7 MAY 14-20, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Walter Hagen arrived at Wellshire Country Club in October 1928 to compete in Golf’s World Series, a barnstorming tour that pitted the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year against the most recent winner of the U.S. Open, Johnny Farrell. The greatest American golfer of his era, Hagen was the only fi gure in the sport whose celebrity rivaled that of Babe Ruth – who, co- incidentally, was also in Denver that day for an exhibition. The match at Wellshire Park, a private development south of downtown, was meant to show off Colorado’s newest world-class golf course to both reporters and locals, but an ill-timed snowstorm kept the gentlemen from teeing off. Instead, the golfers – “almost as well known for their sartorial perfection as their magical skill in making a golf ball perform,” according to the Denver Post – held court in front of eager locals to tell golf stories and start spinning the legend of Wellshire, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next month. Built on the former Diamond Jo ranch, named after Jo Reynolds, a merchant and builder known for his line of river steam- ers, Wellshire was founded by developers George Olinger and Lloyd “LC” Fulenwider as a luxury community to appeal to “those who desire quiet, comfort and protection from invasion by undesirable classes.” The neighborhood, built off Colorado Boule- vard a half-mile south of Denver city limits, advertised generous open space, as well as horseback riding, tennis, and golf, of course. The original plans included a $40,000 clubhouse, whose cost nearly doubled by the time of its completion, and a $260,000 golf course laid out by the Scottish-born Donald Ross, who designed more than 400 golf courses throughout the United States during golf architecture’s Golden Age. Ross’s layouts include more than a dozen courses that have hosted men’s and women’s major championships, including this week’s PGA Championship at Aronimink. Ross was the most prolifi c golf architect of his era, and had already designed Lakewood Country Club and a golf course at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, but he declared Wellshire “a natural golf fi eld” that “will be one of the fi nest, most interesting golf courses in the world.” With snow falling on Wellshire, Hagen, perhaps feeling competitive sharing the town with the Great Bambino, predicted that golf in America would one day rival baseball in popularity through the democratic power of municipal courses. “We are fi rm advocates of the municipal links,” he told the Post. “It puts golf within the reach of the poor man as well as the rich.” It was an ironic declaration at a private club advertised by its founders to exclude “undesirable classes,” but also a prescient one: Four years later, Wellshire fi led for bankruptcy, and within a decade it was purchased by the city. The club soon transformed from an elitist enclave into the crown jewel of Denver’s municipal golf courses. Denver Buys Wellshire Golf Course The city acquired Wellshire for just $60,000 in the fall of 1936, supported by funding from the New Deal’s Works Prog- ress Administration. The purchase was part of a planned golf course swap by George Cranmer, Denver’s parks manager, which included abandoning the lease on the north half of the City Park Golf Course. But Cran- mer’s plan met with fi erce resistance from his constituents: City Hall hath no fury like golfers facing the loss of their home course. Civic and links orga- MONIKA SWIDERSKI continued on page 8
