The development that produced Wellshire began in 1924, when a group of Denver golfers contracted Donald J. Ross to lay out a course “four miles south of Denver” on the Skeel family farm. Ross’s associate Walter P. Hatch assisted with surveys, and Henry Hughes Sr.—a trusted Ross construction engineer—oversaw the build. The course opened August 28, 1926, celebrated with a nine-hole tournament on the completed holes; the Tudor-style clubhouse followed in October 1927. The developer behind the broader Wellshire Park subdivision was George W. Olinger.
The private Wellshire Country Club struggled during the Depression, fell into foreclosure (July 1928), and cycled through lean years before the City and County of Denver purchased the entire facility on September 3, 1936, renaming it Wellshire Golf Course and positioning it among the nation’s more prominent municipal layouts. Annexation into the city limits came in May 1950.
Competitive history followed quickly. Wellshire hosted the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 1946 (Smiley Quick, champion) and again in 1959, when Bill Wright became the first Black champion in USGA history—both events using the municipal Wellshire course. In between, Wellshire staged the 1948 Denver Open Invitational on the PGA Tour, won by Ben Hogan (270, −18) in what proved his sixth consecutive tour victory; the tournament returned as the Denver Centennial Open in 1958 (Tommy Jacobs, champion, with Arnold Palmer tied third).
Late-20th-century course work is well documented in facility records. In 1991, Dick Phelps with Rick Phelps prepared a master plan for Denver that called for tee renovations, new cart paths and mounding, lowering of the 8th fairway, and an option for adding two lakes with hole realignment. 1992–93 brought a full, modern irrigation system; subsequent years saw incremental projects including additional paths, native areas, and a new water feature at the 17th hole—all within the city’s stewardship of a high-volume municipal. In recent seasons, the city undertook the decommissioning and redesign of Skeel Reservoir (southeast corner), with range area impacts noted in Denver Golf’s capital improvements updates.
Unique Design Characteristics
From its opening, Wellshire has been a parkland routing organized around a pair of par-5 bookends—No. 1 rising away from the clubhouse and No. 18 returning beneath it—structuring the round’s rhythm. The official 2024 card prints multiple tee combinations, but the common setup totals par 70 at roughly 6,600. The par-3 set mixes a relatively stout No. 2, a mid-round short hole, and a back-nine one-shotter that stretches beyond 200 yards from certain tees (No. 14), forcing long-iron or hybrid carries to a target exposed to the corridor’s prevailing winds.
Ross’s shaping at Wellshire was modest and land-fitted: greens sit lightly on their pads and are not large, with interior motion that Denver Golf’s historic research describes as “tricky.” That quality still registers in day-to-day play on holes like No. 5 and No. 7, where approach proximity dictates make-or-miss outcomes more than raw length. Over time the site’s tree lines matured, narrowing some angles that would have been more expansive in 1926, yet the course retains its characteristic two-shot asks in the 420–450-yard range (Nos. 4, 5, 13), often inviting a shaped second to front-tilted or subtly crowned targets. The lowering of the 8th fairway in the early 1990s master plan subtly changed sightlines into that green, and the later water at 17 created a modern carry not present in Ross’s scheme, a change plainly identified in the city’s project history.
Assigning hole-by-hole “original contours” is not possible without plan sheets, but the corridors, green site locations, and the bookend par-5 rhythm are long-standing characteristics traceable to Wellshire’s early decades and reinforced by the competitive records cited above.
Historical Significance
Wellshire’s importance within Ross’s corpus lies in geography and accessibility. It is a verified Ross design in the Mountain West, uncommon west of the Mississippi, and it has remained public for almost ninety years. The course hosted two USGA championships (1946, 1959) and served as the stage for a milestone in American golf—Bill Wright’s 1959 victory as the first Black USGA champion. Its PGA Tour pedigree is also unusually rich for a municipal: Hogan’s 1948 win at Wellshire’s Denver Open formed part of a historic six-tournament streak. These facts anchor Wellshire in both Ross scholarship and American golf history beyond architecture.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing, par, and yardage. The 18-hole routing remains continuous on the 137-acre tract first employed in 1926.
Ross fabric on the ground. The corridor framework and green site placements read as fundamentally original, while features have evolved with municipal demands. The city and course histories are explicit that the 1991 Phelps master plan and subsequent 1990s work introduced modern elements—tee reconstruction, mounding, cart paths, adjusted grades (notably at No. 8), and eventually the water feature at No. 17—that layered onto Ross’s base. Contemporary city materials also document Skeel Reservoir decommissioning and area stabilization, a civil-works project at the property edge rather than an in-play greens/holes rebuild.
What’s preserved vs. altered.
Preserved: the overall routing on the Skeel farm footprint; par structure with opening/closing par-5s; a greens scale and interior movement consistent with long-standing descriptions of Wellshire play; and the course’s public character under city ownership since 1936.
Altered/modernized: cart path network and mounding; fairway grade work at No. 8; installation of a 17th-hole water feature; range/grounds changes associated with Skeel Reservoir decommissioning; and incremental tree maturation that has narrowed some playing corridors compared with early decades.
Practice range timing. Denver’s capital-improvement notes tie range work to Skeel Reservoir decommissioning; exact reopening timelines are operational and may change with DOTI progress. Course operations remain active during the works.
Sources & Notes
“75 Mile-high Tradition: Denver’s Wellshire GC celebrates its own milestone anniversary.” Gregg A. Blew, CGCS, c. 2002 (PDF). Most detailed single account of Wellshire’s creation and evolution: Ross contract (1924), opening Aug. 28, 1926, clubhouse Oct. 16, 1927, purchase by City Sept. 3, 1936, annexation May 1950; tournaments (USAPL 1946 & 1959; Denver Open 1948; Denver Centennial Open 1958); 1991 Dick & Rick Phelps master plan (tees, paths, mounding, lowering No. 8, option for lakes), 1992–93 irrigation, later water at No. 17.
City of Denver / Council Research Report: “Historical Structure Information—Wellshire Event Center.” Confirms Ross authorship; opening 1926; clubhouse 1927; developer George Olinger; USAPL 1946 and 1959; historic characterization of course features.
City of Denver Golf—Wellshire page. Current public-golf status and facilities (practice greens, range status/closures, Hogan’s Alley junior course, events center).
Official 2024 Wellshire scorecard (City of Denver PDF). Current par/yardage and tee combinations; address/contacts.
USGA: U.S. Amateur Public Links Champions (historical list). Verifies Wellshire GC, Denver as host in 1946 and 1959, with Bill Wright the 1959 champion.
USGA feature: “Wright made history at Denver’s Wellshire Golf Course.” Context for Bill Wright’s 1959 win and Wellshire’s two USAPL hostings.
Denver Open Invitational—winners by venue. Confirms Wellshire hosted in 1948 (Hogan) and 1958 (Jacobs); includes score data.
Colorado Golf Association—“Memory Lane.” Local historical piece corroborating Hogan’s 1948 Wellshire win and anecdotal details (e.g., missed trophy ceremony).
Denver DOTI: Skeel Reservoir Project page. Current decommissioning/redesign at the southeast corner of the course and relation to range reconstruction/stabilization.