finish. Found some good golf towards the end of the round. First part was similar to Saturday but then got better. My issue seems to stem from thinking over the ball too much. If I can just get over the ball and swing I seem to have better tempo and a relaxed swing. Need to continue the preshot process of thinking but just swing once I’m over the ball. And make sure to follow thru. Sometimes I stop my follow thru too early and leave the club face open for a big weak push.
Montrose also did what Montrose does — quiet, easy pace, even on a weekend. Crowded front nine, empty back nine, mild weather. It’s rare to find a course you can book a tee time a day or two before without much of a problem. Seems that way at Cobble Creek too. The local muni is Black Canyon, we don’t usually play that one.
Two days, two courses, some ugly shots and some that reminded me why I keep coming back. Saturday with Jake, Lucas and Paige, Sunday just the boys. I’m not chasing the 70s — a round in the 90s, an occasional dip into the 80s, and enough clean contact to feel it in my hands is still a good weekend at this stage. And this one, irons included, was.