After an eight-year period in which there was a notable net decline in the number of golf courses in Colorado, there’s been some ongoing signs of new activity.
With officials from RainDance National in Windsor and TPC Colorado in Berthoud saying they hope to have planned courses open in the next few years, Ballyneal announced last week an addition to its private golf club complex in Holyoke.
A new 13-hole short course — designed by Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf, as was the original 18-hole championship layout at Ballyneal — is being constructed. Officials say the short course is expected to be completed this fall, with a formal opening scheduled for July 2017.
Ballyneal opened a decade ago and is currently ranked No. 4 in Golfweek’s list of the “Best Modern Courses” in the U.S. (opened 1960-present).
Ballyneal’s short course is being built on the largest of the “chop hills” on its property in northeast Colorado, within the front-nine loop of the existing course.
“There are so many dramatic possibilities out there, we’ve got to build three or four holes that rival certain ones on the original 18,” Doak said in Ballyneal’s news release.
