The Future of Deer Creek

A look into the uncertain road ahead faced by Deer Creek

By Jim Bebbington

The future of Deer Creek Golf Course in the southwest Denver region remains unclear.

The course, which opened in 2000, has sat dormant for the past three years. The fairways, tees and greens are now thick natural spaces with tall weeds. But the course website has said for several years that the course is under renovation and will re-open soon.

For a story in January Denver Post reporter Jason Aguilar spoke with neighbors of the course who said that after three years of no maintenance, the course looks like it will never be played in again.

“If you’re rational, you can tell it’s not going to be a golf course again,” John Walker, president of the Meadow Ranch homeowner’s association, told Aguilar for the story.

Owner Stacy Hart’s company, In Play Membership Golf Inc., owned the course and filed for bankruptcy in 2014.

According to bankruptcy court records some portions of the land have been sold to adjacent homeowners for as little as $1 to allow them to build fences and extend their backyards. The former driving range has been sold off and several homes have been built on it.

In April bankruptcy court records show that a developer, Cardel Ken Caryl LLC, agreed with In Play Membership and Hart, to allow the course to sell off water rights that used to pull water from Deer Creek to irrigate the course. In return In Play Membership agreed to have a water line run through the course to supply water to new homes being built.

Hart once operated three Denver-area courses: Deer Creek, Plum Creek Golf and Country Club, and Cherry Creek Country Club. He transferred Cherry Creek to his former wife as part of divorce proceedings and sold Plum Creek to help pay off loans associated with his company’s operations, according to court records.

Efforts to reach Hart about the plans for the Deer Creek land were not successful at the time of publication.