The Best Golf Courses in Colorado
Colorado golf is mile high golf, where the ball flies and the backdrop is the Rockies. The state hides a top five private course in the sandhills, a Jack Nicklaus design that now hosts the PGA Tour, the resort grandeur of The Broadmoor, and a clutch of public courses good enough to plan a trip around. Here are the ten best courses in Colorado, ranked with our verdicts and an honest read on which you can play.
Photograph: Castle Pines Golf Club, via Google
How we chose
We ranked these courses on the quality of the golf, their design pedigree and tournament history, and the experience of playing them at altitude in spectacular country, then we weighed access honestly, because a list that ignores whether you can get on is no use to a travelling golfer. Colorado's very best courses are private, so we have flagged each clearly, and where a private gem and a playable course are close we have noted both.
The result is a mix: aspirational private clubs that set the ceiling of Colorado golf, the resort grandeur of The Broadmoor, and a strong run of public and resort courses that anyone can book. One thing unites them all, the altitude, which adds roughly a tenth to your carry, so club down and enjoy the longest drives of your life. For a full trip, base around Denver for the public golf and add a mountain resort or the sandhills for the marquee rounds.
The 10 best golf courses in Colorado
Ballyneal Golf and Hunt Club
Out in the Chop Hills of remote northeastern Colorado, a dozen miles from Nebraska, Tom Doak built a minimalist masterpiece on rolling, links like sand. Firm, fast and treeless, with no posted yardages and a pure walking, ground game ethos, Ballyneal sits at or near the top of every Colorado ranking and on the national greatest lists. It is a private retreat and a hard tee time, but it is the best golf in the state.
Castle Pines Golf Club
Jack Nicklaus's parkland course rolling through Ponderosa pines south of Denver opened in 1981, hosted the PGA Tour's International for two decades under its unique Stableford format, and returned to the Tour as host of the BMW Championship in 2024. Long, beautifully conditioned and dramatic with the Front Range as a backdrop, it is one of the great private clubs in the Rockies and a perennial national top fifty course.
Cherry Hills Country Club
The most historic course in Colorado, William Flynn's 1923 parkland classic in suburban Denver has staged three US Opens, multiple PGA Championships and a US Amateur. It is forever bound to Arnold Palmer's charge in the 1960 US Open, when he drove the first green and shot a final round 65 to win. Private and storied, it is the spiritual home of championship golf in the state.
Colorado Golf Club
Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw routed this modern masterpiece through the high prairie and gambel oak southeast of Denver, and it opened in 2007 to immediate acclaim, going on to host the 2013 Solheim Cup and a Senior PGA Championship. Wide, strategic and walkable, with bold greens and big elevation changes, it is the finest modern course in Colorado and a private club of real ambition.
The Broadmoor (East Course)
The grande dame of Colorado resort golf, Donald Ross's East Course opened in 1918, was extended by Robert Trent Jones Senior in 1952, and once ranked as the highest course in the country. It has hosted US Women's Opens, US Amateurs, US Senior Opens and a young Jack Nicklaus's first US Amateur win in 1959, and it is booked for the US Senior Open again in 2031 and 2037. The best marquee round in the state that you can simply book as a resort guest.
Sanctuary
Jim Engh's dramatic course in the hills near Sedalia is one of the most exclusive and most photographed in the state, a tumbling, scenic layout that does not sell memberships and is played almost entirely through charity events, having raised well over one hundred million dollars for good causes since 1997. Aspirational and rare, it is a course most golfers see only on a list, but it earns its place on quality alone.
Red Sky Ranch
Near Vail and Beaver Creek, Red Sky Ranch offers two excellent mountain courses, a Tom Fazio layout and a longer, tougher Greg Norman design, set among aspen and sage with big Rocky Mountain views. It is semi private with limited access for resort guests, and it is the standout choice for combining marquee mountain golf with a Vail valley ski town base.
CommonGround Golf Course
A second Tom Doak design in the state and the most accessible great course in Colorado, CommonGround was built for the Colorado Golf Association on the site of the old Lowry Air Force Base east of Denver, opening in 2009 as a pay and play home for state golf. Treeless, firm and full of clever, undulating greens, it is superb value and our pick for the best public round on the Front Range.
Arrowhead Golf Club
One of the most scenic public courses in America, Robert Trent Jones Junior's Arrowhead threads through the towering red sandstone formations of Roxborough on the edge of the foothills southwest of Denver. The golf is fun and fair and the setting, fairways framed by giant red rock fins, is unforgettable. A bucket list public round and an easy add to any Denver golf trip.
Fossil Trace Golf Club
A Jim Engh public course in Golden, in the foothills west of Denver, Fossil Trace is built on a former clay quarry and is named for the genuine dinosaur footprints preserved beside the twelfth green. Quirky, dramatic and well conditioned, with quarry walls and mountain views, it is a characterful, accessible round and one of the best municipal style experiences in the state.
Designers, opening years, tournament history and access verified June 2026 from course and tour sources; access policies and green fees change, so always confirm current rates and how to play directly before booking. Check tee time availability.
Plan your Colorado golf trip
Tell us which of these appeals and roughly when and who is travelling, and one concierge matches the courses to your group, secures the playable tee times at The Broadmoor, Red Sky Ranch, CommonGround, Arrowhead and beyond, and costs the trip to the head, with no obligation.
Colorado golf questions
What is the best golf course in Colorado?
By the consensus of state rankings, Ballyneal Golf and Hunt Club in the sandhills near Holyoke is the best course in Colorado, a Tom Doak minimalist masterpiece on rumpled, links like ground in the remote northeast of the state. It is a private club, so for the travelling golfer the best courses you can actually play are The Broadmoor's East Course in Colorado Springs and the excellent public options CommonGround, Arrowhead and Fossil Trace around Denver.
Can you play the best Colorado courses without a membership?
Some of them. The Broadmoor East is a resort course open to guests, Red Sky Ranch welcomes resort guests, and CommonGround, Arrowhead and Fossil Trace are public, accessible and very good value. The top of the list, Ballyneal, Castle Pines, Cherry Hills, Colorado Golf Club and Sanctuary, are private or invitation and charity only, and need a member, a guest invitation or an event to play.
Does Colorado altitude make the ball go further?
Yes. Most of Colorado's best courses sit between 5,000 and 6,500 feet above sea level, and the thin mountain air carries the ball noticeably further, commonly around 10 percent more than at sea level. The Broadmoor East, at over 6,000 feet, was once the highest course in the United States. Club up less than you think, trust the extra carry, and let your trip planner factor the altitude into yardages.
When is the best time to play golf in Colorado?
Summer and early fall, roughly June to early October, are the prime golf season across most of Colorado, with warm, dry days and cool evenings; mountain courses such as Red Sky Ranch have a shorter season tied to the snow. The Front Range courses around Denver and Colorado Springs open earlier and close later and can be played in shoulder season on mild days. Always confirm seasonal opening and rates directly before booking.
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Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Designers, opening years, tournament history and access verified June 2026. Rankings are our editorial judgement. Last reviewed June 2026.