Dick Durrance II
As part of GOLF’s rigorous assessment process for our newcomers Top 100 courses in the USA AND The best 100 courses you can play ranking, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in each state.
You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Colorado. And if you’re looking to create your future ride, you’d be wise to let the new GOLF Course finder the tool helps you. Here, you can edit all of our lists—top 100 publics, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s, and more—or filter by price to create your own itinerary. perfect for your next trip.
Ranking of other GOLF courses: Top 100 courses in the world | Top 100 courses in the USA | The best 100 courses you can play | The 100 most valuable courses in the USA | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 best short courses in the world
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Best Golf Courses in Colorado (2024/2025)
SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 courses in the USA
Y = Top 100 you can play in USA
V = The 100 most valuable courses in the USA
P = Public/Resort
Ed. Note: Some subjects were removed from our ranking because they did not receive enough votes.
1. Ballyneal (Holyoke) (#)
Establishing a private club in a remote destination is not without risk and it is reasonable to expect that a club will take some time to find its footing. Now deep into its second decade, Ballyneal enjoys the best playing conditions since opening. Loose fescue fairways help the ground game options flourish as balls are launched through the loose ground. Often on a Tom Doak course, the best way to get a ball close to the hole requires imagination and creativity. That’s true of the machines here, as players enjoy finding creative ways to use the ribs and features of the bowl on holes such as the one-shot 3rd, the driveable 7th and the 15th. bruised.
2. Cherry Hills (Cherry Hills Village) (#)
While most of William Flynn’s work is concentrated around Philadelphia, this design stands out as one of the few he did west of the Mississippi River. When it opened in the early 1920s, Cherry Hills was a groundbreaking design that featured America’s first par-5 island green. After a decade-long restoration with Eric Iverson of Renaissance Golf Design, the course once again showcases Flynn’s penchant for well-placed hazards and delicately crafted greens that beg to stay below the hole. Its final stretch makes expert use of a lake as well as a stream that meanders through the property. Notable holes include his 14th, 17th (with newly restored cross bunkers at two different intersections) and the famous 18th where you have to flirt with the lake to enjoy a level stance for your long approach up. However, for sheer charm, the par 5 5th, par 3 6th and par 4 7th stretch are hard to beat and deserve better recognition.
3. Colorado GC (Parker)
4. Castle Pines (Castle Rock)
5. Broadmoor – East (Colorado Springs) (Y)
A compilation of Donald Ross’s original design and the work done by Robert Trent Jones, Broadmoor’s East course has serious pedigree; when it opened in 1918, it was the highest elevation course in the country. The East has been a mainstay of the USGA Championship, and for good reason: The tight fairways and fast greens have always produced important champions. Jack Nicklaus won the 1959 U.S. Amateur here, and the course was also the site of Annika Sörenstam’s first women’s U.S. Open win in 1995. The East Course will crown another national champion in 2025, when it hosts the U.S. Senior Open. The property also houses the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
6. CommonGround (Aurora) (V, P)
7. Bear’s Dance (Larkspur) (P)
8. The Sanctuary (Sedalia)
9. Riverdale Dunes (Brighton) (W, P)
10. Frost Creek (Eagle)
How we rank our courses
For our newly released US Top 100 and Top 100 Playable lists—a process that helped us create the top 50 rankings in the country—each panelist was given a ballot consisting of 609 courses. . Alongside the list of courses were 11 “buckets” or groupings. If our panelists deemed a course to be among the top three in the US, they marked the first column. If they believed the rate was between numbers 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50 and so on up to 250+ and even a column for “remove”. Panelists were also free to write in courses they felt should have been included on the ballot.
Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its overall score by the number of votes. From these point totals, courses are then ranked accordingly. It’s an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it has historically produced results that are widely praised. Like the game itself, there’s no need to overcomplicate things or try to fix something that already works so well.
The key to the process is the experience and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all the golfing meccas around the world, each of our 127 hand-picked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally. Many of our panelists have played more than 1000 courses in over 20 countries, some over 2000. Their handicaps range from +5 to +15.
Because the nature of course evaluation is so intensely subjective, no opinion counts. The only way, then, to build meaningful consensus is to incorporate this diversity of panelists and experiences into a ranking.
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