PARKER – Ben Crenshaw might feel a bit like the host of a party the next few days at the Senior PGA Championship.

He’ll want to have a good time, but he’ll also be concerned about whether his guests are enjoying themselves – and what they think of his place.

Because, after all, Colorado Golf Club – site of the tournament – is kind of his place.

Crenshaw and partner Bill Coore designed the course, which has been open for about three years. It is the first course designed by the pair to host a major championship.

“I’ll be very interested to know what people think of our work here. It’s very important to Bill and I,” said Crenshaw, who will try to become the first player to win the Senior PGA Championship on a course he designed since Jack Nicklaus won the 1991 tournament at his PGA National in Florida. “Tournament golfers being the best, we want to have an open ear to their suggestions or what they think. … It’s going to be fun to elicit those observations and try to play well at the same time.”

The course, surrounded by 1,100 acres of open space, rolls through meadows, over streams and around stands of trees with the Rocky Mountains providing a backdrop. It demands a variety of shots from players with two potentially drivable par-4s and two others that measure 498 and 508 yards, respectively. The par-3 second is 152 yards, and four holes later, there’s a 249-yard par-3.

Initial reviews have been positive.

“It’s a wonderful course,” said Tom Watson, who noted the “variety” of shots and greens that players encounter.

“I’m pretty impressed with Crenshaw’s ability as an architect,” Paul Azinger said. “You can just tell that he has an artist’s hand.”

But Azinger also added, “It’s difficult.”

Major championships are supposed to offer a stern test, but several variables could conspire to make the Senior PGA a beast of a challenge.

Rolling hills and the altitude will make fitness a factor. And the players’ unfamiliarity with the course – they don’t have any history with hole locations, for example – likely will cause some uncertainty.

“It’s sort of a grab bag out there as we speak now with a lot of guys comparing notes and wondering where to go and what to do and trying to pick up all the nuances,” Hale Irwin said.

The unfamiliarity could be exacerbated – perhaps greatly – by the wind. It rendered the course virtually unplayable Monday and began to whip around again Wednesday afternoon – one player left the practice green muttering, “this is a waste of time.”

The wind will make distance control – already an issue because of the altitude and the large number of elevation changes on the course – even more difficult.

“You got a lot of complications going on,” Watson said. “Wind, elevation (in terms of altitude) and elevation – uphill and downhill shots.

“I would like to see (the wind) just not blow this hard. Just so we could have a chance to play the golf course and get to know it.”

And, Crenshaw hopes, love it.

California state Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, was congratulated by Assemblyman Isadore Hall, D-Compton, after the Legislature approved her resolution urging the federal government to end its “don’t ask, don”t tell” policy on gays in the military in Sacramento earlier this month. Photo by The Associated Press file

Rich Pedroncelli