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The best golf courses in Colorado

By Derek Duncan and Stephen Hennessey
May 29, 2025
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From the Front Range to the eastern plains, from sand dunes to the rugged Western Slope to the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, Colorado boasts a wealth of diverse golf landscapes. That variety is reflected in the 30 courses we list in the Best in State ranking, exemplified by designs as diverse as Ballyneal Golf Club in the Chop Hill near the Nebraska border, the stately blend of Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones at Broadmoor's East Course in Colorado Springs, the modern Tom Fazio and Greg Norman options at Red Sky Ranch near Vail, and the one-of-a-kind, mind-bending creativity of Jim Engh at Redlands Mesa and Lakota Links in the western part of the state and Fossil Trace west of Denver. Best of all: one-third are courses you can play.

Below you'll find our 2025-'26 ranking of the Best Golf Courses in Colorado. Also be sure to check out our collection of the best courses you can play in Colorado.

Scroll on for the complete list of the best courses in Colorado. Be sure to click through to each individual course page for bonus photography and reviews from our course panelists. We also encourage you to leave your own ratings … so you can make your case for (or against) any course that you've played.

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30. Fossil Trace Golf Club
Golden, CO
3.6
14 Panelists
Previous rank: NR
Driving up, this public course in the center of Golden, Colo., seems to hold little promise. The locale is a hodgepodge of urban blight, with remains of a 19th-century clay pit mine edged by a high school, juvenile detention center, water park and fast-food joints. Which is why Jim Engh was the perfect architect to design Fossil Trace. His style, with recessed fairways and greens that twist, turn and funnel shots toward the center, dips beneath the urban landscape and places it out of view. What's more, Engh's emotional architecture aims to surprise and delight golfers. The back nine is one-of-a-kind, with the 11th through 15th playing beneath sandstone bluffs and rock monoliths, particularly on the 12th, where walls of fossils split the fairway and hide the green. Even the fishhook par-5 18th, all grass and water and no rock, is intriguing. Any time a course exceeds expectations, it's a fun day of golf.
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29. Columbine Country Club
Littleton, CO
3.7
5 Panelists
Previous rank: 24
Columbine Country Club was the center of the golf world in the summer of 1967 when it played host to the PGA Championship won by Don January. That was the same year it appeared in our ranking of America’s 200 Toughest Courses. The 1955 Henry Hughes design, with holes running along Dutch Creek and the South Platte River, including one par-4 with an island green, has been quieter nationally but remains a mainstay in Denver private club circles (Hughes, the son of one of Donald Ross’s associates in charge of building The Broadmoor, was the preeminent golf course architect in Colorado during the 1950s and ‘60s). Rees Jones and associate Greg Muirhead remodeled the course in 2020.
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28. Cherry Creek Country Club
Denver, CO
3.8
9 Panelists
Previous rank: NR
Cherry Creek Country Club is one of the best courses in Colorado. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information
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27. The Golf Club at Bear Dance
Larkspur, CO
3.6
7 Panelists
Previous rank: NR
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.
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26. Eisenhower Golf Club: Blue
USAFA Academy, CO
3.6
10 Panelists
Previous rank: NR
Eisenhower Golf Club: Blue is one of the best public golf courses in Colorado. Check out our experts' reviews and how they rate the course
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25. The Ridge at Castle Pines North
Castle Rock, CO
3.8
9 Panelists
Previous rank: 21

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. (According to the city website, The Ridge is municipally owned, but privately managed by Troon Golf.)

I'm not saying The Ridge is as great a golf course as Sanctuary or Castle Pines, both of which have resided on Golf Digest's list of America's 100 Greatest, or even quite as good as the Country Club at Castle Pines, one of Jack Nicklaus' relatively hidden gems. The Ridge at Castle Pines has far too many panoramic views of rooftops and power poles to make it a great course, in my opinion, but architecturally its Tom Weiskopf design, a residential layout that loops along pine-dotted foothill ridges and across rocky foothill slopes, does provide playing qualities very similar to those experienced at the three private neighboring clubs.

