Eisenhower Golf Club
Designed by Robert Trent Jones
History
1959 was a year of new institutions for the American military, and among them was a golf course built not for a resort or a real estate venture, but for the officers, cadets, and families of the United States Air Force Academy, which had itself only just relocated to Colorado Springs. The club took its name from the president who signed the Academy’s founding legislation, and its purpose was plain from the outset: recreation and morale for a branch of service still finding its footing in the Rocky Mountain foothills.
The Academy turned to Robert Trent Jones, then at the height of his influence over American golf architecture, to lay out the grounds. Jones was in the middle of a decade that would see him design or remodel courses across the country for clubs eager to project ambition, and the Air Force Academy was no exception. He worked with the site’s dramatic elevation and proximity to the Rampart Range, producing a course whose composition reflected his broader philosophy of the era — demanding driving, well-defended approaches, and a routing that made full use of the terrain’s natural rise and fall.
In the decades since, Eisenhower has remained tied closely to its military identity, serving as the home course for Air Force Academy golf programs and hosting service-related and regional amateur competitions over the years. It has stayed a private facility, its membership drawn primarily from Academy affiliation, and its architecture has been maintained rather than substantially reimagined — a rare case of a mid-century Trent Jones design surviving with much of its original character intact.
Playing Notes
Pack an extra sleeve of balls and don't skip the practice range warm-up, because the elevation here adds real yardage to every club in your bag — a smooth 7-iron might fly like an 8, so club down and trust it. At 6,200 feet above sea level, the thinner air also means the wind moves differently than you're used to, and Colorado Springs afternoons tend to pick up breeze that can shift approach shots more than expected. With 36 holes to choose from, expect variety in layout character, but budget for a cart unless you're prepared for a long day on foot, as the terrain rolls enough to make walking both courses a serious workout. Bring sunscreen and a hat regardless of season; the combination of altitude and Colorado sun is stronger than it looks on an overcast morning. Accuracy off the tee matters more than raw distance here, since the thin air will already pad your numbers — the real test is controlling trajectory and judging how far the ball actually travels once it's in that mountain air.