Devil's Thumb Golf Club

Overview: Devil’s Thumb Golf Club is an 18-hole Rick Phelps design near Delta, Colorado, at the southern base of Grand Mesa. The public par-72 layout measures 7,176 yards and uses open prairie, adobe hills, native rough and a broad western horizon to create a links-influenced character. More than 60 bunkers, three lakes and the surrounding mesa landscape give the round plenty of visual structure, but the fairways remain broad enough for players to choose different lines of attack. The strongest holes use the landforms rather than simply placing hazards beside the fairway, so the right strategy often depends on where a player wants to approach the green from. That combination of open ground and changing contours gives Devil’s Thumb a distinct identity within Colorado golf.

History: Delta expanded its municipal golf offering by asking Phelps Golf Design to study and develop the property, and the 18-hole course opened in 2001. Rick Phelps’s work turned the local landscape into a full-length course while preserving the wide views and native character that make the site distinctive. The facility’s history is therefore tied to both city golf and regional design: it was built to serve everyday play, but the routing and setting give it a stronger architectural presence than a routine municipal layout. The course remains associated with Phelps’s design and with the distinctive rock formation that gives it its name.

Did You Know? The course takes its name from Devil’s Thumb, the prominent rock formation visible from the routing. The 2008 course tour also identified one hole as Colorado’s most enjoyable, a reminder that the course’s appeal is as much about memorable landforms as it is about its scorecard.