Broadlands Golf Club

TL;DR — The Broadlands is a wide-open, links-style track on the Colorado high plains at 5,312 feet, where altitude adds carry and prairie wind takes it back. Play early, respect the water on 11 holes, and the 559-yard 15th is the round's pivot point.

Signature Setup

I first walked The Broadlands on a clear May morning, 8:10 tee time, the thermometer reading 52°F and the flags already stirring off the prairie. Richard Phelps built this Broomfield course in 1999, and it plays like what it is: a links idea dropped onto the open Front Range flatlands rather than the foothills. From the tips it stretches 7,289 yards to a par of 72 with a slope of 125 — numbers that read mild until the wind decides otherwise. The 15th, a 559-yard par-5 that demands a forced carry over water to a guarded green, is the hole the locals talk about, and the one that decided two strokes of my card.

Hole-by-Hole Wind & Playing Lines

The defining factor here is exposure. With no tree line and water in play on 11 holes, wind direction is your scorecard.

• 15th (par-5, 559y): On NW downslope-wind afternoons — common from roughly 1 p.m. onward in spring — this plays a full club-and-a-half longer into your face. I bailed on the hero carry, laid up short of the lake, and wedged on. Three-shot it; the green opens front-left.
• Long par-4s into a W wind: A 150-yard approach can play 165–170 when the prairie wind is up. Club up, accept the back of the green.
• Downwind par-5s in the morning calm: Early, before the breeze builds, the altitude is pure gift — the ball carries noticeably farther than at sea level, and reachable holes are genuinely reachable.

Green & Fairway Characteristics

Bentgrass runs throughout — greens, tees, and fairways — which keeps the surfaces consistent through Colorado's swings. The fairways are wide and gently rolling, forgiving off the tee but feeding balls into subtle collection areas. The greens are large and undulating; on a 125-slope layout the danger is less about finding the green and more about which tier you finish on. Three-putts from the wrong shelf are how this course protects par. I'd rather be 20 feet below the hole here than 8 feet above it.

Seasonal Weather Pattern

Broomfield's high-plains climate is its own animal. Late spring and early summer mornings run cool — 45–55°F at first light in May — then warm fast under thin air. The pattern to plan around is the afternoon: from June into August, convective thunderstorms build over the Front Range and roll east, often after 2 p.m., bringing lightning risk and sharp wind shifts. Autumn brings the steadiest golf — crisp, dry, lighter wind. I haven't played The Broadlands in deep winter, so I won't pretend to know how the chinook winds treat the place in January; that I'd leave to historical data.

Local Play Tips

Book the earliest tee time you can stomach. The wind is the variable, and it is almost always quietest before 10 a.m. The course's openness that feels generous at 7 a.m. becomes a wind tunnel by mid-afternoon. One practical note from my round: because the lakes sit on so many holes, the smart miss is consistently to the dry side even when it lengthens your next shot — a wet ball costs a stroke, a long approach costs none. Also, do not under-club out of altitude habit; the thin air gives carry, but a stiff headwind erases it completely.

Pre-Round Weather Workflow

Check the 7-day G-Score for The Broadlands before you book. Target the days with the highest morning scores and the lowest afternoon wind and storm probability. The night before, look at the windExposure reading — on this treeless layout a high-exposure rating is a direct warning to add a club on every approach and to favor the dry side of every lake. On summer days, treat any afternoon thunderstorm probability as a hard reason to move your tee time earlier rather than gamble on a lightning delay. Walk to the first tee knowing the wind plan, and the 15th won't surprise you.