It’s tempting to say that from the very first starting point at Cornerstone in Montrose, Colorado, it all descended from there. But that’s only because the back tee on the opening hole happens to be the highest spot on the property, at 9,214 feet above sea level. From there, the recently reopened 162-foot course of real estate collapses to the furthest point from the club, into the eleventh green. Along the way and back, the problem you might encounter – catching your breath – isn’t just because of the thin air.
Known as the San Juan Mountains, this part of the Rocky Mountains is legendary for its beauty, intensity, and changing weather conditions. The immediate landmass that is home to Cornerstone, called the Uncompahgre Plateau, is located halfway in western Colorado between Telluride and Grand Junction. It is a paradise for rugged naturalists for biking, hunting, fishing and skiing. Now with Cornerstone they can also claim golf.
The 4,800-acre property opened in 2008 with a Greg Norman-designed golf course that was part of a very relaxing land plan. More than half of the land is environmentally designated, and homes vary in size from one to 100 acres. But the stagnation took its toll, shutting down the project until it was bailed out by a three-person consortium in 2018. Their main appointment was Jason Strohlen, whose title as Director of External Operations did not begin to define his scope of responsibility. For every aspect of the repair.
Among those brought on board was a former Norman design associate, Matt Dusenberry, who was involved in the original design and construction. Like many former colleagues of big design houses who have taken off on their own in the past decade or two, Dusenberry has been busy with renovations and restorations. He, in turn, partnered with agronomist Jim McKenna, formerly a supervisor at Doonbeg in Ireland. Among their projects together are the restoration of two designs by Devereux Emmet in Connecticut, Hartford City Municipal Course, Kenny Park, and The Country Club in Farmington.
At Cornerstone, the task was to restore the overgrown and neglected bluegrass fairways and greens of the Bentgrass. They also took advantage of the occasion to open up playing lines, reorganize stadiums to ensure yardage and shot values were balanced to accommodate a wide range of players, and added drainage and eliminated excessive punitive bunkers. The result is a par-72 design ranging from 5,326 yards to 7867 that looks intimidating at first but proves surprisingly receptive during its run.
This helps golfers get a bonus of 15 percent of the yardage from ground level – calculated at 1.7 percent per 1,000 feet. A standard 200-yard shot travels 230 here. The eleventh hole fourteen, 473 yards from the tees member, plays as 411 yards at ground level. At 6,904 yards, this member’s course plays at 6,000 yards very convenient. Those rear tees, nominally 7,867 flashy, play with 6,840 effective.
Cornerstone offers so many trails that it feels like it’s hanging on the edge of doom. Firing a tee on the 668-yard, five-point fourth hole is intimidating, but there’s plenty of room as long as you don’t pin it. The Green Infinity Edge looks at 447 yards, four tenths hanging in the mountains. And the thirteenth shoot falls on a set of green in fields of aspen and golden trees.
Mountain golf generally suffers from its reputation for having too many holes in rough terrain. That’s not the case at Cornerstone, thanks to steering that uses wide, open terrain on a high plateau. Now with reclamation work by Dusenberry and McKenna, Cornerstone residents also have high-quality grass that can withstand the most nature can offer these days: altitude, drought, deep snow cover and arid winds.
This article first appeared in October 2021 issue of golf course engineering. For a free print or digital subscription, please visit Our Subscriptions Page.