Colo. goes over par with golf courses.(Colorado)(Statistical Data Included)

Colorado is stuck in something of a sand trap when it comes to golf courses.

A decade ago, the state didn't have enough courses to accommodate demand by golfers, but now, like the rest of the country, it has too many.

One of the main reasons for the discrepancy is that not all of Colorado's new golf courses were built to handle the increase in golfers that came with the rise in population here during the 1990s. Many public courses were built as amenities to housing developments and the communities around them, and at the urging of home builders who wanted to build more expensive houses and municipalities that wanted to improve their property-tax bases. Denverareas cities such as Westminster with its Legacy Ridge course, Commerce City with Buffalo Run and Lafayette with Indian Peaks did just that.

"Almost all our newer courses were built using the real estate formula," said Ed Mate, executive director of the Colorado Golf Association, trade group in Denver. "They're based not on demand for golf, but on demand for golf-front property."

A recent survey by Dennis Lyon, a golf association governor and head of golf for …