Homestead Golf Course is located 20 minutes southwest of downtown Denver just above the dam at Bear Creek Lake Park.  Homestead is located only a few minutes from fellow City of Lakewood course, Fox Hollow Golf Course. Both courses share characteristics that provide golfers excellent surroundings for a round of golf. While Homestead and Fox Hollow are only about 500 yards apart from each other, the courses are different in many ways. Homestead Golf Course is a very unique and challenging place to play golf. When first glancing at the scorecard, a golfer may think Homestead will be easy due to many shorter holes - this is definitely not the case. What Homestead lacks in length, it more than makes up for it with uphill/downhill shots, very difficult club selection and holes where wind can be a major factor.

Homestead is best described as a bridge between a championship course and an executive course. Homestead measures over 5,000 yards with elevation change of more than 200 feet. The links style course was designed by Denis Griffiths to be challenging for all levels of golfers. The design of Homestead is excellent in that it provides a fun and challenging golf environment while incorporating an old west feel. The site of Homestead Golf Course was once the Fehringer Ranch and the designers kept the feel of a working cattle ranch when designing this beautiful course. While on the course keep a look out for old stagecoaches, windmills, barns and other historic farm equipment from the old Fehringer Ranch. In addition to the western theme of the course, the beautiful views make Homestead a one of kind course. From various places on the course you can see the flatirons near Boulder, the skyscrapers in downtown Denver, the plains to the east and the hogback that makes its way south towards Colorado Springs.

After playing 18 holes at Homestead, our group was very impressed by the need to use every club in our bags. While many of the holes at Homestead are short, the need for creativity in shot selection and club selection make Homestead very challenging. Unlike many courses, accounting for wind and elevation change make Homestead a mental challenge as well as a physical one. You can hit a great ball but if you choose the wrong club, it may make for a tough hole. We really felt that Homestead provides a unique opportunity to practice the mental aspect of golf in a way that is fun but challenging.

Favorite holes: Another cool aspect of Homestead is that each hole is numbered, but also has a name. The hole names go along with the hole designs and are another example of how Homestead Golf Course provides a unique golf experience.

Distances are listed from the black tees.

#2 Red Rocks: A 193 yard downhill par 3, this hole will test your club selection. With a small green and bunkers around it, a good tee shot is necessary to reach and stay on the green. Too much club and your ball will go through the green. Too little club and you'll end up short in the rough or in the bunker.

#5 The Big Valley: A 427 yard par 4, this is another downhill hole. The Big Valley offers a rare chance to use your driver off the tee. If you can hit a good tee shot and avoid the long native grass on either side of the fairway, reaching the green on your second shot can be done quite easily. This hole offers a good chance to score and is a nice break from using mostly irons.

#7 Long Shot: A 316 yard par 4, the Long Shot offers big hitters a chance to reach the green with their tee shot. While the green is reachable for some golfers, it can still be a difficult hole. Some golfers prefer to simply hit an iron off the tee to avoid a situation where they end up between clubs on their approach. Behind the green is a rather steep hill of rough. Go for the green from the tee or lay up and try not to do too much - either way the Long Shot is a great hole.

#11 Westward Ho:  A 553 yard par 5, Westward Ho seems like a mile. After relying on irons and wedges for most shots at Homestead, using a driver seems a little weird. Westward Ho provides great distance and will test a golfers ability to use their woods and fairway woods after not having used them often. The hole is fairly straight and provides awesome views as well.

# Death Valley: A 182 yard par 3, Death Valley deserves the name. From an elevated tee box, the tee shot is hit downhill with not much room for error between the tee box and green. If you don't use enough club, you'll end up in a bone dry collection area with native grass and rocks. If you use too much club, you'll overshoot the green and you're ball will most likely end up a long way downhill from the green...hence the name Death Valley.

Denver Sports Blog contributors Jeremy Fleming, Chad Fleming, Matt McKerley and Ian Surkalo played and reviewed Homestead Golf Course. We really enjoyed our round at Homestead and would recommend this beautiful course to golfers that have not played there before. We would like to thank Craig Parzybok, the Head Golf Professional at Homestead for offering great course information and for allowing us to play and review Homestead.

For any readers that wish to leave a comment, we would like to know which course is your favorite between Fox Hollow Golf Course and Homestead Golf Course ? Which is more challenging? Tell us why and any other details you would like to offer fellow golfers.