Caddying may no longer be in its heyday, and Colorado isn’t one of its hotbeds, but that doesn’t mean it’s a relic of a bygone era in golf. It simply means that it needs consistent nurturing to maintain a significance presence in Colorado golf.
That’s part of the idea behind Colorado’s Caddie Summit, which was held for the fifth consecutive year on Thursday, this time at Colorado Golf Club in Parker.
About 50 people, many of them officials from golf courses and clubs in Colorado that feature caddie programs, attended Thursday’s Summit, sharing data, best practices and, of course, a love for caddying.
The Summit helps keep caddying a priority, so it doesn’t wither on the vine.
“To me, you’ve got to continue to put the effort in,” said Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA, which organizes the Caddie Summit. “Caddying is not the path of least resistance. It’s not like the things at a club that you don’t need to push, that you don’t need to promote; they’ll just be fine. You don’t need to promote golf carts. People are going to take them. And if you’re not careful, they’ll take them too much. So just to maintain (the amount of caddie activity there is in Colorado) is success because it’s not the path of least resistance.”
Mate points to the example of John Ogden, the head golf professional at Cherry Hills Country Club, which has the largest caddie program in the state, with about 180 “core caddies” racking up a joint total of roughly 12,500 rounds per year.
“John works every day pushing and promoting,” noted Mate, a former caddie who earned the Evans Scholarship for caddies at the University of Colorado.
Cherry Hills sets the standard for caddie programs in Colorado, but they come in all sizes. A total of 24 programs exist in Colorado, meaning about 10 percent of the courses in the state have one. They range from producing 50 caddie loops per year at The First Tee of Denver at City Park Golf Course to the 12,500 annual loops at Cherry Hills. Eight clubs had at least 1,000 caddie loops in 2015: Cherry Hills (12,500), Ballyneal (6,300), Colorado Golf Club (3,219), Castle Pines Golf Club (2,600), Maroon Creek Club (2,199), Denver Country Club (1,700) Columbine Country Club (1,500) and Eagle Springs Golf Club (1,400).
Most of the caddie programs are at private clubs, but some are at resorts, and a few are at public courses, including CommonGround (the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy), and The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch and The First Tee of Denver. The Solich Academy, which incentivizes taking caddies by paying for all of the caddies’ base fees, produced 970 caddie loops last year in its fourth season of existence. Spinoffs of the Solich Academy currently exist at Meridian Golf Club and at Fort Collins Country Club.
In all, the 24 caddie clubs in Colorado produced 37,913 loops in 2015, which was down about 1.4 percent compared to 2014. The average number of “core caddies” at the participating Colorado clubs and courses is 26. A dozen clubs have some “professional” caddies, but the majority of caddies at the state’s courses and clubs are teenagers.
As for the Summit, Mate believes it’s a very worthwhile annual event.
“It’s just sort of settled into a really good rhythm,” he said. “You’ve got to do this every year. My hope is that everyone comes away with a few notes that they’ll be able to try. But the main objective is just to keep it on the radar, to keep them accountable a little bit. ‘Oh yeah, we have a caddie program. Oh, I’ve attended this Summit, so I better do something about it.'”
To keep the Caddie Summit going strong, each caddie club or course that brings at least three attendees receives $500 from the Colorado Golf Foundation for its caddie program. Several years ago, the lead gift for the Foundation was provided by CU Evans Scholar alum George Solich.
Evans Scholarship a Big Incentive for Some: For some Colorado teenagers, besides caddying providing extra cash in the summer, it also brings with it the possibility of a full tuition and housing scholarship to the University of Colorado. The Evans Scholarship for caddies, potentially worth about $80,000 if renewed for four years, is awarded to selected high-achieving caddies with significant financial need.
The scholarship has produced 10,184 alums over the last 86 years, including 441 at CU. Approximately 910 Evans Scholars are currently enrolled across the country — including about 50 at CU — and roughly 260 scholarships are expected to be awarded for the incoming class of 2016-17, including 11 to Coloradans. The average grade-point average for Evans Scholars is 3.2, and the program graduates 95 percent of its caddies.
Nationwide, the Evans Scholarship spends about $16 million each year on scholarship and housing costs. And since the scholarship’s inception, the total cost has been about $330 million.
The CU Evans Scholars house recently underwent a $6 million renovation and expansion. A formal dedication for the house in Boulder is planned for April 16.
One of the CU Evans Scholar alums is Geoff “Duffy” Solich (left), who recently became the Western Golf Association’s state chairman for Colorado, succeeding Bob Webster. The WGA, which has long partnered with the CGA and CWGA in supporting and sponsoring the Evans Scholars at CU, adminsters the scholarship nationwide. The Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround is named for George and Duffy Solich.
Six Coloradans recently became new directors for the WGA, helping the association support the Evans Scholars Foundation and conduct its four championships, including the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship. The six incoming directors from Colorado are Don Law (Cherry Hills Country Club), Bob Lazzeri (Columbine Country Club), Eric Miller (Colorado Golf Club), Tim Morris (Denver Country Club), Frank Nessinger of Denver and Jeremy Stroiman (Boulder Country Club). Several of the newcomers are former Evans Scholars.
In all, the WGA has more than 500 directors.
Caddie Central: Colorado Golf Club is a hot spot on the caddie agenda in 2016. In January, it hosted the Evans Scholars selection meeting for Colorado. On Tuesday, the Caddie Summit took place at the Parker Club. And on Oct. 3, the Evans Cup of Colorado fundraising tournament for the Evans Scholars will take place at the club that hosted the 2013 Solheim Cup and the 2010 Senior PGA Championship.
