The best courses you can play in Colorado

The Broadmoor Golf Club East is another timeless mountain course, built hard against Cheyenne Mountain with famed green contours that pose optical illusions. Many putts that look uphill are actually running downhill. Few golfers recognize that the East Course is a combination of nine Donald Ross holes (one through six and 16 through 18) and nine more added 30 years later by Robert Trent Jones (holes seven to 15), though a road crossing helps delineate these lower and upper holes. The East Course was the site of Jack Nicklaus’ first U.S. Amateur win in 1959 and Annika Sorenstam’s first U.S. Women’s Open win in 1995. It has also hosted 2011 U.S. Women’s Open won by So Yeon Ryu and the 2018 U.S. Senior Open won by David Toms, their first major victories as well (at least the first on the Senior circuit for Toms).

The companion to the Norman Course at Red Sky, the Fazio 18 features more elevation change, with the mostly open front nine atop a bluff dotted with hand-planted sage and juniper bushes and the back nine rising in switchback fashion far up a mountain slope through groves of aspen before plunging downhill on the final three holes. The bunkers here are some of Fazio's most elaborate. Both Red Sky Ranch courses have flip-flopped positions on the America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses ranking, but the Fazio’s design consistently gets the higher Aesthetics marks.

There are two 18s at Red Sky Ranch, one by Greg Norman, the other designed by Tom Fazio. Public play on each alternates on a daily basis. A ridgeline separates the two courses (the ridge is designated as a wildlife corridor), with the Norman 18 positioned on an old sheep ranch on the western slope, affording long-range views of the Rockies to the west and south as well as gorgeous sunsets. Typical of a Norman design, the greens are big but docile and the bunkering is plentiful and dramatically shaped.

From Golf Digest Architecture Editor emeritus Ron Whitten: I walked TPC Colorado with its architect, Art Schaupeter, during a Korn Ferry Tour event in 2019. The course is located north of Denver, south of Boulder, on highlands where the Great Plains intersects the Rocky Mountains. It's a layout serving a residential development called Heron Lakes and stretches along the east side of Lonetree Reservoir. Art explained to me that back in 2004, he'd done Highland Meadows Golf Club in nearby Windsor, Colo. for developer John Turner, who then hired him to design this course. But the project got put on hold until 2015. Art had just dusted off his 10-year-old blueprints and started staking the course when Turner informed him that he'd contracted with the PGA Tour to license the course as part of the TPC network.

For our architecture editor's complete review, click here.

While the East course has hosted the majority of USGA championships played at Broadmoor (indcluding Jack Nicklaus' 1959 U.S. Amateur victory and the 1995 Women's U.S. Open, Annika Sorenstam's first major), the West course got its chance too when it hosted the 1967 U.S. Amateur, won by Robert Dickson over heralded lifelong amateur Vinny Giles. Compared to its sibling East course, the West plays tighter off the tee with more doglegs and sloped greens that become increasingly frightening as the holes climb higher onto Cheyenne Mountain's steeper topography. It also follows the same format as the East, combining original holes built by Donald Ross near the hotel in 1918 with Robert Trent Jones' 1964 upland hole additions. The Broadmoor's best course would likely be a reunification of the Ross holes (nine holes from the East and nine from the West) were if ever played, but as it stands the West Course offers most of what the East Course does, with slightly more scenic views up on the mountain.

From Golf Digest Architecture Editor emeritus Ron Whitten: It was once said, probably first about California's Monterey Peninsula, that great golf courses breed great golf courses. That's certainly true of the foothills of the Rockies a half hour south of Denver, where The Ridge at Castle Pines North sits almost immediately next door to Sanctuary Golf Club and just to the north of The Country Club at Castle Pines, which in turn is bordered on its south by famed Castle Pines Golf Club. The Ridge, the only one of the four courses actually located in the town of Castle Pines (the others are in Castle Rock), is the only one of the four open for public play.

For our architecture editor's complete review, click here.

The newest addition to Front Range golf, opened in 2022, is a prairie style course from former Arnold Palmer associate Harrison Minchew and playing professional Fred Funks that’s laced with rugged ravines and can be stretched to over 8,400 yards, an asset in the mile high air (and somewhat ironic given that Funk was a notoriously "short" driver of the ball). Part of a large resort development that will continue to improve as it matures, there are a number of attractive but heart-pounding all-carry shots over the arroyos, meaning golfers better come with their A-games.

Playing on land that was once a ranch, Keystone Ranch is a scenic layout about an hour-and-a-half west of Denver. The Robert Trent Jones Jr. design has great variety, with the first couple holes playing in a forest before opening up to a vast expanse, where the fairways are lined with native grasses.

Situated between Denver and Colorado Springs, Bear Dance plays over 753 acres of mountainous terrain. The course has a tranquil setting, with wide fairways lined with tall Ponderosa pines and the occasional creek and ravine. There is some elevation change, including at the signature par-4 16th, which from the tee offers a picturesque view of Pikes Peak in the distance.

Less than 10 miles east of downtown Denver, CommonGround is a public layout designed by Tom Doak. The course—home to the Colorado Golf Association—plays on relatively flat terrain, and many fairways are framed by tall native grasses, giving the track a links feel. The fairways are generous, but well-placed bunkers pinch the landing areas in at strategic places, making the course playable for the average player yet more challenging for the low handicap.

This Aurora muny is a former host of the Colorado Open and has hosted numerous other statewide amateur and professional events. The course has a good amount of elevation change and presents some forced carries over thick native grasses. Back in 1998, we ranked Saddle Rock as one of the Best New Affordable Public Courses in the country. Today, with rates under $50, the quality public track remains a great value.

Breckenridge Golf Club, about an hour-and-a-half west of Denver, offers three Jack Nicklaus-designed nines. The Bear and Beaver nines first opened in the 1980s, followed by the Elk in 2001. Set in the heart of the Colorado Rockies at over 9,300 feet elevation, the three nines present a blend of tree-lined, wooded holes and others that are more open and play among native grasslands.