Establishing a solid connection with someone is often simply a matter of having the opportunity to make an impression in person. 

The CWGA realizes this, and in the first five months of this year it’s trying to put its best foot forward in a half-dozen large-scale public events that can help the association attract new members and solidify relationships with existing ones.

One of those events took place Saturday when the CWGA held its annual meeting at the Inverness Hotel and Conference Center. With 315 people signed up and more than 300 in attendance — an increase of about 70 from last year — it was just the kind of face time the association was hoping for, particularly with membership having dipped somewhat in recent years.

“It’s huge attendance — right at capacity,” CWGA executive director Robin Jervey said. “That’s a good sign. It means people are finding it worthwhile.”

Jervey speculated that changes in the Rules of Golf effective Jan. 1, and this being the first year of a new USGA handicap certification cycle, spurred attendance as educational sessions on both topics were on the docket. But whatever the case, it was an ideal opportunity for the CWGA to connect with people who have a built-in interest in the game.

Another such opportunity was at the Denver Golf Expo earlier this month. There, 555 attendees filled out surveys that the CWGA will use to focus their future services and to possibly add membership.

And there are several more such CWGA events on the horizon before we get to the prime golf season.

— The association will team up with the PGA Tour Superstore in Greenwood Village for a CWGA Night the evening of April 4 at the Superstore. There, attendees can do some discounted golf shopping, receive free swing analysis and practice in the hitting bays, partake in some refreshments and get some CWGA and rules information from the association’s leadership.

The CWGA and CGA also will be represented at an Expo being held at the Tour Superstore on March 10.

— The association will host three CWGA Experience events around the state in May, including one on the Western Slope for the first time. The Experience features group instruction from some top-name LPGA/PGA professionals, as well as some socializing. It’s also another chance for the CWGA to promote its Affiliate Membership, which is meant for women who aren’t interested in competitive golf or in getting a handicap.

The first CWGA Experience will be May 5 at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora. Then there will be two on May 19 — at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs and at Bookcliff Country Club in Grand Junction.

Jervey and new CWGA president Kathryn Davis plan to make the trip over to Bookcliff.

“It’s a good opportunity to see the members face and face and to show we care,” Jervey said.

Davis sees the CWGA’s off-season efforts to connect with and build membership as being integral to the association’s success.

“We see a lot of people during golf season, starting usually in April or May,” she said. “But this is definitely the slow time, so it gives us an opportunity to connect and do some face time.”

At the CWGA Annual Meeting on Saturday, the event featured a business meeting and six educational breakout sessions, including those focusing on the Rules of Golf, handicap certification, and roundtables for club presidents from around the state.

“The educational seminars provide a great opportunity,” Davis said. “That’s one of the things (at the annual meeting) where people come away saying, ‘I got to come’ versus ‘I had to come’.”

In their roundtable sessions, the club presidents had a chance to share practices that have proven to be effective, as well as to discuss challenges they face. “And we try to see how the CWGA can help them grow and operate more effectively,” Jervey said. “It’s exciting to get some face time with club presidents.

“The event is really about the members — how they learn from each other and how we can help them.”

Here were some of the other highlights of the day:

— A Colorado junior golf silent auction was held throughout the morning, and it raised approximately $8,000, minus consignment fees, for junior programs in the state, benefiting both girls and boys.

“Thank you very much for supporting Colorado junior golf,” Davis said at the brunch.   

The money raised comes on the heels of the CGA/CWGA Used Club Sale at the Denver Golf Expo netting a record $16,000 for junior golf developmental programs .

— Dawn McConkey, the CWGA’s director of member services until leaving the position for a new job a few weeks ago, received a CWGA medallion honoring her for 12 1/2 years of service for the association. Only Jervey, who recently reached her 20th anniversary as the CWGA’s executive director, has spent more time employed by the association.

McConkey (pictured at left) bid an emotional farewell Saturday, saying she “knew almost nothing about golf” when she started at the CWGA as a USGA P.J. Boatwright intern.  Since then, the Greeley resident proudly noted that she put 330,000 miles on her car during her years with the CWGA.

“People who I’ve worked with have made this career very rewarding,” she said.  “… This whole golf world has been like a second family to me. It’s given me a chance to meet so many interesting and valuable people.

“The CWGA has been an outstanding place to work. They’re an outstanding bunch of people.”

McConkey’s new job is with the Department of Communication Studies at Colorado State University.

