Country clubs for the Coloradan: at elite clubs, money alone won't get you a membership.

• Author: Schley, Stewart
• Position: Attitude at Altitude - Membership of Cherry Hills

The 18th hole at Denver's Cherry Hills Country Club is a soft blanket of green sloping uphill over 459 yards from tee box to flagstick. To the golfer's left, reflections from willow trees ripple across the surface of a lake that curls itself up against the fairway like a cat on a Sunday afternoon. Dual bunkers produce splashes of sand on either side of the green, leaving a narrow entry alley that beckons like a processional carpet to the hole itself.

Finishing a round at Cherry Hills seems like golf heaven. If you ever get to play it, that is.

Even a willingness to pay a roughly $75,000 initiation fee won't guarantee admittance. To join Cherry Hills, you must first be recommended as a candidate by a member, and later be approved by a membership committee.

The southeast Denver course represents the ultimate in private-club ethos. General manager Steve Klemenz, an amiable industry veteran who came to Cherry Hills after managing private clubs in Connecticut, won't even acknowledge a recent renovation that updated the Cherry Hills clubhouse and dining room. "I really can't talk about it," Klemenz says.

That's just the way members like it at Cherry Hills and at many of Colorado's private golf clubs, where briskly paced rounds, readily available tee times, casual socializing and personal treatment are worth thousands of dollars in initiation fees and annual payments to a growing number of Coloradans.

The state's 60-plus private courses span a wide range of membership prices and facilities. For golfing purists, there are private clubs like Meridian Golf Club near Interstate 25 and Lincoln Avenue, which is recruiting new members with the allure of ample tee-time availability and extensive practice facilities, including a trio of practice holes.

For those who want to mix golf with a wider range of recreation choices, like tennis, swimming or just mingling with friends on a sunny afternoon, membership clubs like Aurora's Valley Country Club or The Pinery may fit the bill. Some mountain clubs also mix in skiing and fly-fishing.

But be prepared to pay. One-time initiation fees for Colorado private golf clubs generally range from around $7,500 to $75,000, says Dan Conway, the president of Denver golf-development consulting firm THK Associates and a member of the Glenmoor Country Club in Centennial. It's possible to spend a lot more. Conway says some Colorado ski-area resort courses can cost as much as $250,000 to join.

It pays to research exactly what...