Fred Funk Designing Windsor Golf Course Expected in 2022

While traveling the world on the PGA Champions Tour, thoughts in the back of Fred Funk’s mind often flash to an empty field in Windsor, Colorado.

The golf pro of nearly 40 years has been designing RainDance National Golf Club for more than half a decade. He’s even discussed details of the course with President Donald Trump — who personally owns several golf courses himself.

“It’s been designed and redesigned about a thousand times in my head,” Funk said during a Tuesday (June 30) visit to the Windsor spot that will become the course.

The design for RainDance National Golf Club has now been tentatively set. Construction on the 18-hole course is expected to begin this fall, with the first tee-off targeted for summer 2022. 

“I think it will become a nationally-renowned golf course,” Funk said. “I want a person to walk off the 18th hole and say ‘I can’t wait to do that again.’”

Long considered one of the world’s most accurate drivers, Funk has won 8 PGA Tour Tournaments and 9 Champions Tour Tournaments in his career.

The RainDance project is one of the last on the golf bucket list for the 64-year-old Maryland native who considers Pebble Beach to be his all-time favorite course.

“This is a pretty amazing opportunity,” Funk said. “Golf courses just aren’t being built from the ground-up these days.”

Funk first met RainDance developer/Colorado Eagles owner Martin Lind about eight years ago when the two were introduced during a private jet sale. They quickly bonded over golf.

Lind previously opened Pelican Lakes Golf Club in 1999 and Pelican Falls Golf Course in 2006. The Pelican Lakes courses are not far from where the future RainDance course will be.

Funk teamed with former Arnold Palmer Design Co. architect Harrison Minchew on the RainDance course design. 

“My goal is to design a golf course that will be fun for everybody,” Funk said. “Challenging for the good players and playable for the not-so-good players.”

One of the signature features of the course is the first hole tee box, which players drive right into a pristine picturesque view of the Rocky Mountain’s Long’s Peak in the distance.

“The land of RainDance is a pretty dramatic piece of land,” Funk said. “I’m always trying to create an escape route on every hole."

A housing development called RainDance Community is being built adjacent to the course, but no homes will be in play.

Funk hadn’t been back to Windsor in a couple years, but now looks forward to soon teeing off on the course that’s long lived in his mind.

“It’s become my passion,” Funk said. “I’ve thought, dreamed and gone over all the Topo maps to really make it something special.”