photo by Chris Talbot
Travel
Golf Guide 2008
Not ready to make the move to a golf course community? Check out our expert’s picks for the top courses you can play today — without the commitment.

Mountain Golf Courses You Can Play

Incline Village Golf Courses, Incline Village, Nevada
photo by Chris Talbot
Cougar Canyon Links, Trinidad, Colorado
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains form a dramatic backdrop for this year-round, 7,789-yard Nicklaus-designed course integrated into dazzling desert and mountain terrain, with split fairways, pedestal greens and deep black sand bunkers. The 16th hole asks for a shot over wide Gray Creek to an island green atop a massive mesa. Slope ratings of 120 to 139 make it playable for all abilities.
VITALS: $36-$59; (719) 422-7015, cougarcanyonliving.com

The Powderhorn, Sheridan, Wyoming
In view of the Big Horn Mountain, the Mountain Nine is a Scottish links-style course (honoring the birthplace of golf) with huge bunkers and a replica of the Swilcan Bridge. A red barn is the icon of the Stag Nine, where dense woods and wetlands create the ultimate golfing challenge. Little Goose Creek meanders through the scenic Eagle Nine.
VITALS: $61-$81; (307) 672-5323, thepowderhorn.com 

Jug Mountain Ranch, McCall, Idaho
In the foothills of Idaho's Jughandle Mountain awaits the second-best new public course under $75 for 2008, according to Golf Digest. Don Knott—of Spanish Bay fame—laid 7,287 yards of fairway through wetlands, across Boulder Creek and along forested ridges; using fewer than 30 bunkers, he left the landscape much as he found it. Do you love it? Buy a home here on the ranch.
VITALS: $50-$60; (208) 634-5072, jugmountainranch.com

White Horse Golf Club, Kingston, Washington
Take the ferry from Seattle across Puget Sound to a spectacular new track on rolling hills designed by Cynthia Dye McGarey (Pete Dye's niece) with 137 bunkers and battalions of old-growth cedar, spruce, fir and hemlock. With a 144 slope, this is one of the state's toughest courses. Calming views are of the sound, the snowy peaks of the Olympics and the Cascades.
VITALS: $35-$47; (360) 297-4468, whitehorsegolf.com

The Ledges Golf Club, St. George, Utah
One of several southern Utah courses known as the "Red Rock Corridor,” Matt Dye's masterpiece is a 7,200-yard high-desert stunner on the rim of Snow Canyon State Park. A nephew of Pete Dye, this architect took a bold direction with significant elevation changes and huge, undulating tiered greens. The Nicklaus Academy of Golf has climate-controlled teaching bays, an analysis lab and a unique fitness program. 
VITALS: $110; (435) 634-4640, ledges.com

SunRidge Canyon Golf Club, Scottsdale, Arizona
Designed by Keith Foster of Bighorn fame, fairways bordered by giant saguaro cacti ramble among rocky ridges and arroyos at the foot of the McDowell Mountains. The golf ball flies (you hope) over box canyons, some 50 feet deep and 100 yards wide, on its way to landing zones menaced by the encroaching desert and boulder outcroppings. A Spanish hacienda-style clubhouse is the place for après-golf libations and views of the Valley of the Sun.
VITALS: $35-$195; (480) 837-5100, sunridgegolf.com

Incline Village Golf Courses, Incline Village, Nevada
This Robert Trent Jones Sr. championship course ambles steeply up and down the mountainside between stony ledges and towering pines. Thanks to a $13-million renovation, golfers have greater visibility from tee to green, a new clubhouse and the same stunning views of 22-mile-long Lake Tahoe and the surrounding Sierra Nevada peaks. The gorgeous Audubon Certified Mountain Course is flatter, a beautiful walk in the woods.
VITALS: $56-$169; (775) 832-1150, golfincline.com

Red Sky Golf Club, Vail, Colorado
A Tom Fazio Course, a 7,580-yard Norman-designed track, a David Leadbetter Golf Academy and two impressive clubhouses make this a major golf destination. Fairways lined with sage-blanketed hills, craggy rock outcroppings and rugged gulches, a high-mountain lake, wildflower-filled meadows and dense aspen forests are especially dazzling in spring and fall. Beware: Views of Vail's back bowls and Castle Peak are distracting.
VITALS: $185-$240; (970) 477-8425, redskygolfclub.com


For the full story, pick up the May/June 2008 issue of Mountain Living.