The Broadmoor Makes Most Historic Golf Courses List

Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has announced its Top 25 Most Historic Golf Courses list for 2023. The designees include some of the most beautiful and iconic American places that attract leisure golfers, serious athletes, and groups that wish to include bucket-list golf courses on meeting agendas. From Colorado, The Broadmoor made the most historic golf courses list.

Many of the courses, including The Broadmoor’s in Colorado Springs, were established during the Golden Age of golf course architecture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Scottish-born Donald Ross started his golf career at St Andrews in the 1890s, but spent most of his career and life in the U.S. He designed the courses at The Broadmoor, Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, and Omni Homestead Resort in Virginia.

The Broadmoor opened in 1918, and golf was at the heart of the property’s essence from the very beginning. The resort’s original 18-hole course was designed by Ross at the behest of founder Spencer Penrose, who envisioned turning his new mountain getaway into a world-class resort. When The Broadmoor Golf Course opened for a Red Cross fundraiser on July 4, 1918, it was the highest golf course in the country at 6,400 feet in elevation.

The course was split into two, East Course and West Course, by renowned landscape architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. between 1952 and 1964. Today, both courses feature holes designed by both Jones and Ross, challenging terrain, and beautiful vistas, resulting in The Broadmoor making the most historic golf courses list.

The Broadmoor has hosted many major golf tournaments, including the 1959 U.S. Amateur (Jack Nicklaus’ first major win and the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open (Annika Sorenstam’s first major title). It is the ideal location for the new Colorado Golf Hall of Fame Museum that opened in The Broadmoor Golf Club in April, in tandem with the organization’s 50^thanniversary.

Here is the entire list, in order of year established.

1. Omni Homestead Resort (1766) – Hot Springs, Virginia
2. Woodstock Inn & Resort (1793) – Woodstock, Vermont
3. Omni Bedford Springs Resort & Spa (1806) – Bedford, Pennsylvania
4. French Lick Resort including French Lick Springs Hotel (1845) and West Baden Springs Hotel (1902) – French Lick and West Baden, Indiana
5. Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa, Autograph Collection (1847) – Point Clear, Alabama
6. Mohonk Mountain House (1869) – New Paltz, New York
7. The Sagamore Resort (1883) – Bolton Landing, New York
8. Jekyll Island Club Resort (1886) – Jekyll Island, Georgia
9. Basin Harbor (1886) – Vergennes, Vermont
10. Grand Hotel (1887) – Mackinac Island, Michigan
11. Pinehurst Resort (1895) – Pinehurst, North Carolina
12. Omni Mount Washington (1902) – Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
13. The Otesaga Hotel (1909) – Cooperstown, New York
14. Omni Grove Park Inn (1913) – Asheville, North Carolina
15. The American Club (1918) – Kohler, Wisconsin
16. The Broadmoor (1918) – Colorado Springs, Colorado
17. The Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, Autograph Collection (1925) – St. Petersburg, Florida
18. Ojai Valley Inn (1923) – Ojai, California
19. The Inn at Death Valley (1927) – Death Valley, California
20. The Wigwam (1929) – Litchfield Park, Arizona
21. The Hotel Hershey (1933) – Hershey, Pennsylvania
22. Williamsburg Inn (1937) – Williamsburg, Virginia
23. Alisal Ranch (1946) – Solvang, California
24. Rancho Bernardo Inn (1963) – San Diego, California
25. Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (1965) – Hawaii Island, Hawaii

More than 300 historic hotels from 44 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have been inducted into Historic Hotels of America.