Ballyneal Golf & Hunt Club

Overview: Ballyneal is an inland links course in the Chop Hills of eastern Colorado, where Tom Doak routed holes through sandy ground, native fescue, sage and yucca. The wide horizon can make the course appear simple, but gusting wind, uneven lies and changing angles create a round that rewards imagination and ground play. Doak allowed the existing land to dictate the flow, giving Ballyneal a natural identity rather than dressing it as a conventional parkland course.

History: Jim and Rupert O'Neal purchased 700 acres south of Holyoke and hired Doak's Renaissance Golf Design team in 2002. The architects studied and refined the routing for two years before construction began. The fescue established better than expected, and Doak struck the first ball in summer 2006. Since then, the course has matured into a close relationship between the sandy Chop Hills and the playing surface, with native vegetation remaining part of the architecture.

Did You Know? Ballyneal's golf offering includes a separate 12-green Mulligan Course, but the ranked profile is the main 18-hole course designed by Tom Doak. The distinction matters because the two experiences serve different purposes: Ballyneal is the full strategic inland-links routing, while the Mulligan Course extends the club's short-game and practice landscape without changing the identity of the championship layout.