Her duties at the CWGA will be split among several staffers. Kim Nissen, formerly the director of rules and competitions, has been promoted to assistant executive director and she will handle the association’s outreach programs. Kelley Mawhinney, the CWGA’s Boatwright intern last year, was hired as rules and competitions manager and will be mentored by Nissen. And Edie Bell will play an expanded role as course rating and handicapping manager. Rounding out the CWGA staff are Jervey, accounts manager Ginger Washco and new Boatwright intern Megan Skelly.        

— Also feted Saturday were members of the CWGA board of directors whose terms ended in 2011, including Joanne Braucht, the immediate past president of the CWGA, who spent a decade on the board.

Another CWGA mainstay, Colorado Springs resident Twyla Walter (pictured at left), was presented the CWGA Volunteer of the Year honor. Walter spent 10 years as a CWGA volunteer (2001-2011), serving on the CWGA board and the tournament committee and being the nine-hole chairperson.

“She was also the go-to person anytime we had something going on in Colorado Springs,” Jervey noted.
 

Ten high school seniors from Colorado have been awarded Evans Caddie Scholarships at the University of Colorado starting in the fall semester.

The full tuition and housing scholarships, worth more than $60,000 each if renewed for four years, are given out based on caddie record, academics, financial need, and character and leadership.

This year’s recipients — nine males and a female — averaged an unweighted grade-point average of 3.8 and an ACT score of 28, which ranks among the top 10 percent of all those who take the test.

The Evans Scholarship at CU is one of the flagship programs for both the CGA and CWGA, which co-sponsor it along with the Illinois-based Western Golf Association. Through CGA and CWGA bag-tag sales and Par Club contributions, Colorado donors fully fund the year-to-year scholarship costs at the Evans Scholars’ Eisenhower chapter house at CU.

This year’s incoming class of CU Evans Scholars includes two caddies each from Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver Country Club and the Roaring Fork Club in Basalt.

Here are the scholarship recipients and the clubs at which they caddie: Grant Cassell (photo at left) and Garrett Heidrick from Cherry Hills CC, Hunter Kessler and Connor Smith from Denver CC, Hector Morales (top photo) and Dylan Ahasic from the Roaring Fork Club, Eddie Fundingsland (bottom photo) from Columbine Country Club, Nick Tompkins from Lakewood Country Club, Kent Hiller from Ballyneal Golf & Hunt Club in Holyoke, and Kelly Baines from Boulder Country Club.

Cassell and Kessler attend Arapahoe High School, and Ahasic and Morales go to Basalt HS. Heidrick is from Englewood HS, Smith from Regis Jesuit, Fundingsland from Ralston Valley, Tompkins from Wheat Ridge, Hiller from Haxtun and Baines from Fairview.

While applicants must caddie a minimum of 50 times to qualify for the Evans Scholarship, Ahasic achieved 200 loops at Roaring Fork and Hiller hit 180 at Ballyneal.

Meanwhile, off the golf course, among the 10 new CU Evans Scholars are eight members of the National Honor Society.

“I think this is the strongest, deepest class we’ve had in many, many years,” said Bob Webster, a member of the board of governors for both the WGA and the CGA.

Twenty-nine Coloradans applied for the Evans Scholarship in the current cycle, and finalists (pictured) were interviewed earlier this month at Colorado Golf Club in Parker by a selection committee that numbered more than 100.

Nationwide, about 620 caddies applied for Evans Scholarships, with 230 receiving them. CU is one of 14 universities — primarily in the Midwest — that are home to Evans Scholarship houses. The house at 1029 Broadway in Boulder has been home to the CU Evans Scholars since 1967.

The scholarship was founded in 1930 by Charles “Chick” Evans, a former caddie who went on to win a U.S. Open and two U.S. Amateurs. About 825 caddies are currently in the program, with 41 at CU entering 2012, including nine women. The scholarship has produced more than 9,400 graduates, with 400-plus coming from CU. More than 90 percent of Evans Scholarship recipients graduate from their universities.

Overall, the Evans Scholarship currently has an annual operating budget of more than $12 million, which makes it one of the nation’s largest privately funded scholarship programs. In addition to direct contributions, funding for the Evans Scholarship comes from proceeds from the BMW Championship, a PGA Tour playoff event. The 2014 BMW Championship will be held at Cherry Hills.

In 2011, the Evans Scholarship received 44 donations of $2,500 or more from Coloradans. Cherry Hills and the Roaring Fork Club were among the top fundraising clubs nationwide.

A program called the “Match Play Challenge” greatly spurred large donations last year. A group of six Match Play Partners, including CU Evans Scholar alum and WGA director George Solich, provided a combined $1.8 million in matching funds for gifts of $2,500 and larger. Colorado had the second-most donors in the Match Play Challenge of any state, with 44 contributors donating more than $175,000.