Colorado golf gems: To-die-for scenic courses you should play at least once.

• Position: Golf Guide 2016

Let's go on a little fantasy golf rour. It's not going robe about the highest rated courses, whatever that means in the subjective world of course rating Let's just say, "Hey, we're in Colorado with an unlimited budget and a month of free time. Where do we play we might not have heard of?"

The is writer would start with a drive east across Colorado on 1-70. Eventually you would make your way to a private course called Bally Neal, but you've wrangled a review round for potential membership By now you've heard there were some sand dunes in eastern Colorado and western Nebraska.

The owners of th is private golf course/bird hunting preserve have built a close resemblance of Scottish golf, replete with course fescue turf and wild-looking bunkering amid the dunes. The views are moody and reek of puregolf.

Head back southwest until you reach Walsenberg. It has a little nine-hole course on Highway 160, near a state park. Play it as many times as you want for very little money, and enjoy the views of the Spanish Peaks, or "Breasts of the Earth."

Next up, the Front Range, but first, check our Hollydot Golf Course in Colorado City. It's a reasonably priced municipal operation, with 27 holes, a home-on-the-range feel, big mountain and range views without urban interference.

The Air Force Academy courses, both the easier Silver and the championship Blue, are located on some of the best land in Colorado, nestled in the pines right up to the Rockies. Doesn't the military always get the best land? All you need is a military connection to get on.

Your next stop is at Bear Dance, which is public, usually costs below $100 and offers some incredible views of the Front Range, rolling ranch land and Palmer Divide pine ridge-type topography. Nearby Perry Park is private, but starts on the red rock views made famous by public Arrowhead in southwest Littleton. Arrowhead is not known for being in the best shape at all times, but one of a kind nature is just that. While you're close to Denver, stop by City Park Golf Course for its iconic mountain/city skyline backdrop. There is no other.

On your way to the Western Slope, grab your fly rod and clubs and stop in on the resort course, Rio Grande Golf Club. At more than 8,000 feet, it has mountain views on every hole, and a river...