A little more than 14 months ago, at the end of July 2001, I took a look at some blueprints, artist's renderings and schematics of the proposed new Audubon Park Golf Course.

I was impressed with the different elevations, slopes, mounds, incredible number of sand traps, four new lagoons and wide variety of new trees, shrubs and flowers. I was promised by the leadership of the Audubon Institute that the greens would be some of the best in the city and the fairways would be lush with wide concrete cart paths.

On closing day, I played the tired, old Audubon course. It wasn't what it once was and had faded badly. Built more than 100 years ago, it was outdated and, frankly, hazardous. So I bid it farewell and then began to monitor the progress of the new course.

Living in the Audubon Park area, I ride my bike or walk around the park virtually every day of the week. Aside from those involved in the construction, possibly no one got a more regular look at it than I did.

Being a golfer who grew up playing the old course, I was excited and optimistic that something special might be built in my back yard. I so much wanted the new version to be as good as advertised. But being a realist and a veteran newsman, I fully realized that not every promise made is delivered and not every promise delivered comes out the way it was advertised.

Watching the course develop was fascinating. Huge piles of dirt were unearthed for the lagoons, creating what appeared to be several versions of Monkey Hill all over the course. This dirt was in turn used to create the mounds, elevations and slopes and, of course, the elevated greens and tee boxes.

Let's just say this: A heck of a lot of earth was moved around to form the course. And then over the months, as it gradually changed from the color of dirt to emerald green, you could start to use your imagination.

As the work neared conclusion, even an untrained eye could see the quality and the beauty from the jogging and biking paths. But seeing it and playing it are not the same. The new Audubon Park Golf Course opened this week. I have played it. And I have talked to many people who have played it.

Here is a cross-section of comments: Stunning. Breathtaking. Beyond belief. First class. Maybe the best greens in the city. Incredible vistas. A tough course that makes you use virtually every club in your bag.

But don't take it from me. Take it from a couple of guys who hadn't watched it develop as I had, who heard it might be something special but didn't know what to expect.

"Everybody in my foursome was shocked," said Vic Hughes. "The elevations, the water, they're not little ponds, they are huge lagoons. The contours, the mounds -- it's something totally different. And the greens are better than any course in the city." That, coming from a golfer who plays as much as Hughes does, says something.

"I just didn't expect to see these big lagoons. That's what you see in Florida. It was like you could almost water-ski on them."

Audubon is what is called an executive course. It measures 4,189 yards from the back tees, in comparison to typical 18-hole courses that are in the 6,500- to 7,000-yard range. At Audubon, there are 12 par-three holes, four par-fours and two par-fives. Par for the course is 62, compared with 72 for most courses.

"Normally a par-three course doesn't attract me," Hughes said. "But the fact they've got six holes that are very tough does. The course is simply immaculate. It's hard to believe something like this is Uptown."

Midway through his round, Hughes couldn't resist. He pulled out his cell phone and started calling his golfing buddies. "Wait till you see this place," he told them.

As a kid, Don Stone spent some long hours at the Audubon course. That's where he learned the game. So when he played this week, a flood of memories came rushing in.

"I tried to picture what was and what it is now," he said. "That was going through my mind -- the way it was set up before and the way it is now."

A good number of golfers had the same observation as Stone. The beauty of the new course was a distraction to their play: the yellow waterlilies in the lagoons, the flowers in bloom, the sparkling white sand in the traps, the trees all neatly trimmed and the deep green color of the fairways and greens. All that, plus the ever-present view from all over the course of the beautiful steeple of the Holy Name of Jesus Church on St. Charles Avenue. It was visual sensory overload.

"I had a hard time concentrating on my game," Stone said. Did he ever. "I went up to one tee and hit a great shot. But it was to the wrong green. That's how into the scenery I was."

The old course was flat and at the end had virtually no sand traps. But there is nothing flat about the new course and there is a minefield of sand traps out there -- 68 to be exact.

"The traps are in the right places," Stone said. "It's not an easy course. It's a test. But it's a fun course. And it's going to give a lot of golfers fits."

What's the most unusual thing about this golf course, I asked Stone. "That's easy. There's nothing to complain about," he said.

Audubon Institute, take a bow.