Course Happenings

Have you lost distance in your drive?  Tired of clubbing down?  Want to hit the ball farther?  Here’s a sure way to gain yards with your swing…

Power in the golf swing depends on a multitude of factors including dissociation between the upper and lower body, stability, strength, and proper sequencing.  Follow this program for improving these important physical attributes for gaining power in your golf swing.

Restoring proper dissociation, stability and strength is just half of the solution.  Be sure to follow up with one of the PGA Certified Golf Instructors at Hillcrest Golf Club for help in integrating these factors into your golf swing. 

The Over-the-Top swing characteristic is very common and occurs when the proper swing sequence is disrupted.  As the backswing begins, the hips should move 1^st pulling the ribs, thoracic spine, and finally the shoulders with them. This sequence holds true for the downswing as well. If the hands and shoulders move first and most during the downswing, the club moves outside of the intended swing plane from out-to-in often resulting in a slice or a pull.  Nearly half of all golfers demonstrate the Over-the-Top swing characteristic. 

Several different physical limitations can lead to swinging Over-the-Top including a lack of hip and thoracic mobility.  Inability to fully rotate the hips makes it more difficult to initiate the downswing with the hips, throwing off the proper swing sequence.  Add limited thorax rotation to that backswing and you have a scenario where disassociation of the hip and thorax is nearly impossible virtually guaranteeing an upper body dominated downswing. 

Before we get into the drill, we're excited to announce Blaine Ward is back in Durango! Born and raised in Durango, Blaine was a junior passholder at Hillcrest for most of his childhood and played on the DHS golf team. After spending five years in the Navy, Blaine moved to Oak Harbor, Washington, where he started the PGA PGM Associate Program at Whidbey Golf Club.

Blaine loves playing golf and coaching, and he's especially passionate about coaching juniors. "Coaching juniors about the game of golf is what really made me want to join the golf industry," he says.

The Gate Drill

This gate drill helps develop your putting stroke swing path. It will help you learn to consistently return the putter to the same position from address to impact. This is a great drill to be successful in making short putts.

If you’re undecided about whether to buy a season pass, punch pass, or pay daily greens fees every time you golf, you may be interested to know more about the value of the passes at Hillcrest. It doesn’t take long for a full pass to pay for itself: playing just 16, 18-hole rounds or 28 9-hole rounds will get you there.* Considering that Hillcrest is typically open 8 months of the year, that means you only have to play two 18 hole rounds a month to break even. Play more than that, and you “beat the house!”

We recently received an email that we’d like to share with you. It brings up some points that are probably shared by other members of Hillcrest's golfing community. Every email that's sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is read and addressed by the Board of Directors as public participation at the monthly Board Meeting. This email and its response are reprinted with permission by the author.

One of the most important aspects of golf is impact. Striking the ball and controlling the clubface through impact affects everything from ball flight to distance and direction.

Greetings Hillcrest golfing community! I’m Bill Gwinn, a newly elected Hillcrest board member and the chair of the grounds committee. I’m an avid golfer and a big fan of our golf course.

Greetings and welcome to the first edition of the Hillcrest Etiquette Corner, where we will periodically discuss the general etiquette and rules that are expected when participating in the game of golf.

If you've ever had a club repaired or re-gripped at Hillcrest, you've probably met Bud Andersen. Hillcrest is one of the few places in Durango that offers full club repair, and Bud has been fixing clubs for 31 years.