Best Colorado Golf Courses You Can Play

Playing golf in Colorado is an unforgettable experience, with rounds set against red rocks, alpine meadows, and snow-capped peaks. This guide cuts through the options to give you a handpicked list of the best courses you can actually play, from the Front Range to the high country. We’ll cover what makes each one special and, more important, give you some insider tips on how to play them well.

Arrowhead Golf Club: Golfing Through Geologic Wonders

Located just south of Denver in Littleton, Arrowhead Golf Club is one of the most photographed courses in the country, and for good reason. The track winds its way through stunning, 300-million-year-old red sandstone rock formations that jut dramatically out of the earth. Playing here feels less like you’re on a golf course and more like you’re in a national park. The sheer beauty can be distracting, but underneath the scenery lies a beautifully designed and challenging Robert Trent Jones Jr. layout.

Every hole offers a unique visual, from tight, tree-lined fairways to greens nestled at the base of massive rock outcroppings. The elevation changes add another layer of complexity, demanding thoughtful club selection and precision to score well. It’s a course you’ll remember for the photos you took as much as the shots you hit.

Coach’s Corner: Playing Arrowhead Smart

The biggest challenge at Arrowhead is maintaining focus. Here’s how to navigate it:

• Manage the Visuals: The red rocks are stunning, but they can make you lose sight of the target. Don’t just aim "at the rocks." Pick a small, specific target - a single tree limb, a dark spot on the fairway - and commit to that. This shrinks the hole down and helps you ignore the grandeur that can get in your head.
• Trust the Elevation Drop: Downhill shots here play much shorter than the yardage suggests. A prime example is the signature par-3 13th, where the green sits well below the tee box. It might say 170 yards, but it could easily play 150. Trust the change, take one or even two fewer clubs, and make a smooth swing. Fighting the urge to hit your "normal" club is the key.
• Position is Everything: RTJ Jr. designed the course to reward hitting the correct portion of the fairway. Bombing a driver down the middle isn’t always the best play. Look at the hole from green to tee. Where’s the pin? Where do you want your approach shot to come from? Often, hitting a 3-wood or hybrid to a specific landing area will leave you a much better angle to attack the green.

The Broadmoor (East & West): A Living Piece of Golf History

If you have a chance to play at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, take it. As a guest of the iconic hotel, you gain access to two legendary courses: the East and the West. The East Course is a Donald Ross original that has hosted major championships, including múltiplas U.S. Amateurs and the U.S. Senior Open. The West Course is a spectacular Robert Trent Jones Sr. design that incorporates more of the mountain terrain.

Playing at The Broadmoor feels like stepping back in time. The service is impeccable, the conditions are perfect, and you can feel the history in the ground beneath your feet. It’s what many consider the pinnacle of resort golf - a chance to feel like a high-end private club member for a day.

Coach's Corner: Taming a Classic Design

Classic courses like The Broadmoor demand a different kind of respect. It’s all about strategy, not power.

• Stay Below the Hole: This is the golden rule, especially on the Donald Ross-designed East Course. The greens are masters of deception, with subtle breaks that are almost invisible to the naked eye. Most greens slope from back to front. Your primary goal on every approach shot should be to leave yourself an uphill putt. A 20-foot uphill putt is infinitely easier than a 6-foot downhill putt that you can barely breathe on.
• Respect the Green Complexes: The areas around the greens are just as challenging as the putting surfaces themselves. Ross's design features collection areas and tight lies that punish aggressive shots that just miss. If the pin is tucked, don’t be a hero. Playing to the middle of the green is rarely a bad strategy here.
• Think Your Way Around: You can’t overpower The Broadmoor. It’s a second-shot golf course. On the tee, your first question shouldn't be "Can I get there with driver?" but rather "Where is the ideal spot to hit my second shot from?" Sometimes that means taking a 3-wood or a hybrid off the tee to find the A-plus position.

TPC Colorado: Test Your Game on a Tour-Level Track

Ready to see how your game stacks up against the pros? Head to TPC Colorado in Berthoud. As the host of the Korn Ferry Tour's Ascendant tournament, this course was designed to be a beast. It's famous for its sheer size - from its incredible length (stretching to almost 8,000 yards from the tips) to its massive greens and wide vistas of the Rockies. The famous holes include the 165-yard par-3 16th with its "stadium" island green, and the monstrous 773-yard, par-5 13th.

It’s wide and an open links feel, but danger lurks everywhere in the form of deep pot bunkers and water hazards bordering many of the holes thanks to the adjacent reservoirs. It is a true and modern championship test of golf.

Coach’s Corner: Navigating a Modern Monster

Don't be intimidated by the pro setup. A few smart adjustments will make your day enjoyable.

