Friday Dispatch-Issue No. 2 | Winter Light

Not everything you can see is retrievable.

#TGIF To the Faithful,

Winter has a way of telling the truth.

With fewer leaves on the trees and less color competing for attention, the course shows itself a little more plainly this time of year. Lines are sharper. Distances feel longer. Misses feel more honest. Winter light doesn’t flatter much, but it reveals everything.

Winter also changes the way the game is played. With GHIN scores paused in Colorado until March 15th, rounds feel less tied to numbers and more about the conversation, familiar faces, and the faithful willing to brave the elements just to keep playing. There’s still time to enjoy the season on its own terms, including the occasional, well-timed foot wedge, before scores start to matter again.

The colder months also come with a whole new soundtrack. The crunch of frost underfoot. A ball bouncing off a frozen green that refuses to hold. Ice on the ponds now officially in play, where a shot can skip, slide, and somehow find its way back onto the fairway. Golf has always had a sense of humor, winter just makes it more obvious.

Of course, not everything you can see is retrievable. There are always a few balls sitting perfectly in the middle of a frozen pond, just out of reach of even the longest ball retrievers. A reminder that restraint is sometimes the wiser play.

Since the last note, we’ve picked up roughly six inches of snow. Most of it is still here, holding greens in a very different way than summer ever could. And that’s just fine. Snow insulates. It protects. It keeps moisture where it belongs. It also keeps our Superintendent, Paul, happy, which is never a bad thing this time of year. Enough winter moisture now goes a long way toward preventing winter kill and avoiding prolonged closures later.

If nothing else, winter reminds us that Cobble Creek isn’t built for haste. It rewards patience, awareness, and a willingness to play the course as it presents itself, season by season.

That’s enough for this Friday.

Enjoy the weekend. Warmer days are in the forecast and the snow will eventually melt as the winter cycle turns again. For now, organize the bag, clean the irons, and get in a little living room putting. Winter will change soon enough.

Until Next Time,

Links at Cobble Creek
Montrose, Colorado