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The Resurrection of Grandote Peaks
After years of dormancy, a classic Colorado course returns.
By Jon Rizzi
The same year that saw golf great Tom Weiskopf pass away will go down as the year that witnessed the resurrection of his first Colorado golf course.
Designed by Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, Grandote Peaks Golf Course in La Veta—about an hour southwest of Pueblo with spectacular views of the Sangre de Cristos—broke ground at the base of the Spanish Peaks in 1984 and opened two years later.
The 7,085-yard course, perched at virtually the same number of feet above sea level, garnered high praise from golfers and raters. It became a big economic driver for the region. As of 2013, the La Veta/Cuchara Chamber of Commerce reported that more than 20 percent of summer visitors to the area stayed overnight for the purpose of playing golf at Grandote.
They stopped coming in 2013 when Grandote’s owner—Albuquerque optometrist Randy Briggs—shut it down after a protracted battle with the town over annexing a portion of the property.
NEW BOSSES
Grandote’s fairways would lie fallow for five years before Briggs sold the course to professional auctioneer Aristotle Karas of Aurora. Karas attracted more than 20 investors to help him reopen the golf course and market the surrounding residential property, but by early 2021, the investment group foreclosed and bought the property for $3.7 million.
“Aristotle didn’t have the business experience or money needed to turn a distressed asset into a performing one,” says one of the investors, Corinne Condon of Capella Mortgage, a Las Vegas-based hard money lender specializing in distressed properties.
“Being a hard money lender for 25 years, we’re not afraid of lending on unusual properties and unusual situations,” she explains. “We take the risk. We take over properties—I’ve flipped 55 homes in my life—and we have made a very handsome return on them.”
After spending $300,000 in maintenance in the past year to bring the golf course back to life, in March Condon and her husband John bought out all but eight of the investors and took controlling interest in the Investor Group Grandote, LLC.
They’ve enlisted the help—both paid and voluntary—of enthusiastic locals, including Kelly and Sid Popejoy, whose company maintains the course with help from John Condon. “My husband cares a lot about the course,” Condon says. “He flies in from Las Vegas once a month. He cares about the sand being perfect, the greens being perfect.”
A BELOVED HOME COURSE
Locals are ecstatic. “Ever since we came in and started doing things, we’ve heard, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you—we love this course more than any course in the entire world,’” Condon says. A volunteer weekend at the end of June drew hundreds to help the new owners weed, sand, rake and haul. Grandote reopened the back nine on July 21 and plans to reopen full 18 next spring. Memberships go for $1,400, which includes the remainder of this year and all next.
Meanwhile, Condon has converted the real estate office into the Grandote Grill and repaved the parking lot. Last Saturday, Sept. 3, saw the Grand Opening of the clubhouse, which has been “renovated from top to bottom, with an open floorplan,” Condon shares. “We have a new steakhouse, new decking, new pergolas—no longer will you have the sun in your face on the deck.”
Grandote means huge in Spanish; it’s a word that describes the impact Grandote Peaks could have on the community.
In addition to the course, Condon says, “the real asset here is the lots.” Working with the Colorado Economic Development organization, Condon intends to meet the housing shortage for nurses, teachers, hospital administrators, police officers, county workers, miners and others looking to live and work in the area. Construction has already begun on affordable patio homes and townhomes along the fairways.
At the “other point of the spectrum,” she says, “We’ll have mountain contemporary homes on lots up to a half-acre, some of them along the ridge, where you can see the entire valley.”
From any part of the property, Condon says, “you can see the mountains, and the sunsets are beautiful.”
So, apparently, is her view of the future.
Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.
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