Lakewood began as the Colorado Golf Club in 1908 on purchased farmland along West 10th Avenue. The club’s own history page attributes the first formal layout to Tom Bendelow, describing an early course with sand greens and dirt fairways that was “turfed” to grass by 1910 and expanded to 18 holes. The club adopted the name Lakewood Country Club by 1912.
Donald Ross was engaged to redesign the course in 1916. Club history records that the redesigned layout debuted that same year with the State Golf Tournament held on the “new course,” indicating both the design and construction phases were substantially complete by mid-1916. No plan set, routing drawing, or Ross correspondence is publicly available on the club’s site; therefore, details of the scope—such as the number of new greens or the extent of bunker construction—cannot be verified from primary materials here. The attribution and date are nonetheless consistent across the club’s chronology and independent directories of Ross work.
In 1961, with significant championship ambitions, the club hired J. Press Maxwell to redesign six holes—Nos. 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, and 14. Several of those changes preceded the 1965 U.S. Women’s Amateur, which Lakewood hosted four years later. Contemporary summaries also frame the Maxwell work as “ahead of” the championship.
A modern enhancement/restoration program under Gil Hanse began in the 2010s, with construction work publicized in 2017. The effort added roughly 190–220 yards from new back tees, rebuilt or relocated features on a reported eight holes, and aimed—per the club—to “restore” holes to a Ross idiom while updating strategy. Business press and trade outlets covered the project contemporaneously; Hanse’s firm lists Lakewood under its Ross restoration portfolio.
Unique Design Characteristics (as observed and documented)
Because Ross’s 1916 plans are not posted publicly, the most certain insights into hole-specific character at Lakewood come from two sources: the club’s description of the 2017 work as a “restoration” of Ross style on selected holes, and contemporary reporting that details how particular holes now play. These provide a window into how the course uses its small property, trees, and the Lakewood Gulch drainage.
Hanse’s changes created a stiffer angle of approach at the 1st by installing a new back tee, repositioning bunkers, and lengthening the green. The club’s “signature” 4th is now longer with its green moved left, in turn allowing the par-3 5th tee to move back by some 15 yards. The downhill, right-dogleg 6th was extended more than 60 yards with trees removed, two new fairway bunkers added, and—crucially—the green shifted across Lakewood Gulch; to accommodate that extension, the par-3 10th green was nudged north toward the clubhouse. These surgical adjustments are consistent with a restoration-plus-modernization approach: reclaiming Ross-era lines and green placements where feasible while calibrating yardage and hazards for current play.
Beyond those enumerated holes, the club states that multiple holes were rebuilt or relocated during the 2017 phase and that added back-tee capacity modestly extended the course. The Colorado Golf Association’s course-handicap tables confirm a present Black-tee course rating of approximately 72.9/142 at par 71, while public tee tables list a 6,894-yard maximum, situating Lakewood firmly among the Denver-area private courses that rely on angles and green sites rather than raw elevation or distance.
Which holes most purely reflect Ross as they exist today is difficult to declare without the club’s original 1916 drawings and historic aerials; the six Maxwell holes and at least five of the eight Hanse-touched holes have undergone known alterations. What seems to persist from the Ross era, however, are corridor scales and green-to-tee proximities that produce a compact, walking-friendly rhythm—the kind of cadence the club and Hanse both emphasize in describing Lakewood’s current experience.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s western portfolio, Lakewood stands out for chronology and continuity. The Donald Ross Society’s 2023 directory lists Lakewood (1916) among the architect’s Colorado works, a small cohort in a state better known for projects by Flynn, Jones, and Maxwell; Lakewood’s inclusion underscores Ross’s early reach to the Front Range before World War I.
Lakewood’s championship record adds to that significance. The club hosted the U.S. Girls’ Junior in 1957 (won by Judy Eller) and the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1965 (won by Jean Ashley), both confirmed by USGA records; it also staged the 1952 Trans-Mississippi Championship, won by Charles Coe. These events positioned Lakewood as a national-caliber venue in mid-century Colorado. (The club’s public pages also mention an LPGA “Mile High Open” in the 1950s; corroboration beyond the club’s history page has not been located in the sources cited here.)
Current Condition / Integrity
The present course reads as a composite of eras. Bendelow’s original corridors informed the footprint; Ross’s 1916 redesign re-established green sites and strategic hazards; Maxwell’s 1961 work changed six holes—6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14—in advance of championship play; and Hanse’s 2017 program adjusted eight holes (specifically documented at 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 among them) while adding back-tee yardage and re-centering features toward a “Ross style.” The club characterizes 2017 as a restoration to the 1916 design; trade press describes the scope (eight holes, additional yardage, bunker and tee work), and independent course notes detail how select holes now function strategically. In practical terms, the routing continuity and walking rhythm feel historic, but many greens and bunkers have been rebuilt or repositioned at least once since 1916.
Tree management and clubhouse-driven changes have also shaped the course. A 2009 feature noted modifications around the finishing stretch to better stage the new clubhouse views; the club’s history documents substantial clubhouse and amenity construction in 2007-08. These works—while not architectural “design” in the narrow sense—affect the presentation of holes near the house, especially the 18th.
From a golfer’s standpoint, contemporary listings agree on a par of 71 and a back-tee yardage around 6,900 yards, with the Colorado Golf Association’s tables reflecting a stout rating/slope at the tips. A member-site scorecard link exists but is not universally accessible to non-members; outside tee tables provide the most readily citable yardages.
Lakewood Country Club, History page (club site): chronology of Bendelow (1908), Ross redesign (1916), Maxwell work (1961), 1965 U.S. Women’s Amateur, and 2017 Hanse project scope. Also notes facility expansions in 2007–08 and claims of an LPGA Mile High Open in the 1950s.
Lakewood Country Club
Lakewood Country Club, Golf page (club site): public description of the course, statement that Hanse “restored several holes back to the original Donald Ross style,”
Donald Ross Society, Final Ross Directory of Courses (June 2023): lists Lakewood CC (Lakewood, CO) as a Ross course dated 1916 (private).
Top100GolfCourses.com, Lakewood Country Club – Colorado: notes Bendelow (1908), Ross redesign (1916), Maxwell’s six holes “ahead of” the 1965 Women’s Amateur, and details of recent changes to holes 1, 4, 5, 6, and 10.
Club & Resort Business, “Golf Course Enhancement Project Underway at Lakewood (Colo.) CC,” Aug. 31, 2017: reports eight holes affected, added back-tee yardage (~220 yards), bunker/tee additions.
BusinessDen, “Lakewood CC starts $1.65M course renovation,” Aug. 15, 2017: confirms Hanse engagement and budget; references modernization and restoration goals.
USGA, Championship database: 1957 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Lakewood CC (winner Judy Eller).
USGA, 1965 U.S. Women’s Amateur – Lakewood CC (winner Jean Ashley) (event facts and host listing).
Trans-Mississippi Golf Association (via USGA/secondary compilers), 1952 Trans-Mississippi Championship (winner Charles Coe) – venue Lakewood CC.
Colorado Community Media, “Lakewood Country Club,” July 30, 2009: notes founding as Colorado Golf Club (1908) and name change to Lakewood CC in 1912; also comments on finishing-hole adjustments relating to clubhouse.