The toughest course in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metro area is Castle Pines Golf Club, at slope 153 — ahead of Country Club at Castle Pines at slope 151 and Green Valley Ranch Golf Club at slope 149.
All 73 courses in the area with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees are ranked below, along with 5 more lists: hardest from the tips, longest, widest tee spread, oldest, highest above sea level.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO is a metro area as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates it — the boundary is theirs, not ours. Each list counts only the courses in the area that publish that figure, so the totals differ between them. Slope and course rating measure difficulty, not quality — nothing here ranks how good a course is.
Toughest test
— the top 25 of 73 courses with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA slope rating published for any of the men’s tee sets. Slope rates difficulty for a bogey golfer relative to a scratch golfer — a rated figure issued by the golf association, not an opinion about the course. Men’s ratings only, because a tee is rated separately for men and for women and the two scales do not compare; a course rated only for women is not in the running rather than converted.
Hardest from the tips
— the top 25 of 67 courses with a USGA course rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA course rating published for any of the men’s tee sets — the score a scratch golfer is expected to shoot. Men’s ratings only, for the same reason as slope: the men’s and women’s ratings of one tee are different measurements. It measures difficulty and nothing else; it is not a quality score and never orders these pages by how good a course is.
Longest
— the top 25 of 77 courses with a published scorecard
The longest tee set the course publishes, in yards from the tips. Compared against every course that publishes a scorecard — length is a measurement, not a verdict on the golf.
Widest tee spread
— the top 25 of 73 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
| # | Course | Widest tee spread |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Green Valley Ranch Golf Club | 4,884 yds between tees |
| 2 | Thorncreek Golf Club | 4,609 yds between tees |
| 3 | Legacy Ridge Golf Course at Westminster | 4,091 yds between tees |
| 4 | Meadow Hills Golf Course | 3,705 yds between tees |
| 5 | Castle Pines Golf Club | 3,672 yds between tees |
| 6 | Black Bear Golf Club | 3,238 yds between tees |
| 7 | Denver Country Club | 3,226 yds between tees |
| 8 | Todd Creek Golf Club | 2,921 yds between tees |
| 9 | Lakewood Country Club | 2,534 yds between tees |
| 10 | Denver City Park Golf Course | 2,508 yds between tees |
| 11 | Colorado Golf Club | 2,495 yds between tees |
| 12 | The Golf Club at Bear Dance | 2,486 yds between tees |
| 13 | The Club at Pradera | 2,435 yds between tees |
| 14 | Canyon Meadow at Fox Hollow at Lakewood | 2,414 yds between tees |
| 15 | The Sanctuary | 2,376 yds between tees |
| 16 | Walnut Creek Golf Preserve | 2,336 yds between tees |
| 17 | Links Canyon at Fox Hollow at Lakewood | 2,294 yds between tees |
| 18 | Columbine Country Club | 2,272 yds between tees |
| 19 | Valley Country Club | 2,241 yds between tees |
| 20 | Murphy Creek Golf Course | 2,213 yds between tees |
| 21 | Saddle Rock Golf Course | 2,197 yds between tees |
| 22 | Red Hawk Ridge | 2,194 yds between tees |
| 23 | Deer Creek Golf Club at Meadow Ranch | 2,190 yds between tees |
| 24 | Buffalo Run Golf Course | 2,184 yds between tees |
| 25 | Riverdale Dunes | 2,183 yds between tees |
Yards between the longest and shortest published tee sets — how far the course moves to fit a different player. Courses publishing a single tee set are not in the running, because one set is an unmeasured spread rather than a narrow one.
Oldest
— the top 25 of 77 courses with an opening year
The year the course opened, as published. Ranked oldest first. An opening year is not a design credit and not a renovation date — a course that opened in 1921 and was rebuilt in 1998 still opened in 1921.
Highest above sea level
— the top 25 of 77 courses with a coordinate we could sample
| # | Course | Highest above sea level |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Golf Club at Bear Dance | 6,783 ft |
| 2 | Country Club at Castle Pines | 6,675 ft |
| 3 | The Sanctuary | 6,593 ft |
| 4 | The Ridge at Castle Pines Colorado | 6,488 ft |
| 5 | Red Hawk Ridge | 6,386 ft |
| 6 | Castle Pines Golf Club | 6,294 ft |
| 7 | Colorado Golf Club | 6,186 ft |
| 8 | Blackstone Country Club | 6,164 ft |
| 9 | The Club at Pradera | 6,154 ft |
| 10 | Spring Valley Golf Course | 6,117 ft |
| 11 | Heritage Eagle Bend Golf Club | 6,105 ft |
| 12 | Black Bear Golf Club | 6,072 ft |
| 13 | Lake Valley at Pinery Country Club | 6,009 ft |
| 13 | Mountain Lake at Pinery Country Club | 6,009 ft |
| 13 | Valley Mountain at Pinery Country Club | 6,009 ft |
| 16 | Meridian Golf Club | 5,969 ft |
| 17 | Lone Tree Golf Club Hotel | 5,951 ft |
| 18 | Fossil Trace Golf Club | 5,875 ft |
| 19 | Saddle Rock Golf Course | 5,854 ft |
| 20 | Deer Creek Golf Club at Meadow Ranch | 5,759 ft |
| 21 | The Links Golf Course | 5,753 ft |
| 22 | Meadow Hills Golf Course | 5,724 ft |
| 23 | Bear Creek Golf Club | 5,721 ft |
| 24 | Heather Gardens Golf Course | 5,691 ft |
| 25 | Eighteen Hole at South Suburban Golf Course | 5,675 ft |
Height above sea level at the course’s own published coordinate, sampled from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. THIS IS A FIGURE WE DERIVED, not one the course publishes — anybody can re-query the same public dataset at the same coordinate and get the same number, but no scorecard states it. Because every course carries a coordinate, this is the only board here whose field is nearly the whole database rather than the courses that publish a particular figure. Elevation changes how far a ball carries; it says nothing about whether a course is good.