Explore our complete review here—including bonus photography and ratings from our expert panelists.

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24. Keystone Ranch Golf Course
Keystone, CO
3.7
8 Panelists
Previous rank: NR
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 of holes playing in a forest before opening up to a vast expanse, where the fairways are lined with native grasses.
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23. The Club At Flying Horse Weiskopf Course
Colorado Springs, CO
3.8
4 Panelists
Previous rank: 25
The Club At Flying Horse: Weiskopf Course is ranked 23rd in Colorado.
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22. RainDance National Golf Club
Windsor, CO
3.8
10 Panelists
Previous rank: 22
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.
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21. The Country Club At Castle Pines
Castle Rock, CO
4.3
9 Panelists
Previous rank: 16
The Country Club At Castle Pines is one of the best courses in Colorado. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information
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20. The Club at Flying Horse: Phil Smith
Colorado Springs, CO
3.9
4 Panelists
Previous rank: NR
Phil Smith, the longtime design partner of Tom Weiskopf after Weiskopf and Jay Morrish split, finished this course as his partner's health was in decline due to cancer (Weiskopf passed away in 2022). Smith kept the focus on the site's views, aesthetics and gorgeous bunkers as Tom would have, but there's a little extra edginess in the hole-to-hole design that our panelists prefer to the club's original course.
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The best courses you can play in Colorado
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19. Aspen Glen Club
Carbondale, CO
3.7
3 Panelists
Previous rank: 19
Aspen Glen Club in Carbondale is one of the best courses in Colorado. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information
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18. Redlands Mesa Golf Course
Grand Junction, CO
3.6
7 Panelists
Previous rank: 17
Set against the backdrop of the Colorado National Monument in Grand Junction, Redlands Mesa is a must-play for its topography alone. Rocky outcroppings line nearly every hole, and some tees play high above the fairway, providing scenic vistas of the surrounding lunar-like landscape. The Jim Engh design was formerly ranked on our list of 100 Greatest Public Courses, reaching as high as No. 17 from 2005-’08.
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17. Bear Creek Golf Club
Denver, CO
3.4
5 Panelists
Previous rank: 20
Bear Creek Golf Club is the 17th ranked golf course in Colorado.
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16. The Broadmoor Golf Club West Course
Colorado Springs, CO
3.8
12 Panelists
Previous rank: 18
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 it 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.
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15. The Club At Ravenna
Littleton, CO
4.1
16 Panelists
Previous rank: 13
Ravenna is terraced into the arid foothills of the Rocky Mountains southwest of Denver, so most of the holes run north/south, though several offer elevated tee shots with 20-mile views up and down the Front Range. The property, which includes upscale homes, is challenging and the course is basically unwalkable for most golfers. However, the views and several gambling strategic holes, like the short par-4 seventh and par-5 15th with a second shot that must either lay up or carry a lake, keep things intriguing. The one-shot holes stand out, with three that must fly over wooded ravines, not an easy task in a market full of fun, exciting par-3s. Located just north of one of the Denver market's original must-see courses, Arrowhead, routed through 100-foot-tall red rock outcroppings, Ravenna was one of the first courses the late architect Jay Morrish designed after going separate ways with his former partner, the late Tom Weiskopf.
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14. TPC Colorado
Berthoud, CO
4.1
14 Panelists
Previous rank: 14

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 Fort Collins, 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.

Schaupeter, a 1990 University of Colorado grad who worked for architect Keith Foster for eight years before forming his own design company in St. Louis, was pumped. This would be the first TPC course built in over a decade, and the challenge would be to make it playable for homeowners yet difficult for pros. 

Explore our complete review here—including bonus photography and ratings from our expert panelists.

