The Denver Gazette’s Golf Insider makes a pitch that, if the PGA Tour returns to Colorado in 2028, it should skip the usual suspects and head north to RainDance National Golf Course in Windsor. The column notes that a Sports Business Journal report said the PGA Tour is looking at expanding to more cities, with Denver on the list, and argues that RainDance deserves serious consideration. Finally, a Colorado story that does not require a hazmat suit, a legislative flowchart, or a stiff drink.
RainDance opened in 2023 and can play 8,463 yards from the tips, making it the longest course in North America, according to the article. The course has already hosted Colorado Golf Association events, was designed by former PGA Tour player Fred Funk and Harrison Minshew, and its leadership says it was built to challenge the best players in the world while still being playable for everyday golfers. That is the sweet spot: punish Rory McIlroy a little, but still let the rest of us lie to ourselves at the turn.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The PGA Tour may be reshuffling its schedule in 2028, and Denver is reportedly among the cities being discussed. The usual Colorado golf royalty popped up immediately: Cherry Hills, Castle Pines, Colorado Golf Club. Fine choices. Fancy names. Very nice china.
- The Gazette says RainDance National should get the call. It is in Windsor, it is enormous, and it was built with championship golf in mind. Translation: Weld County may have a monster sitting right there in the pasture.
- RainDance can stretch to 8,463 yards from the tips. That is not a golf course. That is a congressional district with bunkers.
- The course has already hosted CGA events, including the 2023 men’s championship, and has drawn attention from the YouTube golf world. In modern golf terms, that means it has both credibility and internet juice. Sadly, both matter now.
- RainDance’s general manager says the course could handle a PGA event, with big canyons between holes and stadium-like setups around greens and tee boxes. In other words, bring the crowds, bring the ropes, bring the sunscreen, and please bring someone who can hit a 330-yard carry without needing oxygen.
My Bottom Line
Thankfully, this one has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with something I seriously miss: golf.
I used to play an obscene amount of golf. Then I became a county commissioner. I got stressed out, fat, over-scheduled, under-rested, and somehow my golf clubs became decorative garage equipment. Somewhere between public meetings, phone calls, budgets, angry emails, and trying to keep a county moving, the game just disappeared from my life.
But I still romanticize it. I miss the sound of a flushed iron. I miss pretending I meant to hit that low draw around a tree. I miss standing on a tee box with friends, coffee in hand, telling myself today is the day I stop being a hazard to wildlife and property values. Golf is maddening, humbling, beautiful, expensive, and ridiculous. Naturally, I love it.
So the thought of the PGA Tour coming to Weld County is flat-out cool. RainDance hosting the best players in the world would be a big deal, not just for Windsor, but for northern Colorado. We have the views, the land, the people, and apparently a course long enough to make tour pros question their life choices. I hope this comes to fruition. I may not be playing much golf right now, but I can still cheer like a man who remembers when he had a handicap and not just blood pressure.
Source: The Denver Gazette
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