Justin Leonard and Tripp Davis survey the layout options for the Orvis Shorefox course in Colorado.

Jubilant Justin

Texan Justin Leonard has waited 13 years to design his very first golf course and, man, is he ever psyched!

By Kim McHugh, Rocky Mountain Golf

All of those years spent around golf courses got him thinking that perhaps designing courses was in his future.

Thankfully, for Coloradoans -- and anyone visiting the high country in Grand County -- the future is now. A couple years ago, Leonard teamed up with notable golf course architect Tripp Davis, and the two began sketching designs for a new resort course in Granby.

“Tripp designed the nearby Grand Elk Golf Course and is the architect at Shorefox,” says Leonard. “We’ve been talking for a couple of years about finding the right project for me to get involved with and we thought this could be the right one.”

No stranger to the Centennial State, Leonard first started coming to Colorado as a boy on family skiing trips. Over the years the family skied at Copper Mountain, Steamboat, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Vail, Keystone and Winter Park, but then his golf career took off and skiing took a back seat.

“For about twelve years I had kind of a hiatus from Colorado except for playing in The International,” says Leonard. “Some friends of mine had a home in Telluride and they were always inviting me to come visit. I did and just fell back in love with Colorado.”

He and his wife, Amanda, became engaged in Colorado.

The Orvis Shorefox Course

As plans for a new 1,500-acre community in Granby began to firm up, so did the design for the Leonard/Davis-inspired golf course. Davis, a standout golfer on the University of Oklahoma team, occasionally would cross paths with Leonard on the golfing circuit, and the two eventually landed on the idea for the new course.

Among Tripp Davis’ credits is the Craig Stadler Signature Golf Course at Grand Elk Ranch & Club, The Tribute Club in The Colony, Texas (recently ranked the ‘73rd Best Public Course in the Country’ by Golf Digest), and the Cherokee Hills Golf Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Given its proximity to the Colorado River, the mountain community caught the eye of Orvis, who is adding Shorefox to its portfolio under the Orvis Shorefox name.

Occupying a relatively flat parcel of land dotted by sage and native grasses, the course is characterized by Davis as a Colorado River Valley-style course. “The sand belt courses in Australia like Royal Melbourne or ones with rolling fairways like Shinnecock Hills are the best visual examples of the look and feel of this course,” explains Davis. “However, we aren’t going to mimic those courses. The difference is that they have ocean views and we have the Rocky Mountains.”

Bunkers will have an unkempt appearance defined by craggily fringes with grass draping over the edges (think 80’s rock star haircut), there will be a modest amount of rough, and large greens will give players sizeable targets.

Golfers can look forward to vistas of Rocky Mountain National Park and the Continental Divide, as well as glimpses of the Colorado River on what will be known as the Justin Leonard Signature Golf Course.

Appreciating that most of the play will come from resort guests (Orvis Shorefox will also have a club member base), Davis and Leonard have penciled a layout that is challenging, yet friendly.

“Justin is not a powerful player, so he thinks his way around a golf course,” says Davis. “He is putting that skill to good use from a planning standpoint and that is helping us build a course that is highly strategic and fun to play.”

The better player is going to be presented with opportunities to take some risks and be rewarded, but both Davis and Leonard believe the course is not going to be overly difficult.

“I play a lot of Pro-Ams and I know what the 15 or 25 handicap player is thinking when he stands on the tee,” says Leonard. “That has helped me in designing this course. As a resort course we’ve designed it for a variety of players.”

Natural wetlands on the Orvis Shorefox property will add to the course’s personality and the design team is working with a water features firm from Oregon who is planning to shape some of the 8,000 linear feet of streams.

Described as a ‘sporting lifestyle community,’ Orvis Shorefox ought to find its way onto the radar screens of outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy a variety of pursuits. When they aren’t playing golf, property owners and resort guests can spend their day fly-fishing, riding on horseback or chilling out on the shore of a 35-acre lake.

An avid fly-fisherman, Leonard can’t wait to slip into a pair of waders, get his hand on a fly road and do his darndest to catch (and release, of course) a trout or two. “This is the perfect spot, and I think a lot of other people will agree,” Leonard says. “Orvis is going to attract their share of fly fishing enthusiasts, but there are a lot of those who also love to play golf. Fly fishing may draw them to the resort, but the golf course will keep them coming back.”