Club History

A Brief History of Hiwan Golf Club

Hiwan Golf Club was founded in 1962 as a part of the Hiwan residential development north of Evergreen, Colorado.

The property was originally part of the massive Hiwan Ranch, which consisted of about 14,000 acres and extended from Evergreen almost to Central City. The ranch was originally owned by the Buchanan family of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Where members now tee off was once grazing land for their prize Hiwan Hereford cattle. The Buchanan family had developed some of their property nearer to downtown Evergreen, and in 1962 decided to begin a major development to the north.

The Hiwan concept called for beautiful mountain residences to surround a golf course and club at the heart of the development without fencing or walls to block views to and from the golf course. The golf club was constructed first to attract lot buyers. Then, as now, membership was not restricted to Hiwan residents.

The golf course architect chosen was Press Maxwell, who with his father, Perry, had redesigned the greens at Augusta in the 1930s. The course was a bit of a curiosity when it opened because so few courses had ever been built at an elevation above 7,600 feet. The founders incorporated a challenging design using the natural mountain contours and retaining much of the thick growth of ponderosa pines. Club tradition says that during a visit by President Eisenhower in 1963 he remarked that the layout reminded him of Augusta. Hiwan and Augusta’s greens have been favorably compared to each other ever since.

In 1966 the Buchanan family brought in an additional investor group to further capitalize the growing venture. One of these new investors eventually bought out the Buchanan group and all other investors. This family has had an interest in Hiwan since 1966, and effective control  since 1977, and complete ownership since 1991.

The club founded and hosted the Colorado Open from 1964 to 1991. While at Hiwan, the tournament became the nation’s most successful state open and earned more than $2 million for its beneficiary, Craig Hospital in Englewood.

The Colorado Open brought the course national and international recognition, attracting many of the top players of the day to try their luck on Hiwan’s notoriously fast greens and challenging fairways. Hiwan has a rich history of having been played by the top golf names of the 60s, 70s and 80s, all without having ever hosted a major national tournament.

If you get an opportunity to play a round of golf Hiwan, you are not only walking in the footsteps of today’s elk and deer and the Hereford cattle of the past, you are also following in the footsteps of some of the biggest names in golf who have played Hiwan. PGA winners include Sam Snead, Doug Ford, Al Geiberger, Don January, Dave Stockton, Bob Tway, Paul Runyan, Phil Mickelson, Steve Elkington and Dow Finsterwald. Masters winners are Sam Snead and Doug Ford again, with George Archer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Tommy Aaron, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Bob Goalby. U.S. Open champs are represented by Billy Casper, Hale Irwin, Gene Littler, Orville Moody and Steve Jones.

Steve Jones, Hale Irwin and Steve Elkington were up-and-coming amateurs when they were contestants in the Colorado Open. Other name players include Corey Pavin, Peter Jacobsen, Dave Hill, Willie Wood, Gene Littler and Miller Barber. Phil Mickelson, when asked about the fast greens at the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, noted that he had only experienced faster greens at two other courses: Augusta National and Hiwan. Steve Jones, too, when interviewed on ESPN, paid homage to his Colorado Open experiences saying that his biggest challenge with greens was at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, Colorado.

It’s not just the greens that make Hiwan a challenge. A participant in the amateur flight of the Colorado Open one year hit 13 balls into the No. 7 lake for a total hole score of 29!

Hiwan Golf Club has a long history of supporting junior golf. In 1965 Hiwan hosted the USGA Girls Junior, and in 1976 we hosted the USGA Junior Amateur for boys. We hosted the American Junior Golf Association - AJGA Junior at Hiwan annually from 2003 to 2005 and the prestigious Rolex Tournament of Champions in 2006, followed by the Rolex Girls Junior in 2007. Most recently Hiwan was privileged to host the Junior America’s Cup tournament in July of 2011 featuring the best of boy golfers from the Western United States, Canada and Mexico.

At Hiwan we feel that juniors are the future of golf. Our members have over 600 children under the age of 21, making Hiwan truly a family club. Hiwan’s popular junior golf program for member children is a major club event all summer long.