Looking for a chance to play two highly ranked private golf courses without paying an initiation fee and annual dues? Colorado might be your shot, as Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott is for the most part a private club that allows resort guests to play its two courses on alternating days.
Red Sky’s Tom Fazio and Greg Norman courses are both in the top five layouts in Colorado on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access courses in each state. Want to see how the rest of the state’s public courses shake out? Keep scrolling.
Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with the list of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.
Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list is likewise included below.
MORE COURSES: Best Modern | Best Classic | Top 200 Resorts|
Top 200 Residential | Top 100 Best You Can Play
(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960
(c): Classic course, built before 1960
Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses.
Best public-access courses in Colorado
Redlands Mesa in Colorado (Courtesy of Redlands Mesa/Dick Durrance)
1. Red Sky (Fazio)
Wolcott (T196m)
PHOTOS: Mountain views from the Golfweek Red Sky Challenge
2. Redlands Mesa
Grand Junction (m)
3. The Broadmoor (East)
Colorado Springs (T176c)
Best Classic Courses, built before 1960, in 2022
4. Red Sky (Norman)
Wolcott (m)
5. Haymaker
Steamboat Springs (m)
6. CommonGround
Aurora (m)
7. TPC Colorado
Berthoud (m)
David Duval gears up for the British Open at the monster course in Colorado
8. The Broadmoor (West)
Colorado Springs (c)
9. Riverdale (Dunes)
Brighton (m)
10. River Valley Ranch
Carbondale (m)
Best private courses in Colorado
Ballyneal in Colorado (Courtesy of Evan Schiller/evanschillerphotography.com)
1. Ballyneal
Holyoke (4m)
30 under 30: The top golf courses opened since 1992 in the US
2. Colorado GC
Parker (T28m)
Best Modern Courses. built after 1960, in 2022
3. Cherry Hills
Englewood (T70c)
Best Classic Courses, built before 1960, in 2022
4. Castle Pines
Castle Rock (T58m)
Top 200 Residential Golf Courses in the US in 2022
5. CC of the Rockies
Edwards (m)
6. Maroon Creek
aspen (m)
7. Glacier Club (Mountain)
Durango (m)
8. Frost Creek
Eagle (m)
9. Roaring Fork Club
basalt (m)
10. Sanctuary
Sedalia (m)
How we rank courses
The hundreds of members of the Golfweek’s Best ratings panel continuously evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings.
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