Haymaker, Steamboat Springs. Keith Foster, 1997.

When this course first opened, the marketing tried to play up the idea of this course as emulating a Scottish links. A Scottish links in a wetland-filled valley at 7,000 feet of elevation? Seemed unlikely to me. But really that was just the buzzword for what Foster did here very successfully, which is put simply, using classic design principals.

The fifth hole is a Redan. The second green looks just a little bit like a Road template. The bunkering is strategic. Foster built some humps and bumps, especially around the greens, but not every hole is framed by artificial mounding.

It’s little wonder that Steamboat’s marketers had an awkward time trying to accurately describe this course. In the mid-90s, in the ski resort towns on Colorado, there was no precedent for anything like this. It’s still an experience that’s hard to beat.

Colorado 1st Decile [1997]