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13. Denver Country Club
Denver, CO
4.3
17 Panelists
Previous rank: 15
Denver Country Club mirrors the experience of many urban courses. When the club moved to its current location in 1905, the property was rural prairie on the outskirts south of what is now downtown Denver. The presence of the country club added prestige to this nascent suburb and influenced the decision of the moneyed class to move in this direction. As the city expanded, it consumed the area surrounding the club and course, and today, located in the heart of Cherry Hills Village, it is enclosed by expensive homes, high rises, shops and restaurants. The course has been tinkered with relentlessly through the decades as the club was never quite settled on how the design, hazards and issues with Cherry Creek, running through the middle of the course, should be handled. It seems to have found some relative peace under the ongoing consultation of Gil Hanse and his team, who have helped dial in the bunkering and course conditions, especially following a comprehensive 2012 renovation, though tree clearing and other adjustments continue. These include the construction of new green complexes at the par-3 7th and lengthened par-3 17th in 2020. There's a lot of golf packed into a small footprint here with the creek coming into play on a third of the holes, and Denver Country Club seems to have found the design recipe to match its priceless setting.
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12. Frost Creek Golf Club
Eagle, CO
4
12 Panelists
Previous rank: 12
Consistently ranked on our Best in Colorado list, Frost Creek, formerly known as Adam's Rib, is a scenic Tom Weiskopf design situated in the Rockies, a couple of hours west of Denver. The course plays more open than you might expect from a course set in the mountains. Tall native grasses and large bunkers frame many fairways along the rolling terrain, set against a beautiful mountain backdrop.
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11. Red Sky Ranch & Golf Club Norman Course
Wolcott, CO
4.1
9 Panelists
Previous rank: 11
There are two 18s at Red Sky Ranch, one designed by Greg Norman, the other 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.
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10. Country Club of the Rockies
Edwards, CO
Previous rank: 8
A Jack Nicklaus design in the beautiful mountains of Colorado, the Country Club of the Rockies offers beautiful mountain views without arduous elevation changes. Despite being 7,400 yards from the tips, the course is not that excessive in length, thanks to it sitting 7,200 feet above sea level. Originally built with very pronounced slopes, after a decade of use, the putting surfaces were softened for playability. The course includes many Nicklaus trademarks, including the split-fairway second, a 100-yard bunker on the par-5 seventh that guards the layup area and a carry over Eagle River at the 12th on the approach. Overall, Country Club of the Rockies is an incredibly beautiful course that meanders through the Rockies, while still boasting the difficulty that is a hallmark of Nicklaus' design career.
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9. Red Sky Ranch & Golf Club Fazio Course
Wolcott, CO
Previous rank: 9
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 Fazio’s design consistently gets the higher Aesthetics marks.
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8. Roaring Fork Club
Basalt, CO
4.1
3 Panelists
Previous rank: 10
Roaring Fork Club in Basalt is one of the best courses in Colorado. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information
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7. Sanctuary Golf Club
Sedalia, CO
4.3
15 Panelists
Previous rank: 5
In the late 1990s, Sanctuary debuted as a counterpoint to what was then the latest fashion, the startlingly outrageous architecture of Mike Strantz. Coloradoan Jim Engh introduced his stylistic philosophy of incorporating Art Deco themes of parallel lines, sweeping curves and repetitive patterns in his bunker, fairway and green shapes. The comforting nature of his architectural style proved to be popular and soothing to many golf fans. But Sanctuary’s site itself is startling. The first tee shot drops 200 feet. Fairways twist and tumble down narrow valleys and over chasms. Enormous greens are protected not just by Engh’s squiggly bunkers but by giant transplanted pines. Sanctuary’s developers, Dave and Gail Liniger, founded the Re/Max real estate empire, but they insisted that Sanctuary have no homes that could disturb the tranquility of the course. It’s a Sanctuary indeed.
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6. The Broadmoor Golf Club East Course
Colorado Springs, CO
4.2
16 Panelists
Previous rank: 7
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 the 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).
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5. Maroon Creek Club
Aspen, CO
4.2
5 Panelists
Previous rank: 6
