Cougar Canyon Golf Links
Trinidad, Colo.
7,709 yards, par 72
Green fees: $35-$73
719-422-7015, cougarcanyonliving.com
Residental courses tend to be like the golf communities they inhabit: relaxed, conventional and uncontroversial. Cougar Canyon, located in the old mining town of Trinidad, halfway between Denver and Albuquerque, breaks that mold. Chris Cochran of Nicklaus Design has crafted a peril-filled track with the Sangre de Christo Mountains as a backdrop. The formidable length from the tips is mitigated by the 6,000-foot elevation, but there's plenty of trouble here, starting with the 42 deep, black sand bunkers (a nod to the town's mining heritage). The flattish front nine yields to jacked-up excitement on the back, notably at the stunning 163-yard 16th, which demands a short-iron dart over a yawning swath of Gray Creek to an island green that rests atop a 7,800- square-foot mesa.