The North Dakota pipeline continues to produce for the CGA.

Not only have North Dakotans been a constant presence on the CGA staff in the new millennium, but they’ve become fixtures as managing directors of operations for the association in the last seven-plus years.

First, it was Briena Goldsmith who capably served as the CGA’s managing director of operations from 2011 until late 2014, when she moved back to North Dakota with her husband and kids.

Then there was Dustin Jensen, who returned to the CGA from North Dakota with the same title as Goldsmith had had. Jensen spent three years in that role until moving back to North Dakota at the end of 2017.

And now Ashley Barnhart (pictured) is becoming the latest North Dakotan to earn a similar title. On Thursday (Nov. 1), the current CGA director of junior competitions will be promoted to managing director of golf operations for the association.

“There’s sort of a North Dakota work ethic that I swear is real,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said. “There’s what I would describe as resourcefulness, problem solving, get it done.”

Mate was speaking specifically about common qualities possessed by Barnhart and Jensen, though they same has been true of Goldsmith as well.

In her new role, Barnhart will continue to be a point person for the CGA in its partnership with the Colorado PGA regarding the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado. She’ll also oversee CGA championships, USGA qualifiers, Rules of Golf and amateur status monitoring. Jensen did likewise during his most recent stint with the CGA, though the plan moving forward is that some areas formerly under his purview will soon be handled by another staffer. Specifically, handicapping, course rating and GHIN/USGA tournament management software support will be managed by a future hire.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to really engage with a bigger piece of the golf landscape rather than being solely glued to junior golf,” said Barnhart, who’s been a popular figure as one of the leaders of the Junior Golf Alliance since it was launched about three years ago. “I have a unique opportunity to create some synergy between our men’s, women’s and junior world.”

And Barnhart will take on this greatly expanded role at the age of 24, 2 1/2 years after graduating from college and becoming a full-time CGA staffer. But promoting her to managing director of golf operations at this point is a testament to how highly regarded Barnhart is by CGA leadership.

“I’ve always been a believer that there’s only one way to gain experience — and that’s through experience,” Mate said. “I’m reminded of one of my favorite television shows, ‘The Voice’, which I hate to admit that I watch. Sometimes you’ll have these 13 year olds that come onto the stage and sing and perform as if they’re 30. (Age is) just a number.

“The qualities of the millennial generation that are often cited unfairly are that there’s no loyalty, a short attention span, flightiness … Ashley embodies everything that’s not characteristic of what we mostly think of when we think of millennials. She’s incredibly well organized, she’s incredibly loyal, she’s got extremely high standards. If anything, she sometimes gets in trouble for not wanting to relax those standards. There’s a term in psychology called ‘executive function’, which is basically your ability to organize, plan and execute. Ashley is just a ’10’ in executive function. Organizing, planning and execution — she’s just exceptionally good at those things. To put her in the role of managing the golf operations is putting her in her area of strength.”

For Barnhart herself, a can-do attitude and a strong work ethic are far more important than any consideration of age.

“Twenty-four or 44, there’s work to be done and I think I can accomplish some of that with the help of our management team,” she said.

Barnhart and Jensen, of course, have a linked background that far predates the years they spent working together at the CGA. Barnhart played golf at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota when Jensen was coaching both the men’s and women’s programs at the school.

As noted above, Mate believes the two share the same strong work ethic, resourcefulness, problem-solving ability and get-it-done attitude.

“Those are common denominators, but beyond that, they’re very different people,” Mate noted. “Dustin is more gregarious, more outgoing, definitely an extrovert. Ashley is more introverted. And their strengths and weaknesses are different. But they both share that North Dakota, ‘I’m going to just get this done.’ I love it. You want someone like that where if you give them a task, you know it’s going to get done and there’s not going to be any excuses. That resourcefulness I just love.”

One of the first major items on Barnhart’s to-do list in her new role will be to hire her replacement, specifically a new director of junior competitions. Barnhart has been either a manager or director of junior competitions since the spring of 2016. She also served as a CGA summer intern in 2014 and ’15, and did a lot of part-time work over the 2015-16 school year.

“Ashley has been the glue that has held the JGAC’s competitive tournament program together and is directly responsible for much of the success the JGAC has realized over the past three years,” Mate noted. “… The JGAC has been recognized as a model of collaboration and strategic alignment and has taken our partnership with the Colorado Section of the PGA to a new level.”
 

When it comes to the CGA staff, North Dakota giveth and North Dakota taketh away.

In the first decade of the new millennium, it giveth, with two North Dakotans, Dustin Jensen and Briena Goldsmith, moving to Colorado and becoming key, long-term members of the CGA staff.

But in the last four years, it’s taketh away, with both Jensen (2011) and Goldsmith (early this fall) moving back to North Dakota.

And at the beginning of 2015, it’s back in the “giveth” mode as Jensen will return to the CGA to become managing director of operations. Coincidentally, the person who he’s succeeding in that role is Goldsmith, who returned to North Dakota in October after an eight-year run at the CGA.

Jensen will be departing his job with his alma mater, the University of Jamestown, where he essentially has had four jobs: executive director of the booster club, director of alumni relations, and coaching both the men’s and women’s golf teams.

Jensen, 34, will be officially rejoining the CGA on Jan. 5, though he’ll coach the Jamestown golf teams during the spring portion of their schedules so as to not leave the programs in a lurch in mid-season.

