Boulder’s Flatirons Golf Course opens new restaurant

Project took more than two years to complete

By Jim Bebbington

Boulder’s municipal golf course, Flatirons Golf Course, opened its new restaurant in September after a nearly three-year saga of construction delays.

The restaurant, Ironwood Bar and Grille, is being operated by Noah and Tanya Westby and is part of the trend of golf course eateries seeking to become more than a place to grab a quick hot dog at the turn.

The course’s previous restaurant building was torn down in Spring of 2022. The project was delayed because of difficulty getting steel at first, then again in summer 2023 when heavy spring rains kept the foundation under water for weeks at a time.

“That was kind of a tough way to start your project,” said Flatirons Director of Golf Tom Buzbee.

For two years the popular course operated without its liquor license and was unable to serve beer to patrons while its new facility was slowly built. At the same time portions of the parking lot were also being renovated.

“Parking lot demo, no rest rooms, no liquor license – you couldn’t have made a tougher way to present to the golfer than we did last summer,” Buzbee said.

But everything was finished this summer and the Westby’s opened for business in September.

Buzbee said the city of Boulder sought a restaurant operator who had experience at running popular neighborhood establishments. The hope is that the Ironwood Bar and Grille attracts not just players but local residents who use it as a comfortable neighborhood bar and restaurant, Buzbee said. The Westby’s have run the popular Dagabi Tapas Bar on Broadway in north Boulder since 1991.

“We didn’t want just a golf restaurant operator, we wanted someone who could get the neighborhood behind them,” Buzbee said.