When you play the majority of your golf at 625 ft above sea level like I do, you don’t encounter many elevation changes greater than 15 to 20 feet. When you do, there’s the rule of thumb to add a club or subtract one for every 10 to 15 feet the elevation changes up or down.
Here in Angel Fire, the course is right at 8300 ft above sea level. When you’re that high up, it’s virtually impossible to find enough relatively flat acreage for an 18 hole layout. So when playing here in the rare air, you’ll encounter several holes with some pretty severe elevation changes.
Take #6 for example – it’s a par 3 and the score card has it right at 211 yards from the white tees. On most days, it’s a 7 iron or maybe a 6 iron with a gentle breeze in your face. What the score card doesn’t tell you is that there’s a drop of more than 250 feet from tee to green. Imagine, a carry of more than 200 yards with a 7 iron! Bomb it like Boo (Weekly) – gotta love it.
