Dye Designs Group selected to renovate Colorado municipal course

Dye Designs Group has been selected to begin renovations at Colorado’s Flatirons Golf Course.

Owned and operated by the city of Boulder, Flatirons is a popular 18 hole, par-70 course located just east of the University of Colorado campus. DDG’s work will be led by Matt McGarey, the firm’s senior design associate. It will initially encompass a remodel of No. 13, a 441-yard par-4 requiring modifications after the death of a large tree in the right third of the fairway.

McGarey worked closely with general manager Tom Buzbee to devise several significant changes. They include the addition of two clover-shaped bunkers flanking the landing area approximately 200 and 270 yards from the middle tee box, and removal of three additional trees in the right rough. Fairway lines will also be altered on the pin-straight hole to give it a greater sense of movement and increase strategic interest.

Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2025 and be completed in March. Superintendent Jake Jacobs and team will be responsible for the grow in.

“The tree in the fairway heavily dictated strategy; without it, the hole no longer asked any questions of the player and allowed them to simply swing away without consequence,” said McGarey, who earlier this year led in-state renovation projects at The Club at Inverness south of Denver and Copper Creek at Copper Mountain ski resort. “I’m looking forward to getting on the excavator this winter and shaping the new bunkers so they’re ready for the 2025 season.”

“I’m very familiar with the high-quality work and creative thinking that Dye Designs Group brings to the table,” Buzbee added. “Matt is an extremely talented designer, shaper and project manager who’s going to help us further elevate the golf experience at Flatirons.”

Flatirons was designed by Englishman Willie Tucker and opened in 1938. Like New York’s famed Bethpage State Park, it was a Works Progress Administration project that helped put people to work during the Great Depression.