EXCLUSIVE REMOTE COLO. GOLF COURSE LISTED AMONG THE BEST
Ballyneal
A private golf club with a $70 000 initiation fee  Ballyneal opened for play just three summers ago but is already attracting rave reviews  as well as golfers from around the world.
 Golfweek ranks Ballyneal the nation's eighth-best course opened since 1960. Golf Magazine has Ballyneal rated No. 82 in the world among all courses.
 "Ballyneal is a spectacular example of the 'build it in the middle of nowhere and hope they come' genre " Golfweek course architecture editor Bradley S. Klein said in a phone interview. "It's an old-fashioned  down-to-earth club ... that operates entirely contrary to the grotesque excesses of the 1990s."
 Unlike most private golf clubs  Ballyneal is not a stickler for rules -- and seems to take pride in that. Play with your shirt untucked? No problem. Need to take a cell call on the course? That's OK. And  for evening functions  leave your sports coat at home.
 Ballyneal is so informal it doesn't even have tee markers. (The scorecard says it plays from 5 210 to 7 147 yards  at a par 71). There are no yardage markers on the fairways either  nor are motorized carts allowed.
 The O'Neals decided that  because of its remote location amid sparse population  Ballyneal should be a high-end destination club with members from across the country. To attract that type of clientele  they knew Ballyneal had to be ranked among the nation's best courses.
 Ballyneal  honoring the famed Ballybunion course in Ireland and the O'Neal family history  has 104 members and has announced it will cap membership at 130 in order to provide a "low volume  exclusive and intimate casual feel" for its members.
 "Doak spent a lot of time out here with his associates  and you can see that " said Cleve Trimble  a retired surgeon from Valentine  Neb.  and a member of several golf clubs  including Ballyneal. "He didn't design this from an air-conditioned office in Boca Raton from some topographical map."
 Ballyneal attracts its share of big-name CEOs and celebrities  but the club protects their privacy.
 The fescue greens turn off some golfers. Rupert O'Neal said that  because of the severe undulations  Ballyneal's greens would be too slick if they were bent grass. The "old-school" putting surface reflects the character of a links course.
 One of the reasons Golf Digest left Ballyneal out of its list of top 100 courses in the U.S. is because of the fescue greens  said Ron Whitten  the magazine's course architecture editor.
 "I tell people Ballyneal is an acquired taste " Whitten said.
Ballyneal's greens would be too slick if they were bent grass. The "old-school" putting surface reflects the character of a links course.
A private golf club with a $70 000 initiation fee  [TGT] opened for play just three summers ago but is already attracting rave reviews  as well as golfers from around the world.
 Golfweek ranks [TGT] the nation's eighth-best course opened since 1960. Golf Magazine has [TGT] rated No. 82 in the world among all courses.
 "[TGT] is a spectacular example of the 'build [TGT] in the middle of nowhere and hope they come' genre " Golfweek course architecture editor Bradley S. Klein said in a phone interview. "It's an old-fashioned  down-to-earth club ... that operates entirely contrary to the grotesque excesses of the 1990s."
 Unlike most private golf clubs  [TGT] is not a stickler for rules -- and seems to take pride in that. Play with your shirt untucked? No problem. Need to take a cell call on the course? That's OK. And  for evening functions  leave your sports coat at home.
 [TGT] is so informal [TGT] doesn't even have tee markers. (The scorecard says [TGT] plays from 5 210 to 7 147 yards  at a par 71). There are no yardage markers on the fairways either  nor are motorized carts allowed.
 The O'Neals decided that  because of its remote location amid sparse population  [TGT] should be a high-end destination club with members from across the country. To attract that type of clientele  they knew [TGT] had to be ranked among the nation's best courses.
 [TGT]honoring the famed Ballybunion course in Ireland and the O'Neal family history  has 104 members and has announced it will cap membership at 130 in order to provide a "low volume  exclusive and intimate casual feel" for its members.
 "Doak spent a lot of time out here with his associates  and you can see that " said Cleve Trimble  a retired surgeon from Valentine  Neb.  and a member of several golf clubs  including [TGT]. "He didn't design this from an air-conditioned office in Boca Raton from some topographical map.[TGT] attracts [TGT] share of big-name CEOs and celebrities  but the club protects their privacy.
 The fescue greens turn off some golfers. Rupert O'Neal said that  because of the severe undulations  Ballyneal's greens would be too slick if they were bent grass. The "old-school" putting surface reflects the character of a links course.
 One of the reasons Golf Digest left [TGT] out of its list of top 100 courses in the U.S. is because of the fescue greens  said Ron Whitten  the magazine's course architecture editor.
 "I tell people [TGT] is an acquired taste " Whitten said.
[TGT]'s greens would be too slick if [TGT] were bent grass. The "old-school" putting surface reflects the character of a links course.