“We’re thrilled to have Dustin ‘come home’ to the CGA,” said Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA during all of Jensen’s previous stint with the association (2001-11) and still now. “Frankly, he’s the perfect fit. He’s intimately familiar with the CGA and he’s spent the last four years adding tremendous skills to his tool kit.

“We did a thorough search (in filling Goldsmith’s position), and Dustin competed for the job like anyone else. He has a lot of experience, and he’s learned a lot in North Dakota.”

That will be reflected in his responsibilities in his new role as managing director of operations. He’ll oversee three key operations of the CGA: rules and competitions, junior competitions, and course rating and handicapping.

In other changes in titles and responsibilities, Erin Gangloff will become the CGA’s director of programs, handling programs and outreach efforts; and Ryan Smith will be director of development and communications.

Jensen’s previous stint with the CGA ended with a seven-year run as a popular director of youth programs.

“The CGA has been so important to me,” said Jensen, whose only years spent living outside of North Dakota have come during his time with the CGA. “This is the best move for (wife) Mary and I. Leaving home is the hard part, but I’m coming back to family. I thought I’d end up being either an athletic director or doing this type of stuff, and this is more where my heart is. This is the best fit, and it was the right time.”

Jensen first joined the CGA as an intern in 2001. The next year, Mate hired him full-time. During his seven years as director of youth programs, Jensen significantly increased the CGA’s junior outreach programs and fundraising efforts — especially with the opening of the CGA/CWGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course — as well as the number of junior tournaments. He also played the key role in the CGA hosting the 2011 Junior America’s Cup (left) at Hiwan Golf Club after the tournament was moved from Mexico due to safety concerns. The Colorado team posted its best finish ever in the JAC that year, placing third.

“It’s nice to be tied in with junior golf again, and I’ve worked with men’s championships before,” Jensen said. “The staff is such a good group; it’s like family. You miss it. It’s such a great place to be.”
 

It was a nice bit of symmetry for Jervey. In ’92, she presided over her first annual meeting as the CWGA’s executive director. On Saturday (March 1) at Inverness, Jervey will oversee her last as she’s leaving the CWGA in about a month to become director of event management for JBC Golf, based in the Boston area. (For that story, CLICK HERE.)

After Jervey’s 22 years on the job, her last major public event as CWGA executive director could be emotional.

“I’m sure it will be,” said Jervey (pictured above, with fellow CWGA staffer Kim Schwartz, at last year’s annual meeting). “I couldn’t keep it together the other day (at a party in her honor at the home of Colorado Golf Hall of Famers Kent and Janet Moore). As the time gets closer, some things hit me as sentimental. I’m sure it will be tough to deal with, with this (annual meeting) being the last one. I’ll try to keep it together, but I’m sure I’ll lose it.”

These first months of 2014 have been — and will be — full of change for female golf administrators in the state. Besides Jervey, Saturday’s CWGA annual meeting will mark the final day on the job for Kelley Mawhinney, CWGA tournament and junior golf operations manager, who is moving to South Carolina/Georgia (or thereabouts) after three years of working for the association, the first one as an intern, then two as a staffer.

In another move, former CWGA staff member LindaSue Chenoweth recently departed — for family-related reasons — after nearly a decade with the Colorado Open Golf Foundation, much of it spent as the chief operations officer. Chenoweth did considerable behind-the-scenes work to make the three HealthOne Colorado Open championships (men’s open, women’s open and men’s seniors) run smoothly. She also played a key role with the First Tee of Green Valley Ranch.

To add to the list, two CGA female staffers are going on maternity leave in the first half of 2014. Director of operations Briena Goldsmith is expected to give birth in mid-April and return to her CGA work after three months. And Evans Scholarship Recruiter Emily Olson begins her maternity leave late this month and plans to work part-time upon her return in the spring.

A lot of things “seem to be happening all at once,” Jervey said.

Amid all the changes, the CWGA will host one of Colorado’s biggest women’s golf-related meetings of the year, Saturday’s CWGA annual meeting at the Inverness Hotel and Conference Center.

The day will feature a variety of 50-minute educational breakout sessions and a keynote speech by Cheryl Burget, who runs leadership and transformational workshops. Jervey said about 250 people are expected to attend the meeting, most representing the roughly 100 clubs which come to the event.

Among the highlights of the day will be:

— Burget, who speaks internationally, is the founder of “Your Intended Life”, a company that helps people become successful “by learning to live their passions.” She’ll touch on that subject, as well as “the Passion Test for Golf — Keys to Creating Your Best Game” and about “the importance of focus and intention” in breakout sessions and during her brunch keynote address.

“It’s been a few years since we’ve had a keynote speaker, so hopefully the members will enjoy that,” Jervey said.

— The other breakout sessions will include a best-practices discussion regarding women’s club membership, with some of the more successful clubs in Colorado sharing what makes things work for them; one-time LPGA Tour champion Lauren Howe will speak about managing your emotions to have greater success in golf and life; a Rules of Golf interactive session; and an open forum with CWGA staffers.

— Janene Guzowski of Lakewood Country Club, a director for the Western Golf Association, will talk about the 2014 BMW Championship PGA Tour event that will be played at Cherry Hills Country Club this year, and about the Evans Caddie Scholarship. Proceeds from the BMW Championship benefit the Evans Scholarship. Near the the end of the day, there will be a drawing for BMW Championship tickets.

— In the business meeting that will conclude the day, Jervey will speak about the CWGA highlights of last year and what’s upcoming, and she’ll undoubtedly bid adieu to the membership.

— And, depending on how candidate interviews go this week, the new CWGA executive director may be introduced to the members.