Ravenna Country Club: Discovering Platinum Along the Platte

By Jon Rizzi

“Names are the consequences of things,” wrote Dante Alighieri, the 14th-century Italian poet for whom the city of Ravenna provided creative inspiration.

It therefore follows that last year, when The Club at Ravenna—whose clubhouse perches on Dante Drive, amid the striking outcroppings east of Waterton Canyon—changed its name to Ravenna Country Club, it came as a consequence of the 634-acre golf-course development having sold out of its 235-luxury–lot inventory.

“We really felt like we needed to separate ourselves from the real estate and be the club,” Kevin Collins, Ravenna’s owner, president and CEO, explains. “Moving forward, our focus is on improving as a club and doing things better for our membership.”

Collins’ focus amplifies the commitment he’s made since taking over management of the Ravenna in 2014. A club member, homeowner and an investor in the development since 2006, he had watched the property endure a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, amass only 50 members in eight years and provide minimal amenities in a sprung tent that doubled as a clubhouse.

“When he took over, he said, ‘I can’t tell you what I’m going to do, but I won’t let Ravenna fail,’” remembers Jack Quinlivan, one of the club’s first members and club champions. “And he’s stuck by what he said.”

In his 10 years at the helm, Collins has transformed Ravenna from a struggling entity into a robust one closing in on its cap of 395 members—all of whom now have access to a spectacular and more approachable golf course with a high-tech driving range, a resort-like 11,000-square-foot fitness and wellness facility (La Bella Vita) and an exquisitely appointed, 25,000-square-foot clubhouse (Villa Ravenna) brimming with original art and delivering exceptional cuisine, a vigorous wine experience and an outdoor patio with a view of the serene waterfall complex by the 18th green.

FOLLOW THE LEADERS

All part of a masterplan, those improvements thrilled existing members and helped attract new ones. But how best to serve them all in the rapidly evolving private–club industry? Five months after opening the clubhouse in August 2022, Collins looked to the Club Leaders Forum—an international authority on private-club leadership, management and operations, as well as the originator of the prestigious Platinum Clubs of America Awards—to benchmark the club’s efforts against those recognized as the finest in the industry.

“We wanted to ensure we were providing exceptional service, experiences, and facilities for our members,”  Collins shares. “These guys know the best of the best, and the knowledge they imparted to us was invaluable. They assess reputation, governance, amenities, staff caliber, member engagement, adapting to change and overall experience. We spent a lot of time on strategic planning, and all the managers and staff got involved.”

Those included his daughter Michelle Totte (Ravenna’s director of events and hospitality) and sons Chris (director of technology and communications) and Geoff (director of development).  In addition, Kevin and Chris individually attended multiple conferences in the U.S. and U.K. concerning best private-club management practices, brand exposure and key club-industry trends.  

Collins also drew inspiration from the philosophy of “unreasonable hospitality,” which comes from a bestseller of the same name by restaurateur Will Guidara. “It’s about going beyond expectations to make the member feel special by making the experience great and memorable,” Collins explains. “We really try to focus on what’s how we make them feel. Our end-of-the-day reports even have an ‘unreasonable hospitality’ section.”

CLUBBING UP

Last August, Collins and other owners and/or GMs at 4,026 other private country, golf, city, yacht and athletic clubs across the country received ballots for the biannual Platinum Clubs of America election. The confidential voting is highly competitive and managed and certified by a third-party official to ensure transparency.

Sure enough, Ravenna Country Club made the list in the most competitive category: Top 150 Country Clubs in America. It ranked 149th.“It’s amazing. I mean, I feel like we’re a 10-year-old club and some of these clubs have been around for a hundred years,” Collins says. “Ravenna’s no longer just another really nice club. Now, it’s in the category of elite clubs in the state. We are fortunate to be there.”

A framed plaque bearing the Platinum Club logo and five-star mark gleams beneath a picture light inside the clubhouse entrance. It arguably carries more value to members than the curated and commissioned artwork adorning the walls. Members can now request guest privileges at more than 1,700 participating Platinum Clubs around the world. That not only means rarefied tee times but access to city clubs for business dinners and athletic clubs for a workout.

“And it will be good to see how those clubs compare,” says Steve O’Brien, an IT consultant whojoined Ravenna two years ago and can’t say enough good things about how ideal the club’s golf course and wine-tasting room are for entertaining clients and how welcoming the Ravenna membership and staff have been to him and his family.

