You might picture more winter-type sports when you think of Colorado, but the state needs to be acknowledged for its abundance of notable golf courses. With almost year-round conditions to work your wedges, Colorado golf courses are important for the wildlife and infrastructure across the state. If you want to do your part as a golfer, these are the best golf courses in Colorado to tee off at.
Courses for more of a challenge
RainDance National
PGA Tour Champ Fred Funk helped design the RainDance National, which opened in 2022 in Windsor. The course isn’t for the faint of heart, with more than 250 feet of elevation changes, challenging tee boxes, and over 8,400 yards of unforgiving terrain. If you want a course to test your skills, this is one for you. On the bright side, the views from all 18 holes are stunning.
Colorado Golf Club
A Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore design, the Colorado Golf Club is made of 18 holes across 7,600 yards of challenging green. Holes 15 and 16 are a risky par 5 that leads into a more fun par 3 hole 17. Don’t let the beauty of the tree-lined hilly terrain distract you, those fairways are littered with hazards, like the water feature you’ll have to battle on hole 16.
Good courses for beginners
Cattail Creek Golf Course
If you are a newer golfer — or just haven’t found your swing yet — bring your clubs to the Cattail Creek Golf Course in Loveland. It’s a smaller 9-hole course with every hole a par 3. With a driving range to warm up on and self-teaching stations for you to work on whatever part of your game needs help, this course is perfect for a starter before tackling some of the other ones.
Cherokee Ridge Golf Course
Open for tee time since 1971, Cherokee Ridge Golf Course is a gentle 9-hole, par 3 course. It’s a great spot to learn how to play, get a quick game in while on vacation, or work on tightening up your skills. The gorgeous views of Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains are a bonus. Though it’s a 9-hole course, you could play twice from different sets of tees, of which there are 3, if you want to get a full 18 holes in.
Courses with a view
Telluride Golf Club
There is nothing like the feeling of swinging a club at the highest-elevation golf course in the world. Telluride Golf Club sits on the beautiful Turkey Creek Mesa, with 13,000 to 14,000-foot peaks to make you forget how bad your handicap looks. But actually, the thinner air should help your score since the ball doesn’t have as much resistance to fight. Be ready for the best long drives you’ve ever hit, but stop and take in the panoramic view at the 17th tee.
Sanctuary Golf Club
You can’t go wrong with 12,500 acres of gorgeous landscape for your next round of golf. See nothing but the foothills of the Rock Mountains with no development in sight, as the Sanctuary Golf Club lives up to its name for golfers of any experience level. If you are lucky enough to play at Sanctuary, be on the lookout for black bears, mountain lions, or bobcats, who call the course home. To keep the course pristine, only 9,000 rounds are allowed to be played there each year, with most of them fundraising tournaments whose money gets donated to charity.
Courses with history
Fossil Trace Golf Club
Golf is an old sport, but it isn’t dinosaurs old. If you want to combine your love of history with your passion for golf, the Fossil Trace Golf Club will cover you from tee to tail. Though the course opened in 2003, 64 million years ago, dinos walked around holes 11 through 15. You’ll swing next to triceratops footprints and could even look at mining equipment along the course.
Ballyneal Golf Club
Making GolfDigest’s 100 Greatest Courses list consistently since 2011, Ballyneal Golf Club transports players to Scotland in the 1400s, where they will feel like they are witnessing the start of golf. Just because the course takes on a minimalist look doesn’t mean it’s easy. The combination of high plains and sand dunes makes for a windy fight for each hole on the links-ish green.
The Broadmoor Golf Club
If you want to play on a course that has seen some things, the Broadmoor Golf Club celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2023. President Eisenhower, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby all played a round on the green, and it was host to the U.S. Men’s Senior Open in 2018 and the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open. Talk about a rich history. There is an East Course and West Course on the grounds, which are pretty similar, except you might like the views on the West Course a little better.
With plenty of beautiful Rocky Mountain views, some courses open 362 days a year, and a general golf time frame of 10 months out of the year available for tee time, there’s a reason this state is a golf destination. Play for the view, the history, or the challenge — just make time for a round at these golf courses in Colorado.
