The Broadmoor Golf Club (East)

199. The Broadmoor Golf Club (East)

Donald Ross (1918) / Robert Trent Jones (1952) / Ron Forse (2016)

The Broadmoor Golf Club East is another timeless mountain course, built hard against Cheyenne Mountain with famed green contours that pose optical illusions. Many putts that look uphill are actually running downhill. Few golfers recognize that the East Course is a combination of nine Donald Ross holes (one through six and 16 through 18) and nine more added 30 years later by Robert Trent Jones (holes seven to 15). The East Course was the site of Jack Nicklaus’ first U.S. Amateur win in 1959 and Annika Sorenstam’s first U.S. Women’s Open win in 1995. It has also hosted 2011 U.S. Women’s Open won by So Yeon Ryu and the 2018 U.S. Senior Open won by David Toms, their first major victories as well.

100 Greatest/Second 100 Greatest History: Appeared on Golf Digest’s initial 1966 ranking. Ranked on America’s Second 100 Greatest, 2013 to current. Highest ranking: No. 135, 2013-2014. Previous ranking: No. 169

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Panelist comments, The Broadmoor Golf Club (East):

“Classic design principles and a great mountainside property. The subtleties are the green are very unique to any course—let alone a mountain course. I enjoyed the variety of forced carries into green, false front greens and open greens. To nitpick, a few too many doglegs that played to uphill, protected greens. I also think the overall conditioning was a bit spongy on the greens and fairways.”

“Broadmoor East is very special with all the national championships play here, A great test of golf with lots of variety of shots required to move around the course.”

“The original 18 holes of the Broadmoor Ross design were split among the current East and West courses. Overall, the East Course is the better of the two courses and has been the course used for USGA events at The Broadmoor, including the 2018 U.S. Senior Open. The crowned contoured greens make putting difficult in this mountainous area. Generally, I find the holes of the East Course less memorable than those of other better Ross designs.”

“A fun course to play in a very nice setting. It is everything that the West course is not in terms of playability, especially for a resort course. It definitely benefits from a less sloping piece of land.”