• Play the Right Tees. Period: I cannot stress this enough. This is not the place to let ego pick your tee box. Take an honest look at your average driver distance and choose the set of tees that fits your game. Playing from too far back will turn a fun day into a miserable, six-hour slog. The course has multiple tee options for a reason - use them.
• Three-Putt Avoidance is Job One: The greens are gigantic. You will find yourself with 80- and90-foot putts. When you face these, change your mindset. Your goal is not to make the putt, it's to get your first putt inside a three-foot circle around the hole. Focus on speed, not line. This lag-putting mentality will save you countless strokes by eliminating three-putts.
• Master the Knock-Down Shot: With its open layout and location next to the reservoirs, wind is almost always a factor. Learning to control your trajectory is vital. A simple knock-down is to take one extra club (e.g., a 6-iron instead of a 7-iron), grip down an inch on the club, and make a smooth, controlled 75% swing. The ball will come out lower, piercing through the wind instead of ballooning up into it.

Red Sky Golf Club (Fazio & Norman): High-Alpine Heaven

For the ultimate mountain golf experience, it’s hard to top Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott, a short drive from Vail and Beaver Creek. This is a private club that allows guests of partner lodges to play, an opportunity you should seize if possible. It features two stellar courses that are rotated daily between member and resort guest play: one designed by Tom Fazio and the other by Greg Norman.

The Fazio course is known for its beautiful flow and playability, with dramatic bunkering and perfect greens. The Norman course is a tough, rugged design that weaves through sagebrush, juniper, and aspen groves. Both offer immaculately cared for conditions and breathtaking, 360-degree views of the surrounding peaks. This is mountain golf at its most polished and memorable.

Coach’s Corner: Conquering the Altitude

Playing above 7,500 feet changes the game. Here’s what you need to know.

• The Altitude Factor is Real: Your golf ball will fly significantly farther here - typically 10-15% farther than at sea level. A 150-yard 8-iron might become a 165-yard shot. Before your round, spend real time on the driving range. Hit multiple balls with your 9, 7, and 5-irons to get a feel for your new distances. Don’t try to figure it out on the first hole.
• Mastering Uneven Lies: In the mountains, you'll rarely find a perfectly flat lie. This is a skill you must have. Remember this simple rule of thumb: when the ball is above your feet, it will tend to fly left, so aim a bit right of your target. When the ball is below your feet, it will curve to the right, so aim a touch left. On both, choke down on the club, widen your stance, and focus on a balanced finish.
• Hydrate or Suffer: This is the non-golf tip that makes the biggest difference to your score. The dry mountain air dehydrates you much faster than you realize. Fatigue sets in, focus wanes, and your swing falls apart on the back nine. Drink water constantly, even before you feel thirsty. Start hydrating the day before your round.

Fossil Trace Golf Club: Where Dinosaurs Walked the Fairways

Located in Golden, Fossil Trace stands out as one of the most unique and highly-rated municipal courses anywhere. The course is built around and through a former clay quarry, and gets its name from the triceratops footprints and other fossils that were discovered during construction and preserved near the 12th green. But it's more than a gimmick - it's a tremendous golf course at a great value.

The holes that wind through the quarry (11-15) are remarkable examples of target golf, where you navigate around imposing rock structures and forced carries. The rest of the course is a more traditional, and equally excellent, parkland-style design. Voted the “Best Golf Course in Denver”, it offers a private club feel and incredible conditions for a public pricetag.

Coach’s Corner: Playing Target Golf at Fossil Trace

To score well here, you need to think your way around, especially on the back nine.

• Embrace the Layout: When you get to the quarry holes, especially the memorable par-5 12th, your mindset has to shift. It's not about length, it’s about positioning. Hitting the ball to a specific yardage and location is more important than blasting a driver. Look at the scorecard, see the distances needed to clear obstacles, and choose the club that executes that shot.
• Identify Your "Can't Miss" Spots: Some holes have clear "no-go" zones. Hitting into one of the massive rock structures in the middle of a fairway is a guaranteed penalty. Before each shot, your first priority is to identify the one spot you absolutely cannot hit the ball. Then, plan your shot to avoid that spot at all costs. An easy bogey is always better than chasing a risky par that can quickly spiral into a double or triple bogey.
• Study the Greens: much like at the Broadmoor, Fossil Trace’s greens have many subte breaks. Take a few extra senconds walking to each putt to analyze the putt from all angles, you'll thank me I promise you. Taking that extra few seconds to do the little things correct will add it and pay off hugely by the end of your round.

Final Thoughts

From the geological wonders of Arrowhead to the high-alpine vistas at Red Sky, Colorado offers a remarkable and diverse public golf scene. Each course presents a unique canvas and a different kind of test, rewarding intelligent course management and good decision-making far more often than brute force.

Making those smart choices on the course is what separates a good round from a great one. We built Caddie AI to be that expert voice in your pocket to help you navigate these puzzles. If you’re standing on the 16th at TPC Colorado wondering about the carry over the water, or you've found a tricky sidehill lie at Red Sky, I can analyze the situation - I can even look at a photo of your ball's lie - and give you a simple strategy, a smart club recommendation, and the confidence to execute the right shot.