Like Jimi Hendrix, who kept releasing albums long after he died, Robert Trent Jones seems to keep producing golf courses in the afterlife. At last count, Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Trail featured an 468 holes of golf—an astounding number, considering most of them opened after their progenitor’s 2000 passing at the age of 93.
bear
Colorado boasts exactly 18 holes designed by Robert Trent Jones. They’re all in Colorado Springs, currently split between the East (designed in 1918 by Donald Ross) and West courses at The Broadmoor. It was during the construction of the West Course in the early 1960s that RTJ’s namesake son and apprentice, Bobby—then in his early 20s—fell in love with the three-dimensional qualities unique to mountain golf.
During the next four decades Robert Trent Jones Jr. has expressed that fondness seven times in Colorado, yielding 126 challenging golf holes. While not quite forming a gauntlet on par with Alabama’s, you can bet he’s been to each course—and has a story to tell about it.
Arrowhead Golf Club (1972)
"What a site upon which to build my first Colorado course—the cathedral-like conglomerate rocks jutting up from the rolling terrain at the foothills of the Rockies is simply a majestic setting. I had to lay the course in gently so I didn’t misuse the site. I felt like a sculptor being given a great piece of marble. You want to carve it into a special form, so you study the veins and don’t impose your idea on it. Otherwise you wind up cracking it."
10850 Sundown Trail, Littleton; 303-973-9614; arrowheadcolorado.com
Rates: $69-$119
Rollingstone Ranch Golf Club (1974)
This was called the Steamboat Golf Club when it opened. There was clear, fresh, fast-rushing water—Fish Creek—running through the land and we followed it because we were allowed to. These days, we’re mandated to stay away from the creeks. I honestly don’t know if you could build a course like that today. We respected natural wonders and understood the underlying ethos of the land—that the golf course would protect and filter. The water helps with strategy—you can’t always see where it comes into play—and the thick pines an aspen create a hermetic experience on each hole."
1230 Steamboat Blvd., Steamboat Springs; 970-879-1391; rollingstoneranchgolf.com
Rates: $75-$100 (Sheraton Steamboat guests); $100-$140 (non-guests)
Keystone Ranch Golf Course (1980)
The main thing about keystone is its very high, like 9,000 feet. So we had to accommodate that not only with length but also with width. The course incorporates three distinct styles because the land requested it. There are the parkland—or core—holes that spread out in a western way; the mountain holes that thread through the lodgepole pines; and the marshy, or heathland holes that feel almost linkslike. The ownership was very intelligent to put the housing in lodgepoles, looking down onto the golf course."
1239 Keystone Ranch Road, Keystone; 970-496-4250; keystoneresort.com
Rates: $85-$140 Beaver Creek Golf Club (1982)
The ownership at Beaver Creek were mostly interested in the ski mountain. They wanted to put as much housing into that valley as they could, so the housing influenced the layout—it’s a bit narrower than my other mountain courses—and the design. It’s an interesting course in that it starts straight down hill and stepladders back up the hill. Because it’s mostly a private course, I didn’t make the bunkers too deep. I played the first-ever round there with the owner, Harry Bass, and President Ford and Al Geiberger. On the last hole, I told Mr. Bass to putt first, then Mr. Ford, then I went, and then Al Geiberger. This way we all held the course record for one minute."
103 Offerson Road Avon; 970-845-5775; beavercreek.com/golf
Rates: $89-185 (exclusively to Beaver Creek, Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead lodging guests) The Club at Crested Butte (1984)
This was a course built as part of the Skyland Resort, when middle-class Americans could afford a second home. It’s a very open course, with wide vistas and view of the ski hill. There are a lot of bunkers, and they resemble the patterns of snow melting in the mountains. I tried to create a visual sense of harmony, something I learned from studying Japanese scroll art. When you see a silhouette in the distance, you echo it in the foreground. The shapes of the fairways and greens strategically echo the surrounding landscape, which reveals itself from virtually every hole."
385 Country Club Drive, Crested Butte; 970-349-6131; crestedbutte.com
Rates: $95-$135 (afternoons only); $155 (mornings with 24-hour call-ahead) 
Ute Creek Golf Course (1997)
This is a land-development course that’s public. The reason for this course’s existence was to sell real estate. That doesn’t diminish it. Is it three-dimensional like my mountain courses? No. It’s a straightforward course with a number of double-dogleg par fives that occupies a prairie landscape with the mountains in one direction and the endless horizon in the other. I’m very proud of Ute Creek because it has strong shot values but it’s not overdesigned. It’s functional art that serves a wide variety of players. Plus, it manages water—the West’s most precious resource—in an efficient way."
2000 Ute Creek Drive
, Longmont; 303-776-9323; ci.longmont.co.us/golf/utecreek
Rates: $34-$39
Brightwater Club (2007)
You’re going to remember every hole on this course. Some bring Gypsum Creek into play; others run up against and tuck into the gypsum outcroppings. There’s are split fairways and lot of variety, especially on the back nine where the holes toss and turn. Unfortunately, the club is going through severe economic stress. The course itself is done, and they’ve been maintaining it. I don’t know how it’s going to sort out."
3870 Gypsum Creek Road,
Gypsum; brightwaterclub.com
Rates: Private