Golf Course Review: Country Club de Bogota, Colombia

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, March 15th, 2013
Categories: Course Reviews • Golf Courses • Golf Life • HOG World Tour • Reviews • Travel

In my previous life I made my living as a drummer in a rock and roll band. I played 1000’s of shows all over the place. I’ve picked up the tour gig with Hooked On Golf Blog. For almost 10 years now I’ve been doing the “HOG World Tour,” the coolest golf tour anywhere. From St. Andrews to TPC Sawgrass to Augusta, I’ve been there. I can’t say how fun it has been.

I jumped at the chance to log the first HOG World Tour stop in South America. I spent a whole week in Bogota, Colombia in concert with the Web.com Tour’s Colombia Championship. While there I played two fine golf tracks: La Cima Club de Golf in the Andes Mountains, and Country Club de Bogota. Today’s review is of the gem that is Country Club de Bogota.

Country Club De Bogota – click to see more

Country Club de Bogota Overview

Country Club de Bogota is located in the heart of Bogota, a large city of 8,000,000 people. The course is a 36 hole private club with great supporting facilities, restaurants, swimming pool etc. The course is the home of the Web.com Tour’s Colombia Championship.

The layout of the course is what I’d call a traditional treelined parkland track. The course is TIGHT. A shot-maker’s course for sure.

Despite the tightness of the track, there is plenty of distance to go around. The course sits between 8,600-9,000 feet above sea level. The ball really flies. If you struggle with your distance and want to see what it feels like to hit it really far, come to Bogota and play. You’ll gain 1-2 clubs in distance.

Tee shots are tight! Click tozoom…

Tee

Tee shots are extremely important on this course. As I found out in my round, driver is not necessarily the correct play off the tee on all the par-4’s and par-5’s. The doglegs can be sharp and if one can’t work the tee shot a driver can go through the fairway. This happened to me a couple of times. Unless you are deadly accurate with the driver, a more strategic approach of irons, hybrids or fairway woods off many of the tees is likely the best plan.

The Andes Mountains overlook the course. Click to zoom

Fairway

If you’ve placed your tee shot in the fairway, a fairly tough task, the approaches aren’t extremely difficult. There is no elevation change on the course to speak of, barring a couple of feet from tee to fairway or fairway to green.

There are many places where the overhanging trees on the fairway can force one to have to hit a curveball around them, or a punch shot under them. Once again, a shot-maker’s course.

Greens at Country Club de Bogota are smooth and fast. click to zoom

Green

The greens at Country Club de Bogota are tour quality. They hold shots perfectly, yet roll fast and true. If you have any control over your approach shots, keep them below the hole. Downhill putts on this track are very difficult.

The undulations of the greens are not extreme though there are a few with double tiers. The speed of the greens makes two-putting difficult if putting from one tier to another.

I had a blast putting on these great surfaces. I made four birdies once I got used to the speed.

Facilities

There’s a large practice facility a short walk from the 1st tee.

The clubhouse is very large and spacious with two restaurants, a swimming pool, locker rooms and banquet/tournament facilities.

Conclusion

Bogota, Colombia may not be the first place that comes to one’s mind when thinking of golf travel. Perhaps that should change. Golf in this region of the world is a blast. With the temperate conditions and tons of rainfall each year, the courses are plush and healthy. The altitude makes playing a blast.

10 Tee – click for more pictures

The conditioning of Country Club de Bogota is fantastic and the course is a very good test of one’s complete golf game, from tee to green.

Related Links

Review: La Cima Club de Golf, Colombia

Country Club de Bogota website

Country Club de Bogota photo gallery

Golf On TV This Week

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, March 14th, 2013
Categories: Champions Tour • European Tour • LPGA Tour • PGA Tour • Pro Golf

PGA Tour
Tampa Bay Championship presented by EverBank
Dates: March 14-17
Venue: Copperhead Course, Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club, Tampa Bay, Florida

Golf Channel Airtimes (Eastern Time):
Thursday 3-6 p.m. (Live) / 8:30-11:30 p.m. (Replay)
Friday 3-6 p.m. (Live) / 10:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. (Replay)
Saturday 1-3 p.m. (Live) / 9:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m. (Golf Channel and NBC Replay)
Sunday 1-3 p.m. (Live) / 9:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (Golf Channel and NBC Replay)

NBC Airtimes (Eastern Time):
Saturday 3-6 p.m. (Live)
Sunday 3-6 p.m. (Live)

Field:
Luke Donald, Louis Oosthuizen, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, Nick Watney, Webb Simpson, Jim Furyk, Jason Dufner, Vijay Singh, K.J. Choi, Retief Goosen, Robert Garrigus, Tommy Gainey, Ben Crane, Seung-yul Noh and John Daly.

LPGA Tour
RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup
Dates: March 14-17
Venue: Wildfire Golf Club at JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge, Phoenix Ariz.

Golf Channel Airtimes (Eastern Time):
Thursday 6:30-8:30 p.m. (Live)
Friday 6:30-8:30 p.m. (Live)
Saturday 4-7 p.m. (Live)
Sunday 4-7 p.m. (Live)

Field:
Yani Tseng, Michelle Wie, Lexi Thompson, Paula Creamer, Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel, Stacy Lewis, Azahara Munoz, Na Yeon Choi, Beatriz Recari, Natalie Gulbis, Brittany Linicome, Jessica Korda, Inbee Park, Jiyai Shin, Karrie Webb and So Yeon Ryu.

Champions Tour
Toshiba Classic
Dates: March 15-17
Venue: Newport Beach Country Club, Newport Beach, Calif.

Golf Channel Airtimes (Eastern Time):
Friday 8:30-10:30 p.m. (Tape Delay) / 2:30-4:30 a.m. (Replay)
Saturday 7:30-9:30 p.m. (Tape Delay) / 3-5 a.m. (Replay)
Sunday 7:30-9:30 p.m. (Tape Delay) / 3-5 a.m. (Replay)

Field:
Fred Couples, Tom Watson, Tom Lehman, Bernhard Langer, Kenny Perry, Rocco Mediate, John Cook, Fred Funk, Jay Haas, Mark Calcavecchia, Roger Chapman, Loren Roberts, Steve Elkington, Michael Allen, Tom Kite and David Frost.

European Tour
Avantha Masters
Dates: March 14-17
Venue: Jaypee Greens Golf Club, Delhi, India

Golf Channel Airtimes (Eastern Time):
Thursday 9:30-1:30 p.m. (Live)
Friday 9:30-1:30 p.m. (Live)
Saturday 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Live)
Sunday 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Live)

Field:
Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie, Edoardo Molinari, Alvaro Quiros, Thomas Bjorn, Robert Rock, Thongchai Jaidee, Jeev Milkha Singh, David Howell, Anders Hansen, Pablo Larrazabal, Jbe Kruger and David Lipsky.

Fantasy Golf – WGC Cadillac Championship Winner

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, March 12th, 2013
Categories: Fantasy Golf • Miscellaneous • Site News

WGC Cadillac Championship Winner: Bxinvaders

2013 Fantasy Golf is brought to you by Hooked On Golf Blog and The Golf Space.

SPONSOR UPDATE

The following four sponsors have been confirmed for 2013!

Nike Golf – Nike Covert Driver
FootJoy – Shoes/Apparel
Bridgestone Golf – Bridgestone Golf Balls
Tornado Tee – Very cool golf tees (weekly)

I’m still hammering out prizes and arrangements for coupon codes to claim the weekly prizes. Stay tuned!

It is never too late to join HOG Space fantasy golf FREE. Follow the easy instructions below:

1. Go to www.buzzfantasyleagues.com
2. Create an account if you don’t have one
3. Click on “Join an Existing League”
4. Enter League ID 233, and Season ID 335
5. Create your team, enter league password “HOG”

Sponsors Wanted

If you wish to sponsor 2013 Fantasy Golf, let me know. Sponsorship would mean providing prizes in exchange for weekly air time, banners and links to your web site via the fantasy golf updates.

Discussion

HOG Space fantasy golf is a dual effort between Hooked On Golf Blog and The Golf Space. Official fantasy golf forum discussion thread is in The Golf Space Forum here.

A note to the TSA: Put my damn golf travel bag back the way you found it!

Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, March 11th, 2013
Categories: Boneheads • HOG World Tour • Miscellaneous

I shlep my golf clubs all over this big blue ball. My clubs and bags have been ~~inspected~~ violated many times over. I keep the old TSA notices in the bag and there are dozens of them. I don’t have a problem with the TSA looking in my bag. I don’t want the airplane to be blown up so sure, take a look at my sticks and my golf balls. Play with the laser rangefinder. Inspect the 12 golf energy bars and make sure they’re not explosives. Look at everything and then put your courtesy note in there. Great.

TSA Golf Bag

<rant1>

Now that you awesome TSA people have looked all through my bag do me a favor. Put the f*&king thing back the way you found it! Every time I travel all the crap that I put IN my bag is OUT of my bag and rattling around inside the travel case because you leave all the zippers on the golf bag open. I have to gather up all the tees, balls and the random stuff from the travel bag and put it back in the golf bag.

The bag itself is secured to the frame of the travel bag by straps. This helps protect my precious golf clubs from damage and shifting during transport. When you TSA folks undo the straps which secure my bag that’s cool as long as to PUT IT BACK to the way it was so my clubs aren’t damaged.

</rant1>

<rant2>

This past trip I found a curious TSA paper in my golf bag. This one said that the Department of Transportation prohibits the carriage of hazardous materials in checked baggage and that “all hazardous materials discovered in my baggage have been removed.” What the hell did they find? The only thing hazardous in my bag is my putter, and it is only a threat to my opponents. I don’t carry fuel, gas, matches, lighters or anything hazardous. I’d REALLY like to know what the hell you took from my bag. What was this mysterious hazard you removed TSA?

</rant>

Pre-WGC Cadillac Rory McIlory Interview In 7 Words

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, March 10th, 2013
Categories: Boneheads • Golf Media • Miscellaneous • Rory McIlory • Tiger Woods

Rory McIlory made a booboo and walked off the course at the Honda last week. He’s young. Really young. He has some learning to do, yes. He faced up to the press on Wednesday before the WGC Cadillac Championship to talk about that and his struggles. I’m not sure if the press guys keep asking the same question in hopes that one of the million times they ask it they will get the answer they’re looking for, or if they’re just plain boneheads. They must have asked Rory about 1,500,003 times if his struggles were because of his new Nike Golf equipment. Instead Rory mentioned he was working on an issue with his swing. This went back and forth… forever. I reduced the entire interview down to 7 words:

Press: Is it the equipment?

McIlory: No. My swing.

See how easy that was? Next question.

For those of you who think it is the equipment, what about Tiger Woods this week. He WON the WGC Cadillac convincingly, with the same Nike gear. How about the other players on the LPGA Tour, Web.com Tour and in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open who won this week with the same gear? I’ve been as critical of Nike gear as anyone when it deserves the critiques and touted it when I felt it deserved it, like the season I played a Machspeed Black driver and hit 80% of my fairways.

Rory finished T8 this week after a 65 on Sunday. I guess he overcame the gear issues…

The main point is that it is no wonder guys like Tiger can’t stand these interviews. They have to answer the same questions over and over. It must be frustrating.

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