Flatirons GC -- Boulder, CO; looking for info.

[Phil McDade]

Treehouse:

I'm doing some course research, and am wondering if anyone has played or has some familiarity with Flatirons GC, in Boulder, CO, which apparently dates to the 1930s. Any significant re-design? Does the course hold any interest? Thanks!

[Kirk Gill]

Phil, I played the course some when I was in college. It's a City of Boulder municipal course, and the city has a website with some historical info on the place, including an old scorecard and the original routing of the course -

http://ci.boulder.co.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1816&Itemid=1854

I wasn't as much of an archie nut when I played there, but I remember it as a pleasant walk, great views, inexpensive. Lots of straight holes and a couple water holes where a ball or three was lost back in the day. We used to go up to Haystack Mountain and play a lot (easiest and cheapest), and at Lake Valley also (more expensive, decent  course, great twilight rate!), and neither myself or my friends had a strong opinion one way or the other as to which one we'd play on a given day.

I know this isn't any help for what you're after, but I have played it, so I thought I'd throw in........

[Tim Pitner]

I've only played the course once, but it did not leave much of an impression.  It looks and feels like a somewhat older course (greens are smaller, it has mature trees, etc.), which is rare for public courses in the Denver/Boulder area (Wellshire being another exception).  Perhaps it's worth another look but I would say that it doesn't hold a lot of interest.  In my experience, Boulder offers a lot of things, but good golf really isn't one of them. 

[Christoph Meister]

Hello Phil,

I have not been in Colorado, but I do have a 1929 scorecard from a Boulder Country Club in Boulder, Co. in my collection.
Maybe this is the course you are looking for - please find the scans of my scorecard below.

Kind regards from Germany

Christoph

[Kirk Gill]

Interesting Cristoph !

I don't think that they're the same courses, but I could of course be wrong. Flatirons was build around 1938, and while their website says that they were called Boulder Country Club for a time in the 1950's, if the date on your card is correct, the Flatirons course was not yet built at that time. The URL I listed above has a link to a scan of a scorecard from the 30's, and the hole lengths and distances don't seem to line up, although an analysis may find differently.

There IS a Boulder Country Club in existence now, who have a course designed by Press Maxwell, but they moved to their current location in the sixties. I'll see if I can find out any information on their previous course.

[Christoph Meister]

Interesting Cristoph !

I don't think that they're the same courses, but I could of course be wrong. Flatirons was build around 1938, and while their website says that they were called Boulder Country Club for a time in the 1950's, if the date on your card is correct, the Flatirons course was not yet built at that time. The URL I listed above has a link to a scan of a scorecard from the 30's, and the hole lengths and distances don't seem to line up, although an analysis may find differently.

There IS a Boulder Country Club in existence now, who have a course designed by Press Maxwell, but they moved to their current location in the sixties. I'll see if I can find out any information on their previous course.

Phil,

you are correct - the hole lengths of the scorecard on that web-page are too much different from my Boulder Country Club scorecard. What struck me at the first moment was that in 1956 according to the web-site the course was named Boulder Country Club. If my card really is from 1929 and I have no reason to believe it isn't, than most probably it is the former course of today's Boulder Country Club. Any further information or clear-up would be most apreciated. But then also it might be the previous names of Flatirons as mentionned on that web-site are not correct.

Would be interesting to find out more....

Kind regards,

Christoph