Last month a couple friends and I were in Denver to catch a Rockies game, do some sightseeing, and play some golf. We played two rounds while there and the 1st was at Saddle Rock. Saddle Rock was conv... Continue »

Last month a couple friends and I were in Denver to catch a Rockies game, do some sightseeing, and play some golf. We played two rounds while there and the 1st was at Saddle Rock. Saddle Rock was convenient to where we were staying in Aurora which is part of the reason why we picked it. The other reason was the reasonable green fee. I've played another course owned by the city of Aurora, and it turned out to be a good value. In hopes of the same, we decided to give Saddle Rock a try.

We played on a Friday and had to wait about 25 minutes before teeing off because of a shotgun tournament that went off earlier. We were joined by another twosome and played in under four hours which was faster than I expected. Because it is a city course, and the greens fees are reasonable, slower play could be common. I’m not positive about that so getting the scoop from a local would be best. We each paid $57 to ride which doesn’t seem out of line based my golfing experience in the area.

If you are considering a round here, the biggest thing you should probably know is that Saddle Rock is a community course. Homes are close to all the holes and line both sides of many holes. If that sort of thing bothers you then it would be best to pick another course. Saddle Rock is similar to the back nine at Murphy Creek and Green Valley Ranch. If it was in California then I’d say it looks like Deer Ridge or Shadow Lakes in Brentwood!

The homes certainly take away a bit from what I thought were a great collection of holes that were interesting to play. Maybe a third of the holes have some elevation change which was a nice surprise because the community is located on the “prairie” side of town. We actually got some views of the Denver skyline off in the distance.

Besides the elevation change, Saddle Rock seems to have all the design features which are common to the area. There is some fescue, wetlands, ponds, and cottonwood trees (I think) at the course while it has a prairie “vibe”. Most of the elevation change is on the front nine which has a bit more open feel. The back nine is flatter and I found it to be the more challenging nine. It starts out with a couple demanding holes that play through the wetlands and the back’s minor elevation changes affected sightlines. That put a tiny bit of doubt in my mind about the best lines to pick.

We played the blue tees which play 72.7/135/6941. I didn’t find the course overly penal off the tee, but the more I worked on this review the more I realized that driving the ball is very important at Saddle Rock. There were just a couple scary tee shots, but a good drive left a much easier iron shot than a bad drive. I didn’t drive it great but still manged to get away with a good score except for one hole. I was hitting nice iron shots and putting decent so there are a couple ways to put together a decent score. For a great score though, someone should have to hit their lines off the tee. One of the most difficult pieces to the course were the constant slopes in the greens. I had very few flat putts and plenty of short ones with a cup or two of break.

My last comment is on the conditions. In short, they were great. There weren’t any bare patches in either the fairways or the rough. The fairways offered great lies and the ball sat up while the rough was cut shorter but plenty thick. I had to make sure to keep up the clubhead speed and keep the face open, especially around the greens. For the most part the greens rolled well, but a couple putts wiggling early in the round kept me from being too aggressive.

I wouldn’t call Saddle Rock a destination course, but it was a good value and close to where we were staying. We were happy with our pick!