Stacey Hart has nine holes left and a decision to make.<\/p>\n
Does the owner of the former Deer Creek Golf Course in Littleton want to sell the 85 acres that remain after striking land deals with the county and a homebuilder? He recently hired a broker.<\/p>\n
Or does he want to find some way to keep golf at the site? He\u2019s talked to a competitor of Topgolf.<\/p>\n
In his first public statements since the course closed without fanfare at the end of 2020, originally just for renovations, the 66-year-old Hart indicated he\u2019s still deciding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just had enough one day and I can\u2019t explain it,\u201d he said of the closure.<\/p>\n
Deer Creek opened in 2000 and once had 18 holes, a driving range and a clubhouse stretching along Highway 470, with homes built around it. But after the course went dark, neighbors watched the once-pristine fairways get reclaimed by nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re rational, you can tell it\u2019s not going to be a golf course again,\u201d John Walker, president of the homeowner\u2019s association for neighboring Meadow Ranch, told The Denver Post in early 2024.<\/p>\n
Hart, who splits time between California and Denver, said he closed the course mid-renovation, having already spent six figures on what were supposed to be improvements.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t look as good as I thought it would,\u201d he said of the remodel.<\/p>\n
Other factors led to the closure. Deer Creek was a difficult course, which limited golfers who could play, and Hart grew tired of maintaining its expensive greens.<\/p>\n
While most of the course\u2019s neighbors were friendly, Hart said, some caused frustration.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll it takes is a few to make your life miserable,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was just constant. Nonstop. People calling the pro shop, they didn\u2019t want me opening up at 6 in the morning, complaining about me mowing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had well over a dozen golf courses. It was a very tough place to operate. You\u2019d lose employees. My superintendent didn\u2019t want to put up with these people,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Hart said he had gasoline poured on Deer Creek\u2019s greens and tee boxes, and brass screws put in trees to kill them. He said someone even had lain in front of an employee mowing grass one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a weird deal, just a weird dynamic over there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A year before the closure, Hart sold Deer Creek\u2019s driving range to Cardel Homes, which is building there. After the closure, in 2023, he sold some of the course\u2019s water rights to Castle Rock. And last year he sold half the course, 64 acres, to an adjacent metro district and Jefferson County to be preserved as open space. <\/p>\n
Hart recently hired Sean Flanagan, who brokered the water transaction, to market the remaining land.<\/p>\n
Hart came to Denver when he eloped with his girlfriend at age 17. His first job in golf was as a concessionaire at the Wellshire Golf Course off Colorado Boulevard. Together with his now ex-wife Karen, the two built the Cherry Creek Country Club, although Hart insists Karen did most of the work. She still owns that club.<\/p>\n
Despite the prior challenges, Hart still believes golf could have a future at the former Deer Creek. While there\u2019s no longer room for 18 holes, he said, that\u2019s not really a problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou make more money on a driving range than you can on a golf course today, with one-tenth the headache,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019s in talks with some operators about that prospect, including Blue Jeans Golf, which repurposes old driving ranges through its subsidiary company, Golf Ranch. Launched in 2022, the concept is in four states and sits as a middle-road option between Topgolf and a traditional driving range. Customers pay by the bucket and can track their swings and stats while enjoying a cold beer. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt comes down to what it\u2019s going to cost to build it,\u201d Hart said. \u201cThey got a different price than I got a long time ago. They\u2019re busy, Blue Jeans Golf. But they love the site if they can make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other uses are possible. The 3-acre clubhouse site at 8135 Shaffer Parkway could be redeveloped for commercial uses or be replaced with housing. The remaining course could be used for other recreational purposes, like pickleball or batting cages, Hart said.<\/p>\n
But access could be a challenge. Should the clubhouse sell to a different buyer than the rest of the course, the only way to access it would be via a small offshoot of Remington Avenue, just before the gate into the private Meadow Ranch community.<\/p>\n
And much of the former course is in a flood plain, which could complicate development across the property.<\/p>\n
The neighbors also could be a factor. Over the past few years, they\u2019ve grown accustomed to having an open-space buffer between them and the highway.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve sold quite a few homes in the neighborhood since the golf course shut down, and it seems that the residents \u2026 are not interested in having housing behind them,\u201d said Chris Plant, a real estate agent who lives in the gated Meadow Ranch neighborhood adjacent to the old course.<\/p>\n
Meadow Ranch was built in tandem with the course. Plant once had a standing Friday afternoon tee time at Deer Creek, and its head golf pro lived in the neighborhood. He didn\u2019t mind that three of his windows were broken by golf balls over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the cost of doing business if you want to live by a golf course,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One nearby resident, Karen Isaacson, said she remembers the course fondly. Her children would even set up lemonade stands for golfers, and it made her backyard feel \u201cmassively big.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked them there. I was really bummed to see it go belly-up, and now it\u2019s a weed patch.\u201d<\/p>\n
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