Kennedy Golf Course’s Golf Shop. Feb. 26, 2026.
Paolo Zialcita/Denverite
Kennedy Golf Course, the city-run golf course in the southeast corner of Denver, is set for a major facelift.
Currently, the golf course is home to a restaurant and clubhouse. Both buildings are beginning to show their age, according to Scott Rethlake, Denver’s Director of Golf.
Rethlake and the golf department are preparing for a complete overhaul of the golf course, starting with its clubhouse. Instead of two buildings, Denver will put everything under one roof. The city has narrowed options for the future design to two architecture styles.
“I’d say this one’s a little more mountain modern. This one’s maybe a little more mid-century modern,” said Emily Thompson, an architect with Oz Architecture, which will design the clubhouse.
Renderings of a new clubhouse for Kennedy Golf Course. Feb. 26, 2026.Paolo Zialcita/Denverite
The construction, which Rethlake hopes to finish by 2029, will bring Kennedy up to par with other city-owned golf courses that have event space for rent.
“The neighborhood needs something like this, to have more of a community center where people can come, whether you’re a golfer or not, it’s a place where you can come and hang out,” he said.
The renovation will include an overhaul of Kennedy’s driving range. The department plans to install Toptracer technology, allowing users to trace the speed and direction of their drives. It would be similar to the widely popular Topgolf entertainment driving range.
“It’s more family-oriented,” Rethlake said. “You could do video games, kind of through, hitting the golf ball.”
The clubhouse and driving range project would cost upward of $30 million, Rethlake said. Denver Golf is entirely self-funded — it only uses revenue generated by its own operations, so no tax dollars are going towards the project.
Renderings of a new clubhouse for Kennedy Golf Course. Feb. 26, 2026.Paolo Zialcita/Denverite
After the clubhouse phase, the focus will shift to revamping the rest of the course.
Kim Nevins, who has golfed at Kennedy for over a decade, said she’s excited that her neighborhood golf course is set for renovations.
The Kennedy course is “not as luxurious as City Park, but this is where it’s convenient and where we like to play. So we’d like to have a newer building,” she said at a recent event.