The Sterling Affair

Jon Rizzi | Colorado AvidGolfer

For more than 80 years the facility on the hill at 17408 Highway 14, 128 miles northeast of Denver, was known as Sterling Country Club, a thriving private club with a far-reaching reputation for tight fairways, puny greens and a highly competitive three-day Labor Day Invitational. But after a 2001 fire prompted the construction of a bigger clubhouse, membership flagged, and by 2005, a group of members bought the club and renamed it Pawnee Pines Country Club. Five years of limited success followed, until a philanthropic member, Frank Walsh, purchased the club and donated it to Sterling’s Northeastern Junior College, which changed the facility’s name to Northeastern 18 and opened it to the public.

The college had no experience in operating a golf facility, and after Walsh passed away last December, the college, in accordance with his stipulations for the facility, turned over ownership of the course and restaurant facility on July 1 in exchange for more than $700,000 in scholarships. The Lebsock Family—seven of whom attended Northeastern—took over this month. “In honor of Frank Walsh, Northeastern Junior College and the northeastern Colorado community, our family is pleased to assume ownership of this property which has been a huge and important part of Sterling for many years,” said Brad Lebsock, the son of David and Cheryl Lebsock. “We have appreciated how careful NJC has handled this transition. We, as a family, feel very committed to keeping it open as a public golf course and restaurant and making it available to this entire area.”

Changes have already begun. Fred and Carol Borra, former owners and managers of The Broker Restaurants in Boulder and Denver, have taken over the club’s Plainsman Grill, and plans include remodeling the clubhouse interiors to accommodate larger events. This month the course will host the Colorado Junior Golf Association Fall Series event; the annual Labor Day Golf Tournament will take place as it always has; and the Colorado 3A Boys State Golf Championship will go off in September.

And by the end of the year, new merchandise will probably appear in the golf shop, displaying the historic club’s fourth name and logo in the past decade.

njc.edu/northeastern18; 970-521-6889

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