If you have a weekend. Western Colorado can give you a world worth of golf, from red rock to sage-studded canyon tracks.

In Grand Junction alone, golfers can play among the red cliffs all weekend, starting with the first of the Grand Valley’s tower tour, Tiara Rado Golf Course on the Redlands, where wide fairways run along the Colorado National Monument boundary.

Call 254-3830 for tee times.

After Tiara Rado, try Redlands Mesa, listed among the nation’s best affordable courses.

Like Tiara Rado, Redlands Mesa plays in the shadow of the monument, offering matchless views of the rocky outcrops that give the course and area its name. For times, call 263-9270.

No need to stray far afield for your next course, Adobe Creek in Fruita.

Adobe Creek gives the best view of Independence Rock, the monument’s signature spire. Call 858-0521 for tee times.

To wrap things up, take one of two choices:

There’s the, nine-hole Lincoln Park track, 242-63494, in the middle of Grand Junction, the region’s oldest course, but still up to a modern challenge.

Or tighten up your short game at Chipeta golf course on Orchard Mesa, an 18-hole executive track, 245-7177.

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E-mail Gary Harmon at gharmon@gjds.com.

FAIRWAY WEEKEND (OR WEEKENDS) AWAY
To play the golf in the canyons, head east on Interstate 70 to Battlement Mesa, which plays along and over the arroyos that lead from the high country down to the Colorado River.
Battlement Mesa, 285-7274, is a warm up for Lakota Canyon Golf Course outside New Castle, which works its way up and down the arroyos.
There are plenty of places to stay up and down the interstate and you can call 984-9700 for tee times.
The next day brings a ride across the Flat Tops on a good dirt road to Buford, then down the to Meeker for the Meeker Course, 878-5642.
There, you’ll play nine with mountain peaks in the background. Get in the car when you’re done for the 50-mile ride to Rangely, where Cedar Ridges Golf Course, 675-8403, is the best of western Colorado’s small-town, out-of-the-way tracks. 
Got more time? Try the Grand Mesa double-double.
Start at Cedaredge’s Deer Creek Village Golf Course, 856-7781, which sits on the shoulder of the mesa and plays along Surface Creek. Head next to Devil’s Thumb, 874-6262, in Delta, a treeless track that offers unmatched views of the mesa, San Juan Mountains and Uncompahgre Plateau.
Don’t tarry, because Montrose, 20 miles down U.S. Highway 50, offers Black Canyon Golf Course, 249-4653; the Links at Cobble Creek, 240-9542, and The Bridges.
Black Canyon is a venerable municipal, Cobble Creek a newer course and The Bridges Golf and Country Club, 252-8899, with more water in play than in Hawaii, was put together by the Nicklaus design firm.
— Gary Harmon

DRIVING RANGES
Few places can brag about driving ranges, but in western Colorado golfers can hone their swings against stunning mountain backdrops unmatched anywhere.
— Battlement Mesa Golf Club is perhaps the outstanding member of this crop, with a range that sits high on the Grand Valley’s Redlands area, facing east toward Grand Mesa.
High drives struck from the elevated tees seem to hang above the world’s largest flattop mountain, then tumble precipitously against the white, green and blue of the mesa face.That’s all the better if you don’t have to find the ball and hit a second shot, but merely tee up another striper for another ride into the sky.
— Adobe Creek Golf Course in Fruita offers another view toward the mesa, as does Lincoln Park in downtown Grand Junction, but neither as stark as that from Redlands Mesa.
— Tiara Rado Golf Course boasts a new range with well-placed targets and plenty of room for big hits and screaming mistakes.
Views, like booming drives, aren’t everything, though. Tiara Rado’s range, a good hike from the clubhouse, also offers an out-of-the-way chipping green.
Honing chips and pitches doesn’t involve the thrill of pounding drivers high into the Colorado blue, but golfers know that’s where they score.
— Lincoln Park’s practice facilities are among the best on that score.
The course offers not just a wide-open driving range, but a pitching green where golfers can work on lobs, flops, sand shots, bump-and-runs and little spinners.
Best of all, it’s next to the eighth tee and on the way to the driving range. A golfer can take a break from feathering wedges to watch players smacking drives, then turn back to business.
It’s almost like playing.
— Gary Harmon