Colorado National Golf Club

Your experience at the Colorado National Golf Club is greatly enhanced if you play on a sunny, clear day. The backdrop of the front range foothills and snow-capped mountains is stunning. Towering above all the mountains is the 14er Longs Peak at 14,255 feet. The place has the best view from any driving range you can find. This is the home course of the University of Colorado golf team, located in Erie, CO, which is 15 miles east of Boulder, CO

Favorite holes on the front 9 were 1,2,3,6 & 9. Holes 2 & 3 head right toward Longs Peak. When you’re in the fairway on hole 6 and looking backwards, a stunning few of the front range. I think the front nine is the better nine.

The back nine has some unusual holes and blind shots. Hole 12 is a par 5, all uphill. The green is very tricky and hard to see all the nuisances from your 2nd or 3rd shots. The next hole is a blind shot over a fairway bunker. The course does have GPS screens, so this helps you navigate the holes easier. The par 15th hole is very unusual. Really tough to get a feel how the hole flows. The second shot has a split fairway, but the right side is very small and hard to see. However, it does head right towards Longs Peak. The best hole on the back nine is the downhill par 3, 14th hole, with the mountains as a backdrop.
Hole 16 is a par 3 with a huge green with 3 distinctive sections of the green. Hole 17 is a drivable par 4, over water for the long hitters. Hole 18 is just a difficult hole. Long, water, two-tiered green.

I felt the condition of the course had slipped since the last time I played there. There were areas of brown grass throughout the course. On the tees and in the fairways. The bunkers do not have enough sand in them still. The greens were ok and firm – hardly made a ball mark. They were poa annua greens – not real fast, bumpy and never break as much as you think. However, they fixed some of the rough spots around the cart paths and the waterfall between holes 10 & 18. As posted on their website, doing a lot of work on hole 3 with some drainage issues.

The starter was pleasant and told us you can see the pin from every tee, except hole 2. The price of $75 was very reasonable for this quality of golf course.

The course is in terrible condition.

It needs water BAD! I know it is early season but it is lacking some serious water. Not uncommon to be hitting off dirt in the middle of the fairway.

The sand traps are very hard.

Gotta’ get water on the golf course, folks! I know it’s spring in Colorado, but today wasn’t a real enjoyable round , as the turf is extremely spotty all over.. and greens aren’t recovering as fast as they should with the mild weather we’ve been having. I’m probably being too hard on the course, but I’ve come to expect better from my alma mater! Keep working hard, and Go Buffs!

The pace of play was too slow to finish a full 18. The sun was setting rapidly when we were in 16 so we decided to skip a hole since the group ahead of us seemed to be dilly-dallying the whole back 9 to our surprise we came up on a whole log jam of what had to be 4 different groups on 18 all trying to wrap up. They either need to space out the tee times more and/or end the latest one earlier.

Other than that their native grasses off the fairway absolutely eat any ball that comes near it, super deceptive and the GPS on the carts isn't super active so if you get near those grasses it kills the speed and you have to reverse out at like 1 mph

The course was in excellent condition. Best I have seen in years. The greens are super firm and fast. Expect 15 to 20 feet of roll per shot coming into greens. If you want a tough challenge It’s a must play.
Some of the best views on the front range of Colorado.

Great day for golf. Over, conditions were good. No waiting, no one pushing us. Staff was awesome.
We will go back.

Always in great condition and will come back again. Probably one of my favorite courses not far from the city.

The course was in great shape. Because of the weather it was cart path only. which I hate because I have bad knees. They have raised their rates I believe they are charging too much but all in all the course and staff were fantastic.

This is the home course of the University of Colorado golf team, located in Erie, CO, which is 15 miles east of Boulder, CO. Your experience at this golf course will be greatly enhanced if you play it on a clear day, with the mountains snowcapped. From the clubhouse, down to the range, you see in the distance the snowcapped mountains of the Front range, which includes the 14er – Longs Peak (14,255 ft.) It is truly a stunning backdrop.

The starter was pleasant and told us you can see the pin from every tee, except hole 2. The greens were exceptional. On the firm side, leaving only small ball marks. Smooth and the perfect speed. The price of $80 was very reasonable for this quality of golf course.

The first 3 holes are spectacular. The first hole is a beautiful, downhill par-4 dogleg left hole. Then the next 2 holes have the exceptional backdrop of the snowcapped mountains. Hole 6 is an uphill par 4. When you get to the green and look back down the fairway – one of the best views on the course. There are houses on the course, but on the front nine they are far from the fairways and they blend into the landscape. After nine holes, this course would easily receive a 5-star rating. But, we have to talk about the back nine now.
I felt the back nine was not as visually pleasing as the front. Several holes, when you’re hitting shots, you’re just not sure how the hole flows and where to hit your shot. The carts did have GPS which showed views of the holes, however, I like to know how the hole goes just by looking at it. For example, the uphill par 5 (12th), on your second shot, you just can’t determine where you should hit your shot unless you look at the GPS screen. The next hole (13th), from the tee you can’t figure out how the hole flows. I thought the par 5 (15th) was a gimmicky hole. I really had no idea where to hit my second shot. There was a split fairway to the right, but it looked very tiny. Hole 18 is extremely hard, especially if you don’t hit a good drive. There is a creek in front of the green (comes more into play if you don’t hit a good drive and trying to lay-up to the green). There is water to the right of the green, and a two-tiered green at a 45-degree angle. On the back nine the houses are closer to the tees and fairways. Many homes with nets to protect their house.

Some additional comments. The fairways were tighter than most courses you will play. The rough was not long, but the grass was dense and did affect contact with your ball. The bunkers did not have enough sand in them. I was in one bunker and I knew what was coming next – a skulled shot across the green. I thought there were to many dirt, bare spots around the cart paths. For this nice of course, there were even dandelions in the fairways and on some tees. I’ve never seen this before on an upscale golf course.

If the back nine was as good as the front, they put more sand in the bunkers and tidy up the course (bare spots and weeds), this course would easily be 5 stars. It is still a great course (4 stars), and I would play it again and always hope the skies are once again clear, so I can see the impressive snowcapped mountain backdrop.

Our first time at Colorado National. Matt in pro shop oriented us to course facilities and layout. Fred, the starter/Marshall, was very friendly and welcoming. The course is well laid out, and in excellent condition. It offers long and short holes of each par classification. The fairways are wide, allowing tolerance on less than perfect drives. The greens are somewhat large, again providing forgiveness. The multiple tee boxes were the best maintained of any course we have played this year. The course was not crowded on this weekday, so we could relax and enjoy the day. If you are looking for a shade tree to cool off on a hot day, bring your own as this course is open with no tree obstacles. We will be back!

The course is in very good winter condition - frozen ground as expected. However, being charged near summer rates for cart path only in the winter is a crime. - better to just walk the 18...about the same distance walking back and forth to the cart and less frustrating if you bring the wrong clubs with you or mis-hit the ball and gotta do the walk of shame back to the cart to move 30 yards and get new clubs and walk back out to the ball. Love the course, but don’t like the policies.