Trevor Phipps
Local golf and recreation buffs throughout the county are ecstatic over the final news and approved transaction, clearing the path for the Woodland Park area to sport its first city-owned golf course, along with gaining a rare open space treasure off Hwy. 67 and an enhanced historic park downtown.
The idea of a municipal course has been mulled for years, but the dream officially became a reality on Oct. 20. That’s when the city closed on the purchase of the 300-plus acre Shining Mountain Golf Course property.
Only now, the final deal has generated a plethora of questions, concerning the next steps for the city of Woodland Park; and more notably, the immediate and long-term future of the Shining Mountain course, which once was rated by Golf Digest as a rare links treat. The course has been under private ownership since 1995, with a variety of different operators, including a group of Japanese investors. But at times, the links development has struggled financially and has been a challenge to manage.
The idea of a municipal course has culminated behind the scenes for about a year. But then on Oct. 16, the Woodland Park City Council unanimously passed an ordinance, authorizing the purchase of the golf course property. At the same time, it approved a purchase of an additional two parcels, as part of an effort to complete the reimagined Bergstrom Park downtown for additional parking.
“I honestly still can’t believe I’m before you tonight with this opportunity,” Woodland Park City Manager Aaron Vassalotti said at the council’s most recent meeting. “When we talked about this, it’s been almost a year now, when we first had authorization to begin conversations to try to negotiate on this, I never believed that we would actually be coming before you. These two items (the golf course and the Bergstrom Park) are an absolutely wonderful opportunity for the city.”
Originally, city officials thought the golf course property was worth around $6.8 million. But after an official appraisal came through, the property’s value came in at $11.8 million. However, as a part of the deal, the city only had to pay $3.2 million, and the rest was a charitable contribution from the seller.
The total property purchased includes approximately 360 acres. The purchase comes with the 18-hole golf course, three disc golf courses, a 10,600 square foot clubhouse and event center and 135 undeveloped acres.
Improvement Plans Under Consideration
And even though the golf course closed for the season, plans are already in place for the city to try to improve it for 2026. The city manager has said that he plans on continuing to operate the golf course in a status quo manner for the first couple of years.
The city will then look at ways to upgrade the course. They will also come up with a plan on how to utilize the open space, which accompanies the property purchase.
Moreover, the open land/golf course purchase also came with a sizable amount of water rights, which the city will now gain. Since there were more than 200 homes planned on the property, the city now has acquired more than 57 acre-feet of additional water rights. This would have been reserved for the approximately 493 residents that could have lived on the property at full development.
Land Purchase Encounters Little Resistance
Ever since the city came public with the idea of purchasing the golf course property, most of the response from the community has been positive. During the council hearing, only two people spoke during public comment, and the negative remarks were minimal. Overall, most residents agree that the purchase represented a once in a lifetime opportunity for Woodland Park.
Woodland Park resident Tom Gearhart outlined a few concerns about the property purchase. Gearhart, who works an accountant, said that he once worked as an accountant at a country club, and he knows a lot about how golf courses operate.
The resident brought up the fact that the city seems to be spending more money each year to keep the Woodland Aquatic Center, which has operated in the red since it was opened. “My experience with golf course operation and management is that it’s a loser,” Gearhart said. “It’s not designed to make money; it’s designed to sell houses. I don’t think it really fits our community to be city-owned. I think it’s going to be a challenge. The budget looks like we are predicting a loss five years out on this and I think that’s aggressive.”
Woodland Park Resident Jerry Penland, an avid golfer and former planning commission member, though, had nothing but positive remarks to say about the land purchase. “This is open space that just happens to have a golf course,” Penland said. “Golf course participation has gone up 36 percent since 2019; it’s gone up five percent a year. Everybody looks at a golf course and says it’s a losing business. We will have an event center. We will have a bar and grill that can be used as a sports bar. We have tremendous open space for hiking trails and everything else. So, don’t just look at this as purchasing a golf course. This is an open space purchase three times the size of the Avenger Open Space purchase. Once you lose an open space to a development, it’s gone forever.”
Penland also is a member of Shining Mountain Men’s Club. This group sat down with the city manager during an end of the season gathering on Oct. 18 and discussed the future of the course. Penland said that the city plans to start looking at ways they can improve the course next year during the offseason.
During the 2025 season, the course condition encountered rough times with the greens experiencing major problems related to winter ice.
But for now, the specifics of the new city-owned golf course are still up in the air. It still hasn’t been decided whether the city will hire a golf management company to operate the course, or have the management duties carried out by city employees, or appoint a general manager.
Vassalotti did tell the men’s club group that he is considering launching a golf course advisory committee. This would consist of community members (and most likely golfers) that would sit under the city’s parks and recreation department.
The city is also considering holding open house sessions over the next several months to get feedback from the community as far what should be done with the 135 acres of open space. This is one aspect of the sale that could offer Woodlan Park additional opportunities, such as having cross-country ski trails and more hiking opportunities. In the past, the course sometimes became an informal outdoor mecca for residents to walk their dogs along the cart path routes in the winter.
For now, the course is closed for the season, but local golf enthusiasts hope that the course will reopen better than ever in the spring 2026.
