CASTLE ROCK — It was 1979, and golf legend Jack Nicklaus was walking the property that would eventually become Castle Pines Golf Club with its founder, Jack Vickers.

Gazing about the rocky, forested tableland, Nicklaus tried to wrap his head around Vickers’ vision of a championship-level golf course on such unforgiving terrain.

“We went out and walked around the (grounds), and I said, ‘You really want to put a golf course here?’” Nicklaus recalled with a laugh. “He said, ‘Yeah, I do.’ You had to be a mountain goat to walk it at the time because it was nothing but rocks and trees.”

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The two Jacks went through with the plan, and Castle Pines Golf Club opened in 1981 as one of the first courses designed by Nicklaus himself. It quickly emerged as a landmark, hosting The International for 21 years from 1986 through 2006.

But in the last half-decade or so, with The International fading in memory, a new vision was required. After Vickers’ passing, George Solich took over as club president. Determined to build off Vickers’ original ambition, Solich wanted to completely overhaul the course.

And so he did.

As a result, the club will host the BMW Championship this weekend, marking the return of the PGA Tour to Colorado for the first time in 11 years, since the same tournament was held at Cherry Hills Country Club in 2014.

“Jack was reluctant to make a lot of changes in the golf course, and I understand that,” Nicklaus explained. “The two of us were getting older, and it was a pretty good golf course, so why change it, especially when the members like it?

“But then George came in, and he wanted to bring a premier tournament back. He felt like the golf course needed a bunch done to modernize it to be able to handle pros’ games now, and that (those changes) would also make the course better for its membership. I think we accomplished both goals.”

“It needed a facelift”

Had Solich not persuaded his membership to go through with his grand remodel, which cost tens of millions of dollars, the club might not have landed the prestigious playoff event — the oldest non-major tournament on the PGA Tour.

“We crammed in a lot in the last eight years, where most clubs probably wouldn’t get that amount of renovation done in 50 years,” said Castle Pines general manager Keith Schneider, who had been with the club since its inception. “We’ve worked really hard with the Tour the last three years in particular to get (the course) to what they want it to be. They’ve been a big part of this… but also, we’re 43 years old. It needed a facelift.”

Perhaps the most notable change is the most obvious: Castle Pines expanded its length, adding about 600 yards to the course. It will play this weekend at a PGA Tour distance record of 8,130 yards, which the club’s brass believes will help contain some of the world’s longest hitters.

But the increased yardage was only one facet of the course’s recent extensive reshaping.

The club rebuilt each green and every tee box, moving many of the latter back. Every water hazard and bunker was redone, including adding more of each of those features. All the intermediate cut was replaced. More than 500 new trees and roughly 80,000 flowers were planted. And a handful of the holes were totally reimagined, largely with this weekend’s pros in mind.

On Hole 2, a waste area was taken out and a pond was added to the front right side of the green. On Hole 3, a split fairway was removed, and two cascading ponds leading to the green were installed in its place. On Hole 6, the bunkers on both sides of the fairway were adjusted. On Hole 8, a hill was excavated to make room for pushing the green back about 35 yards to make it a tougher Par 5.

Significant alternations continued onto the back 9. On Hole 11, the water feature was enhanced via a stream and two ponds in front of the green. On Hole 16, the tees were raised and the green was dropped to give a better view of the iconic cascading ponds. And on Hole 18, a couple of bunkers were added off the center of the fairway, as well as a new pot bunker in front of the green to make the right side harder.

The Golden Bear himself oversaw every change meticulously.

“We don’t move a blade of grass without getting Mr. Nicklaus’ opinion,” said Duffy Solich, a longtime Castle Pines member and the chairman of the BMW Championship.

Outside of the course rejiggering, Castle Pines also made significant updates to its infrastructure.

The men’s locker room was redone, as were the cottages where the club’s predominantly national membership stays during visits. And Castle Pines’ clocktower was torn down and rebuilt into a slightly bigger version, only this time with an elevator to access a wine cellar below and a lounge up top. It’s now a destination for members to relax.

All of this reshaping has taken place continuously since 2017, with much of the course work done during the offseason. The final touches came earlier this year. The summary of those modifications helped push the club’s bid to host the BMW Championship over the top.

“Castle Pines was already (a world-class course), but all of those changes got them to that next level where it was like, ‘Okay, the PGA Tour needs to be back there,’” said John Norris, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president for tournament business.

Proving ground

Now, it’s showtime for the course with a slogan of “the best day of golf in America.”

Castle Pines was originally founded by Vickers in the pattern of Augusta National, where he was a member. The two clubs share a similar ethos and, of course, those iconic green jackets. While Augusta National has hosted the Masters since 1934, Vickers’ baby had to wait nearly two decades for its time back in the spotlight.

With the club’s hospitality buildout roughly five times larger than it was during The International days, this weekend could be a proving ground for more semi-regular PGA Tour events. Nicklaus will usher in the tournament as its honorary chairman and featured guest on Thursday’s opening hole.

The BMW Championship is currently booked through 2027, but Western Golf Association senior vice president of tournaments Vince Pellegrino says, “All signs point to a return for the tournament in the future.” That probably means the new-age Castle Pines won’t have to wait another 18 years for the world’s best golfers to come back.

“I don’t think the members want a (PGA Tour) stop here that’s an every-year event like it was with The International, but it would be wonderful to have another BMW Championship back here at some point in time in the near future,” Duffy Solich said. “With all the work that’s gone into putting the course together for this event, it would be sad if this was a one-and-done.”

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Originally Published: August 21, 2024 at 11:15 a.m.