Ballyneal: A Place of Sand and Wind and Sky

In the summer of 2001 with his Dad fighting cancer and a short year since his Mom's passing, Jim O'Neal, Head Golf Professional at the Meadow Club in Fairfax, and his brother Rupert set out to build a lasting legacy to their parents.

Tom Doak was just finishing up at Pacific Dunes and Jim caught wind that Doak's wish list included the desire to design a course in the sand hills. Jim and Rupert knew just the place, an area the locals called the 'chop hills' just outside of Holyoke Colorado, the town in which the O'Neals were raised fourth generation farmers.

The soil in the area is naturally the perfect sandy mix needed for traditional firm and fast play, and the dunes rise to dramatic heights up to 70 feet.  In these very chop hills, Tom Doak and his team did not so much create, as uncover a magnificent routing of 18 holes of championship golf called Ballyneal.

Ballyneal is a place of sand and wind and sky; a place where one feels compelled to ask the caddie for “a mashie to hit the featherie over hill and dale”. Play at Ballyneal is not so much ruled by what's in the bag rather what's between the ears. It is a course that rewards creativity and demands the thoughtful placement of the ball in order to score. At the same time though, and maybe more importantly, Ballyneal is a wide-open undulating course dotted with natural blow-out bunkers and native bunch grasses that bring the fun back to golf.

The course does not limit the golfer to one specific route to the hole, rather allows imagination and the elements of the day to determine the path. Some paths are rewarded with sight lines to the green, while others may find a blind shot over a truly hazardous bunker. Both are in the play. One is rewarded with a smile and a score and the other with a grin of acknowledgment that Mother Nature can be mean.

My round at Ballyneal began with a drive on #1 that pushed right of ideal yet found the fairway. My playing partner striped his down the left edge of the fairway and was only a wedge away from home while I was sitting a long-iron out. My approach came up short with the help of the wind.  I chipped on and three-putted for an opening double, but I had a smile on my face. I had already learned a bit about playing Ballyneal - a course where bump and run and putts from off the green are not only accepted, but rewarded. A steady putter with some good local knowledge comes in really handy.

The par three-3rd is the most natural amphitheatre for a golf hole I have ever witnessed. The scene begs for a beautiful arching shot to the green with a long follow through held for the camera, as well as a healthy fist pump to seal the deal.

Standing on the tee box of the par four-4th feels like standing on top of the world with all of nature's beauty unfolding below. The scale is so big that it is difficult at first to figure where exactly on this large canvas the tee shot is going to land. Watching my ball's flight, I had it landing in a spot on the fairway that would require a 500 yard drive. My caddie just knowingly chuckled as he walked directly to the ball as I scratched my head. I had left some “meat on the bone” and needed my second shot to go as far as my first to get this one on in two.

And so the round went - wandering in, out and around majestic dunes placed by a power greater than man while trying to avoid massive blow-out bunkers, constantly thinking, gauging and strategizing how best to get that little white ball into the cup.

There is no better feeling than a long walk down the fairway to a well struck ball off the 18th tee. Ballyneal's final walk home with the clubhouse village beckoning in the background is ideal. The hole is no gimme, but it definitely presents the opportunity to finish strong.

Sitting at the 19th hole well-served, memories of each hole, of each shot, ran through our heads and out of our mouths as we recounted the ones that keep us coming back and the shots we'll play differently next time. Ballyneal offers a layout that one could play every day and never have the same round twice. It is a true and noble complement to the land, to Doak's design, and to the visionary brothers who in their quest to create a lasting legacy to their parents, have presented us with the opportunity to leave a legacy for our own family to treasure for generations to come.

Ballyneal Golf & Hunt Club is located 2.5 hours northeast of Denver just outside of the town of Holyoke, Colorado. For membership information visit www.ballyneal.com or call 970-854-5900.