“Those are the intangible benefits to our membership that exposure to the best clubs in the world provides,” Collins says. “I also think that being a Platinum Club helps us focus on providing a good atmosphere and training for our staff, retaining them with good wages and compensation to help them in their goals. And it’s a good plus for an employee to have on their résumé that they were part of a Platinum Club of America.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Platinum status, Collins knows, is tenuous. More than 50 clubs finished within a whisker of making the list. “Just because we got this Platinum Club recognition doesn’t mean we’re done,” he says. “If anything, it’s almost like we’ve just started.”

Projects already on the books include reconfiguring approximately 400 square feet of the bar area adjacent to the dining room to accommodate seating for at least 20 more people. “We’re not taking anything away from the dining room,” Geoff Collins says, adding that a “six-foot-tall decorative divider on heavy casters will help define the spaces.”

Construction will also soon begin on a two-story 13,500-square–foot maintenance facility on the flatter land west of the gatehouse, on which Collins also recently got county approval for eight new lots. The facility will afford Golf Course Superintendent Steve Datwyler and his staff ample space for storing, maintaining and repairing mechanical equipment, as well as room to store sand, mulch, seed, fertilizer and other products. “We’re also working towards Audubon Certification, and environmental compliance begins with the features of the facility,” Datwylersays. “We’ll make sure the building and surrounds meet certain criteria, and we anticipate moving in by September or October.”

That’s just when work will start on another project: relocating the par-4 eighth hole and par-3 ninth. Following designs by course architect Kevin Atkinson, who has previously authored well-received changes to the course, both holes will be moved east to improve their challenge and visual appeal.

The uphill eighth fairway will now run alongside and over a deep ravine, forcing a carry to a large, receptive green adjacent to a stunning rockface on the eastern hogback. From the tips, the hole stretches to 465 yards, 16 more than it currently measures; an additional 32 yards will bring the Gold-tee yardage to 450 and Forest–tee’s to 415; and those playing the forward Sage tees will have 47 more yards to cover, 285 instead of 238.

The ninth, which had been problematic because of blind tee shot from the back tees, will still play over the deep ravine, with the green placed next to its most dramatic section. Golfers will not only see the new putting surface from an elevated teeing area but also view their shots suspended against the backdrop of the iconic bridge and natural red rock as it parachutes onto the green. With yardages between 114 and  229, the new hole is slightly shorter than before, especially from the forward tees, where the difference is 70 yards.

No board or committee made these—or any other—decisions regarding the club, which suits most members just fine.

A former member of two owner-owned clubs—Denver’s Bear Creek and Scottsdale’s Whisper Rock—Quinlivan lauds Collins’ vision and integrity. “Kevin wants people to feel as though they’re being taken care of,” he says. “He is always upfront about what’s going on. He communicates. If the membership needs to be told or involved, he puts it out there. Of course, some want to feel like owners, and if they have concerns, his door is always open.”

O’Brien, who joined the club during the pandemic, chose Ravenna over comparably priced member-owned clubs closer to his Denver home. “Member-run clubs can be inconsistent, depending on who the president and committee chairs are, and sometimes people are unreasonable,” he says. “I looked at Kevin’s ownership as a massive positive. He really wants to make something special.”

Members who’d fretted about playing two years of 16-hole golf upon hearing of the renovation needn’t have worried. Collins and Datwyler have carefully planned the construction timeline to avoid any significant interruptions to the course layout and playability. The work will begin this fall and finish May 1. But will building two new holes result in a dues assessment? Doubtful.Relocating the holes creates room for four premium one-acre lots, the sales of which should offset the building cost.

Even though the development will again have real estate to sell, Ravenna Country Club won’t be reverting to its previous name. Nor will it stop burnishing its Platinum Club status as long as Kevin Collins—and his children, whom he has long been grooming to succeed him—owns it. He and the club have come too far to turn back. “It wasn’t a foregone conclusion we were going to make it,” Collins reflects on the last 10 years. “But we kept grinding through. When you’re walking through hell, you just keep walking, right?”

Right. And, as Dante might have suggested, you may ultimately arrive in a Paradiso called Ravenna.

Ravenna Country Club
720–956-1600; ravennagolf.com

PLATINUM CLUBS OF COLORADO, 2025-2026

GOLF CLUBS (Ranking): Castle Pines Golf Club (33)

COUNTRY CLUBS (Ranking): Cherry Hills Country Club (33), Maroon Creek Club (75), Roaring Fork Club (78), The Country Club at Castle Pines (80), Denver Country Club (94), Ravenna Country Club (149)

ATHLETIC CLUBS (Ranking): The Denver Athletic Club (10)

Source: platinumclubsofamerica.com