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FeedThe Best of Both Worlds
Photos courtesy of The Golf Club at Ravenna
Tucked into the rolling foothills and rugged red-rock terrain near Waterton Canyon, The Golf Club at Ravenna is rapidly becoming one of the top luxury golf communities in Colorado. Its 18-hole, Jay Morrish-designed golf course winds through a rustic landscape of exposed sandstone flatirons, lush natural grasses and brush, mature pine trees, and Southern Mediterranean-style homes that look like they have always been there. Just as important a part of the Ravenna picture is the growing, cohesive community of members who know they’re a part of something unique in Colorado.
Ravenna broke ground only recently — in 2006 — but its creation truly began in the humid heat of Florida roughly two decades ago when a young graduate named Glenn Jacks waded through the swamps and wetlands of Sawgrass with a large, white PVC pipe, taking instruction directly from the course designer, Pete Dye. While Dye collected survey data and conceived the legendary TPC Sawgrass golf course, Jacks incubated his own ideas on how to craft an extraordinary golf course and a vital community as part of it.
Many years later, Ravenna is the product of that incubation — and more. Jacks, his partner, Dan Hudick, and Jay Morrish conspired to move more than one million cubic yards of dirt from one place to the next, rebuilding imperfect holes two or three times before they matched their inexorably high standards.
“Our goal was to create something unique, something as beautiful as a resort course but one that also was a real golf course, a serious golf course, where a member can play every day and not become bored,” Jacks says. “I wanted to be sure that we had the right answer to this question: No matter where your ball lands, do you see something beautiful? From your vantage point, does the course look like a piece of art?”
With ample help from Mother Nature, Ravenna is a stunningly picturesque course. But it’s not just beautiful; it is “serious.” There are no hokey holes. Unlike many resort 
courses, Ravenna has no stunts, no tricks, and no awkward holes that suggest to even the casual golfer the course designer was on vacation the day a mediocre hole was built or that the money ran out. Every one of Ravenna’s 18 holes is a gem.
“In my 22 years of golfing in Colorado, I’ve played almost all of the courses, and definitely all the good courses,” notes Reid Greibling, a scratch golfer who writes about golf for the website RealVail.com. “This is possibly the best.”
Reviews about this new course are just coming in, and they are outstanding. Travel + Leisure rated Ravenna one of the Top 10 Best New Courses of 2007. Jacks and Morrish put extra emphasis on creating large, undulating greens and a large array of tee choices so those with higher handicaps can have as much fun as scratch golfers, and, for both, the course can be played from a new angle almost every day.
“That’s the main reason I love this golf course,” said Seth Berliner, Ravenna’s director of golf. “There are so many different options. I don’t have to look at a direct line because there are sometimes better ways to play it.”
Like the still-maturing trees, the nascent community at Ravenna is growing steadily. The 40,000 square foot clubhouse, which is expected to cost roughly $20 million, is scheduled to be built in 2009, when Ravenna reaches an initial target of 225 members. A fly-fishing lodge is also in the works and will provide members with an opulent base camp for expeditions on the nearby South Platte River. In addition, a spa, a wellness center, pool, vintner’s club, and gourmet market to serve 243 homes are in the development’s future. In the meantime, what may be the world’s most luxurious tent serves as the clubhouse.
The no-cash clubhouse is amply staffed by professional and enthusiastic personnel who are just as likely to take a member’s car for a tire change as they are to polish golf clubs after a session on the driving range.
In that sense, and so many others, Ravenna meets those hard-to-define but crucial standards of luxury service. Ravenna is not, however, just another men’s only, good ol’ boys club.
In fact, in the clubhouse, women will have the best lay of the land, commanding the most spectacular views from their locker room, patio and “women’s only” bar. The ample women’s locker room will also connect directly with a top-of-the-line spa. Nearby, for men and women alike, will be Gusto Market, where members can pick up gourmet olive oils, wines, cheeses and fresh farmer’s market vegetables.
Jacks admits his desire to make Ravenna equally appealing to men and women was nudged, in part, by his wife. He earnestly notes “the best thing I have going for me is Susie,” and that together they’ve enjoyed visiting some of the top golf clubs in the country and sharing their perspectives on them. Susie played a large role, Jacks said, in the design of the club, encouraging him to remember even the best designer (man or woman) should sometimes consult their better half.
Jacks also consulted the Division of Wildlife in creating the community; about half of the development is a nature preserve. “We called them up and said, ‘Nature’s a big part of
who we are, and we want to do more than just pay it lip service,” he explains. One of the most impressive results of this consultation is a natural water filtration system that detains the runoff from the golf course and keeps chemicals and pesticides from entering the nearby stream system.
The homes in Ravenna feature the warmth of Southern Mediterranean luxury while capturing the views of Colorado. Adding to the mark of luxury are the Italian street names the guardhouse with authentic clay tiles, copper detailing and custom entry gates. The lavish level of service and exquisite homes starting at $1.3 million.
It is during a tour of the course, however, that one begins to get a sense of the “flow” of the community and how it blends into the landscape. Even though Ravenna is only 30 minutes from downtown Denver and even closer to the Denver Tech Center and the Centennial Airport, it seems worlds away. The Pike National Forest abuts the development and provides a verdant backdrop to the community. The Platte River runs along the edge, adding coolness and tranquility. The native brush, pine trees and thousands of specially placed gambel oaks add texture and enhance the rich landscape. Wildlife meander through the hills and ravines, adding another touch of gentleness to the development.
Ravenna is a refuge from the hubbub of the city, it’s a beautiful place to play and to live. It’s easy to see why its members have a strong sense of pride that they have truly found “Life’s Reward.”
Tom Boyd is a freelance writer who splits his time between Vail and Denver. In 2006 he circumnavigated the globe with his wife, covering the 2006 Turin Olympics and writing travel and outdoors stories along the way.
