Lakewood Country Club celebrates its centenary with an eye toward the next century.

In 1908, some 98 years before Colorado Golf Club’s debut in eastern Douglas County, a club with the identical name opened on a 112-acre alfalfa field one mile west of Denver. Founded by a mix of members from Denver Country Club and the defunct Overland Country Club who were looking for a new golf venue and some real estate to develop, the original Colorado Golf Club took advantage of the recently completed Denver & Intermountain Railroad trolley that operated between the capital and Golden. Members who did not yet own automobiles could ride the #84 streetcar to Golf Club Station at the corner of West 13th Avenue and Golf Club Road (now Pierce Street). The club would send a wagon or the members would walk to the club, which consisted of the 6,240-yard course designed by Tom Bendelow (the author, most famously, of all three Medinah Country Club courses outside of Chicago), a large tent that held lockers for knickers and clubs, and, as of 1910, a stuccoed, tile-roofed Spanish Mission style clubhouse. The club’s original mailing address of “Golf, Colorado” testifies to its impact on the region.

Today, Lakewood Country Club—as members renamed the club in 1912—continues to redefine itself. As part of a $17 million renovation, in February 2007 it opened the fourth clubhouse (fires in 1913 and 1948 had claimed the first two structures) in club history—a stunning, 40,000-square-foot John Williams-designed building that replaced one that had stood since 1949. Although the emotional and financial costs associated with demolishing the 57-year-old building led to a number of resignations, more than 140 new members, mostly in their late 30s and early 40s, have joined during the past three years. As of March 1, the night of Lakewood’s 100-Year Anniversary Black Tie Gala, the club stood only eight shy of its 450-member cap.   

In addition to driving membership, constructing the new clubhouse actually improved the golf course, which the immortal Donald Ross had refined in 1916 and Press Maxwell and Gil Hanse had tweaked later on. Relocating the building east of where its predecessor stood allowed the back nine to be reconfigured. “Holes 13 through 18 are now 10 through 15,” explains PGA Head Professional Tim Lollar. “Holes 10, 11 and 12—three of the toughest on the course—became holes 16, 17 and 18. Some members grumbled about it at first, but this is a much stronger series of finishing holes compared to the previous layout.” 

Indeed. As if navigating around the course’s more than 3,000 mature trees, four lakes and the sinuous McIntyre Creek wasn’t challenging enough, now the 461-yard 16th forces a carry of 280 yards over the creek, leaving you a short iron to a puny, elevated green. Gauging elevation on the short, par-three 17th leads to second guesses on club selection, and the trees pinching the fairway on the 420-yard, left-dogleg home hole press you to play it safe and straight—but not too short, lest your approach won’t clear the pond fronting the crowned green.

The club will open its refurbished pool on Memorial Day. But while swimming, tennis and famously raucous social events also define the Lakewood experience, golf has always shaped its core. To celebrate its centenary this summer, Lakewood’s roster of events includes “100 Days of Golf,” a random celebration during which every major club tournament—including the club championships and fabled member/guest Sliceroo Invitational—will incorporate an aspect of the 100 Year Anniversary. It will culminate on Aug. 23 with a Hickory Stick Golf Event; plus fours, tweed jacket and tie may be required.

Lakewood’s golf pedigree is unquestioned. The par-71 course, which now reaches 6,709 hilly yards from the tips, hosted the Men’s State Amateur Golf Championship in 1913, the same year legendary British players Harry Vardon and Ted Ray (the foils in Francis Ouimet’s epic U.S. Open victory at Brookline) played an exhibition there. The club has served as the site of countless Colorado Golf Association (CGA) championships since the founding of that organization in 1915 (with Lakewood member Michael A. “Mac” McLaughlin as its first president). Club members have won the state’s premier tournament, the CGA Match-Play Championship, a record 24 times, with McLaughlin taking the inaugural event and Larry McAtee winning four (1963-65 and 1972); Steve Irwin, the son of McAtee’s University of Colorado teammate, Hale Irwin, was the most recent winner, claiming the title in 2004. 

In 1955, Marilynn Smith won the first of two LPGA Mile High Opens contested at Lakewood, and in 1965 the prestigious U.S. Women’s Amateur Open arrived there, with Jean Ashley defeating Anne Quast 5 & 4. Another U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, the iconic Babe Didrikson Zaharias (who won the event at Southern Hills in 1946), put Lakewood on the national golf map. Voted by the Associated Press and ESPN as the greatest female athlete of the 20th century, the Lakewood member won 41 LPGA events, including 10 majors, and in 1946 became the first U.S. player to win the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship. In 1947, Zaharias and members of Lakewood, Cherry Hills and Denver country clubs also helped bring professional golf to Colorado in the form of the Denver Open. 

Zaharias is one of 25 Lakewood members in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame—the most from any club in the state (see sidebar). Pla ques bearing the likenesses and accomplishments of these immortals grace the clubhouse corridor leading to the golf shop. These are naturally not Lakewood’s only distinguished members. Over the years, a diverse group, including business owners, executives, physicians, attorneys and educators, have called the club home. Familiar Colorado names such as Coors, Bonfils, Vickers, Morey, Leprino, Brown and Emich have appeared on the membership roster, as have those of small business owners such as insurance agents John Gardner II and Jack Miller and attorney Tony Veto, whose families have belonged for two and three generations. 

But Lakewood’s not all about legacies. “Today the younger members with financial resources can go anywhere they want,” Larry McAtee told Cathleen M. Norman, author of the book, Lakewood Country Club: A Colorado Classic—100 Years in the Making. “They have no legacy or allegiance to Lakewood, but they selected this as their private club. Now it’s being re-energized with younger families. With a jewel of a course, a new clubhouse, a full membership and a wonderful 100-year history to reflect upon, the future for Lakewood Country Club looks good!”

 

Jon Rizzi is the editor of Colorado AvidGolfer. Parts of this article derive from the book, Lakewood Country Club: A Colorado Classic—100 Years in the Making, by Cathleen M. Norman. To purchase this publication or to learn more about Lakewood Country Club, visit lakewoodcountryclub.net or call 303-233-8333.

 

 

Lakewood Legacies

Lakewood Country Club has more members in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame than any other club. For more information on their accomplishments, visit the permanent exhibit at Riverdale Golf Courses in Brighton or go online to cogolf.org/hof.php.

 

Earl C. Brayer

Phyllis Buchanan

Robert E. Clark Sr. 

Dale Douglass

Les Fowler

John R. Gardner II

Bob Hold

Henry Hughes

Charlie Keller

John Kraft

Charles “Babe” Lind

Gary Longfellow

Bill Majure

Larry McAtee 

Michael A. “Mac” McLaughlin

Paul McMullen 

Janet Ruma Moore

Kent Moore

N.C. “Tub” Morris

Tom Reed 

Gene Root

Warren Simmons

Ralph J. Vranesic

Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias