On Aug. 23, 1922, roughly 30 people gathered inside the City Council chambers in the old Longmont City Hall building at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Kimbark Street to discuss the game of golf.
The 8 p.m. community meeting was attended by several residents and business owners who wanted a place to play the sport locally.
“After some discussion it was decided to organize a golf club,” Erik Mason, Longmont Museum curator of history, said as he read from the nearly century-old meeting’s official minutes.
“I don’t know where the nearest course would have been,” he added.
The Aug. 23 record does not list the names and addresses of those who were in attendance, but it did indicate that one person owned a local canning company, another owned the hospital, and one was the “brother of a mayor.”
James F. Hays was the mayor of Longmont in 1922.
“It began really as very much a private enterprise but obviously pretty well funded, pretty well backed,” Mason said. “They didn’t seem to have, at least in the early years, much trouble raising the money to buy the land and get the course going.”
The impassioned community meeting led to the formation of the Longmont Golf Club, a private organization that the city leased 40 acres of farmland to in order to help get the course up and running.
The organization also purchased 10 acres of private property to make room for the course and clubhouse.
“It does mention that they purchased acreage from Ms. Yeager for $4,000 in November of 1922,” Mason said of the private tracts of land that were divided into a pair of five-acre parcels. “In January then (of 1923), they have a meeting of the greens committee where they (plan) out the location of the … course and the holes.”
It isn’t entirely clear when the course opened for play, but Mason thought it would have been in the spring of 1923 given that the organization had purchased a three-section, horse-drawn lawn mower for $100 that May.
Since then, the nine-hole course has experienced a few changes, including a redesign in 1929, a membership fee reduction from $3 to $1 during World War II and a new clubhouse in 1966, city records indicated.
“It’s a little unclear exactly when Sunset transitioned from being a private membership club to being a public course the way it is today, but it looks like it probably happened in 1962,” Mason said. “Ralph Price (had been) elected mayor, and one of his campaign promises had been to create a golf course advisory board.”
It isn’t entirely clear when its name was changed from the Longmont Golf Club to Sunset Golf Course, either.
What is clear, is that nearly a century after those 30 people showed up at city hall on a Wednesday night to form a golf club, the city today has three public courses — Sunset Golf Course, Twin Peaks Golf Course and Ute Creek Golf Course — where golfers of all ages and abilities can shoot a round without breaking the bank.
At Sunset Golf Course, people can play nine holes for under $20 and can select from a plethora of available tee times online.
‘Par Tee’ time
On Thursday, the city of Longmont hosted a “Par Tee” at Sunset Golf Course to celebrate the course’s 100-year storied history.
The first 200 attendees were treated to free hot dogs, and, thanks to the Longmont City Council having voted to allow alcohol sales at the course in 1982, adult beverages were also available for purchase.
Those in attendance sat in the shade near the first fairway as they listened to live music and conversed about their own memories at Sunset Golf Course.
Originally from Long Island, N.Y., Pat Rudolph moved to Longmont three years ago, and when she did she was quick to join a local group called Sunset Ladies 9, which plays every Thursday morning at Sunset Golf Course.
“In the summer we try to go early because it’s hot, like 7 a.m., and then in September we push it back to like 8 a.m.,” Rudolph said. “It’s a wonderful course.”
When asked how she had played that morning, Rudolph said it had been one of her “better days.”
“It’s a very friendly group of women,” Rudolph said of the Sunset Ladies 9. “It’s not cliquey. We all play together and have a great time. It’s a lot of fun.”
A par 34 course, Sunset Golf Course features seven par fours and two par threes with a pace of play of 2 hours and 15 minutes, give or take.
The late Dave Schey holds the course record, having played all nine holes twice for a score of 61, according to golflongmont.com.
Schey was a descendant of Jacob Schey, who was one of the original supporters of the Longmont Golf Club.
Barbara Page, who like Rudolph is a member of the Sunset Ladies 9, said she used to belong to an upscale, exclusive country club in Denver but prefers Sunset Golf Course these days.
“The people here in the clubhouse are wonderful. They make you feel welcome. They make you feel like you’re someone they want to have,” Page said at Thursday’s celebration. “It’s just so friendly. It’s a wonderful public course — wonderful.”
‘A special little place’
Ryan Williams, who has worked as the head professional at Sunset Golf Course for the last decade, started playing at the public course when he was 11 years old.
“There’s a special kind of passion for this golf course,” Williams said in a separate interview Friday. “It’s a unique situation to say that we’re 100 years old, and I’m very grateful to be a part of it.”
Although Williams did not have an exact count as to how many people attended Thursday’s 100-year anniversary celebration, he said they went through at least 240 hot dogs.
The course is open year-round, unless there’s snow on the ground. Williams said 1,000 people tee off at the course each week during the busier, warmer months.
While a driving range was never part of the course’s original blueprint, a short-game practice area was later developed where an orchard once grew.
Although the course did have to shut down for a few months during the pandemic, Williams said that since then, businesses has been booming.
“We’re a historic golf course. I mean, great players have played here in the past,” Williams said. “It’s just a special little place here.”
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Longmont residents still teeing off at Sunset Golf Course 100 years later - Longmont Times-Call
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