The stretch of golf at Maroon Creek, beginning at the par-4 fourth and ending at the 16th, is one of the finest in Colorado. Tumultuous terrain paired with design elements employed by Tom Fazio allows for an incredible experience outside Aspen. The holes feel natural to the land, and Fazio’s routing constantly provides a challenge from start to finish. The constant change in elevations means golfers must correctly judge their distances on every shot. Off the tee, Fazio offers some reprieve as oftentimes a good shot will find a speed slot, providing an opportunity to score, but the well-guarded greens mean golfers are not out of the woods just with a good drive.
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4. Colorado Golf Club
Parker, CO
4.4
19 Panelists
Previous rank: 4
The par-4 10th at Colorado Golf Club, playing downhill off the tee to a green hanging on a slope, with the Colorado Rockies in the far distance, has not a single bunker. Yet it sets the tone for what might well be Coore and Crenshaw’s finest example of how to massage a great golf course from topography that many would have considered ordinary. These designers made this stretch of Front Range southeast of Denver extraordinary. They ran fairways across sagebrush hills that are dotted with pines. They positioned greens on buttes and the far sides of barrancas. Colorado Golf Club is a second-shot course where seemingly generous landing areas can result in awkward hanging lies for approach shots to greens that run left or right or even away from the direction of play. The massive par-5 first is one of the most exciting first holes in a time zone known for exciting opening holes. It's then followed by a short cross-ravine par-3 benched into a hillside like its inspiration, the second at Prairie Dunes. In 2019, the course hosted the USGA Mid-Amateur.
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3. Cherry Hills Country Club
Englewood, CO
4.6
24 Panelists
Previous rank: 3
When Cherry Hills opened in the early 1920s, it was a ground-breaking design, with the nation’s first par-5 island green and closing back-to-back par 5s, although in championships, the 18th is played as a par 4. In the 1960 U.S. Open, winner Arnold Palmer popularized the idea of a drivable par-4 by going for the first green in every round. Curiously, when Palmer and partner Ed Seay remodeled Cherry Hills in 1976, they lengthened the first hole so no player could duplicate Arnie’s feat. Almost 50 years later, modern equipment has once again made the first hole reachable from the tee. A decade's worth of renovation and individual feature restoration by Tom Doak and Eric Iverson of Renaissance Golf have primed Cherry Hills for the next phase of its illustrious tournament history, which began with the 2023 U.S. Amateur.
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2. Castle Pines Golf Club
Castle Rock, CO
4.6
20 Panelists
Previous rank: 2
When Golf Digest began its annual Best New Course awards in 1983, the review panel selected Castle Pines as the Private Course winner. But Bill Davis, co-founder of Golf Digest and founding father of all its course rankings, didn’t care for the course and vetoed its inclusion. So, no private course was honored that year. Davis soon recognized his error, and in 1987—its first year of eligibility—Castle Pines joined America’s 100 Greatest and has remained there ever since. Club founder Jack Vickers, a Midwest oilman, had urged architect Jack Nicklaus to produce a mountain-venue design worthy of a major championship. Jack did, but when a championship never resulted, Vickers established his own, The International, which for many years was the only PGA Tour event played under a unique Stableford format. The tour returned to Castle Pines in 2024 for the FedEx Cup's BMW Championship. Like Muirfield Village, the only other solo Nicklaus design in the top 50, Castle Pines has undergone a steady procession of hole alterations to keep pace with changing technology and changing tastes. It's been lengthened to over 8,000 yards, but in Castle Rock's thin air, that still only equates to about 7,300 yards.
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1. Ballyneal Golf Club
Holyoke, CO
4.7
36 Panelists
Previous rank: 1
If Sand Hills Golf Club stands for the notion that there’s nothing more glorious than a round of golf beyond the range of cell phone reception, then Ballyneal (Tom Doak’s northeast Colorado answer to Nebraska’s Sand Hills) proves that isolated golf is even better when spartan in nature. With no carts and dry, tan fescue turf on fairways and greens, Ballyneal is even more austere than Sand Hills. It provides absolute firm and fast conditions, and with many greens perched on hilltops, the effect of wind on putts must be considered. The rolling landforms, topsy-turvy greens and half-par holes make playing here feel like a joyride. That sense of exuberance has catapulted Ballyneal from an original ranking of 95th in 2011 to its highest ranking to date at 34th.
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