Colorado AvidGolfer Presents: Colorado’s Par 3 Challenge

Colorado AvidGolfer

Call them one-shotters, one-hit wonders, or, as one cyber-smartass put it, “the dumb blondes of Golf Course Architecture.” Par-3 holes can be beauties and beasts. Simultaneously tantalizing and terrifying, each pulses with the possibility of an ace or an eight. They demand your best off the tee—or else.

Which are Colorado’s best? We put the question to our Facebook followers, trusted contributors, friends and experts. More than 50 holes made the list—including one at a course that’s currently closed and four different ones from the same course. Herewith a 21-hole beauty pageant with a few camera-shy alternates thrown in.

#11 Ballyneal Golf Club, Holyoke
145-200 yards
An intimidating uphill shot that you don’t want to miss left (lost in the yucca) or short (it will roll back to you). Hit it deep into the ample green or—if the wind is howling—bail out right.

#2 Colorado Golf Club, Parker
84-154 yards
The shortest hole on the host course of this August’s Solheim Cup requires a laser-perfect tee shot to a small severely sloping green ringed by bunkers.

#13 Arrowhead Golf Club, Littleton
122-173 yards
This is the archetype. Tee from a promontory framed by sandstone monoliths 92 feet above the green. Your shot needs carry the brush yet stay dry—and heaven help you if the wind is blowing.

#3 Boulder Country Club, Boulder
128-212 yards
Though some vote for #16, the four deep bunkers and Press Maxwell’s subtly moving greens defend this tree-framed classic.

#2 Country Club at Castle Pines, Castle Rock
110-202 yards
This is an all-carry shot to a cliff-hanging green split into two levels by a front-to-back ridge. An absolute bear of a second hole.

#11 Castle Pines Golf Club, Castle Rock
140-197 yards
The elevated tee box affords a great view of a multi-tiered green framed by towering pines and bordered by a bunker on the right, a stream and waterfall short, and a flowerbed to the left. While the 75-foot perch subtracts up to two club lengths, the trees next to the tee box can mask afternoon winds, so check the flag and hope your ball finds the green—and the right tier.

#11 Mariana Butte Golf Course, Loveland
102-172 yards
A 100-foot drop in elevation leads to a green bordered by fully mature trees and Big Thompson River. Like the hole? A bunkered variation of it comes three holes later on the picturesque 126-yard 14th.

#7 Harmony Club, Timnath
83-179 yards
With a roly-poly green that’s as long as a football field, this Jim Engh designed hole can carry as much as a five-club difference, depending on the day’s pin placement.

#15 Cherry Hills Country Club, Cherry Hills Village
113-242 yards
While compelling cases can be made for hole Nos. 8 and 12, this hole sports a puny green guarded by bunkers on both sides. To the left, Little Dry Creek is closer than it looks from the tee.

#17 Country Club of Colorado, Colorado Springs
115-187 yards
Bordered along the entire right side by Curr Reservoir and defined by expansive bunkers and a long, narrow green, this Pete Dye creation near Cheyenne Mountain leaves little room for error.

#12 CommonGround Golf Course, Aurora
107-219 yards
The angle on this hole makes alignment tricky but critical. And even if you carry the small creek and avoid the wetlands, you might find one of the bunkers that surround the green on three sides.

#5 Sanctuary, Sedalia
120-188 yards
A climb to the back tee rewards you with a view of the entire Front Range, from Pikes Peak to Long’s Peak, and proper club selection from this 75-foot high perch will reward you with a chance at par. Avoid the front right bunker fronted by a rock wall and hit it deep into the severely undulating green if you want to make par or better

#10 Red Sky Golf Club (Fazio), Edwards
165-231 yards
Set against Vail’s back bowls, this bit of eye candy can turn quickly sour, depending on the wind and the pin position. You could hit a 3-wood or 9-iron to reach a putting surface 50 yards deep with a mound in the middle that tends to pour shorter shots to the front of green.

#17 The Club at Rolling Hills, Golden
128-217 yards
Classic and scenic, this intimidator features water and sand short, and bunkers left, right and long. The receptive green slopes right.

#3 Inverness Golf Club, Englewood
143-219 yards
There’s no margin for mishits, as a lake guards the front and right of the green and bunkers pinch it left and right. Aim long and pray you don’t have to chip towards the water.

#17 Riverdale Golf Course (Dunes), Brighton
115-204 yards
Pete Dye made great use of water and bunkers on this visually intimidating penultimate hole. Going for the green risks the drink; bailing out left leaves you with a delicate chip towards the water.

#17 Murphy Creek Golf Club, Aurora
138-248 yards
Not only is the hole long, it has water to the right and a deep swale to the left. Possible salvation comes in a sizable green but it might take two shots to get on.

#17 Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, Denver
114-199 yards
This delicate balance of challenge and beauty insists on proper club selection not only because the putting surface tucks in amid bunkers and an environmentally sensitive area, but because the deceptively large green can leave you with a monstrously long putt.

#17 The Golf Club at Redlands Mesa, Grand Junction
89-218 yards
Climb to the tips and let ‘er rip. One of Jim Engh’s finest holes drops 150 feet from a tiny tee to a green surrounded by a rock amphitheater and fronted by a deep bunker to the right.

#4 The Broadmoor (East), Colorado Springs
100-170 yards
Ask Meg Mallon about this hole. Leading in the final round of the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open, she tripled it after spinning her tee shot into the pond. Like most holes at The Broadmoor, just hitting the green is no guarantee of par.

#16 The Golf Club at Ravenna, Littleton
132-240 yards
Plunging from atop the Dakota Ridge Hogback, this dramatic hole has a hidden tee midway from the green for those looking for a wager.

The Penultimate Club
#17 The Golf Club at Bear Dance, Larkspur
#17 Raccoon Creek Golf Club, Littleton
#17 Plum Creek Country Club, Castle Rock
#17 Eisenhower Blue, U.S. Air Force Academy
#17 Meadow Hills Golf Club, Aurora
#17 Lakota Canyon Ranch, New Castle

Well Worth a Shot (or Three)
#12 Haymaker Golf Club, Steamboat Springs
#15 Red Rocks Country Club, Morrison
#18 Valley Country Club, Centennial
#16 Blackstone Country Club, Aurora
#11 Fossil Trace Golf Club, Golden
#16 Red Sky Golf Club (Norman), Wolcott
#10 Columbine Country Club, Littleton
#11 Ironbridge Golf Club, Glenwood Springs
#5 Keystone Ranch Golf Club
#7 Pole Creek Golf Club (Ranch 9), Winter Park
#7 The River Course, Keystone
#7 Lakewood Country Club, Lakewood
#12 The Ridge at Castle Pines North, Castle Rock
#8 Fox Hollow Golf Club (Canyons), Lakewood
#11 Eagle-Vail Golf Club, Vail
#14 Red Hawk Ridge Golf Club, Castle Rock
#11 Wellshire Golf Course, Denver
#10 Lone Tree Golf Club, Lone Tree

Did we miss you par-3 choices? Chip in below!

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.