Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the fifth monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles are being published on coloradogolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 1955-64. For the previous installments, CLICK HERE 

Between what happened, golf-wise, in Colorado and what Coloradans accomplished in golf, it’s hard to top the decade from 1955 to ’64.

After all, these are just a handful of the biggest highlights of that 10-year period:

— Arnold Palmer won his only U.S. Open in Colorado.

— Jack Nicklaus claimed his first USGA title in the state.

— Also at a Colorado site, Bill Wright became the first African-American to win a USGA championship.

— A Colorado Springs resident, Barbara McIntire, earned two U.S. Women’s Amateur titles, along with a British Ladies’ Amateur, and finished second in a playoff at the U.S. Women’s Open.

— And the Colorado Open made its debut, taking a first step toward becoming one of the top state opens in the country.

Yes, it was a heady time for the game in the Centennial State.

Let’s provide a few more details.

— The 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills Country Club has been called “Golf’s Greatest Championship” in the title of one book. And why not, with three generations of golf greats battling it out down the stretch? Forty-seven-year-old Ben Hogan, a four-time U.S. Open champ, was tied for the lead on the 71st tee, But he found water on both 17 and 18, going bogey-triple bogey to finish ninth. Twenty-year-old Nicklaus, winner of the U.S. Amateur the previous year in Colorado, placed second, two back of The King.

Of course, Palmer rallied from seven shots back going into the final round, driving the green on the par-4 first hole and chipping in for birdie at No. 2 en route to a 65. It would turn out to be his only victory in the U.S. Open — one he punctuated with his famous visor toss on the 18th green (pictured at top).

— Less than a year before the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills, Nicklaus had taken down defending champion and two-time winner Charlie Coe, 1 up in the 36-hole final of the U.S. Amateur at the Broadmoor Golf Club’s East Course in Colorado Springs. (The two are pictured together at left.)

The final was all square going into the 36th hole, and though Coe missed the green, he almost chipped in for birdie, with the ball ending up on the lip of the cup. The 19-year-old Nicklaus then drained an 8-foot birdie putt to become the youngest U.S. Am champion in 50 years. He would go on to capture a second U.S. Amateur title in 1961.

— Also that same summer of 1959, some history was made in another USGA championship in Colorado. Wellshire Golf Course hosted the U.S. Amateur Public Links, and in front of a crowd estimated at 2,000, the 23-year-old Wright (left) of Seattle broke new ground as the first black golfer to capture a USGA title.

— McIntire set the all-time standard for success for Colorado women amateurs with her play during the 1950s and ’60s. In 1956, McIntire very nearly became the first amateur to win the U.S. Women’s Open as she was tied with Kathy Cornelius after four rounds, but lost an 18-hole playoff the next day (75-82) to finish runner-up.

But that wouldn’t be her only run at a USGA title. Both in 1959 and ’64, McIntire captured national championships in the U.S. Women’s Amateur. And in 1960, she became just the fourth American to win the British Ladies Amateur. (Coincidentally, the first, Babe Zaharias, was also a Coloradan when she prevailed in 1947.) McIntire (below) played on the U.S. Curtis Cup teams in 1958, ’60, ’62, ’64, ’66 and ’72, and as a youngster she was runner-up in the U.S. Girls’ Junior in both 1951 and ’52, losing in the ’52 final 1 up to one Mickey Wright. And for good measure, McIntire also won the 1962 CWGA Stroke Play.

— In 1964, one of the mainstays of the Colorado golf schedule came on the scene. The first Colorado Open was played at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, where it would remain through 1991. Bill Bisdorf, then the head professional at Green Gables Country Club, won three of the first four Opens, the first of which featured no prize money. And by the 1970s, the tournament drew quite a field of players. Among those who have competed in the event are Sam Snead, Phil Mickelson, Billy Casper, Hale Irwin, Fred Couples, Steve Jones, Dave Hill and Jimmy Walker.

But all that just scratched the surface of what occurred in the decade in Colorado golf beginning in 1955. Here are some of the other notable happenings:

— After fewer than 10 courses opened in the 25 years beginning in 1930, a dozen came online in the last half of the 1950s, including country clubs such as Columbine, Valley, Colorado Springs, Pinehurst, Bookcliff and Fort Collins.

— Colorado amateur Jim English had a tremendous run during the decade, winning two Broadmoor Invitations (1955 and ’64), three CGA Stroke Plays (1958, ’59 and ’61) and two CGA Match Plays (1957 and ’60). He was also low amateur in the 1959 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

— President Dwight Eisenhower was hospitalized for a heart attack at Fitzsimons Hospital for six weeks in 1955 the day after experiencing pain while playing 27 holes at Cherry Hills Country Club.

— LPGA Tour events were held at Lakewood Country Club during the mid-1950s, with Marilynn Smith winning in 1955 and Marlene Hagge in 1956.

— The Colorado PGA, a Section of the PGA of America, was founded in 1957. Noble Chalfant, who was serving as president of the Colorado chapter of the Rocky Mountain PGA, played a key role in the separation from the Rocky Mountain Section.
The Colorado PGA became the 31st Section of the PGA of America, originally having 30 members in Colorado and eastern Wyoming.

— Lakewood Country Club hosted the U.S. Girls’ Junior in 1957, when Judy Eller earned the title.

— Dow Finsterwald, who would become the longtime director of golf at the Broadmoor, won the PGA Championship in 1958, the first year it was contested in stroke play. He was the runner-up in the final match-play version of the PGA, in 1957, the year he won the Vardon Trophy for best season-long scoring average on the PGA Tour.

— Joan Birkland had a stellar run in golf in the 1960s while also being one of the state’s top tennis players. She won four out of five CWGA Match Plays starting in 1960 and three straight CWGA Stroke Plays beginning in 1964. With racket in hand, she captured two women’s open singles titles at the Colorado State Open from 1962-66.

— Two other current members of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame likewise had outstanding decades from 1955-64, with Sally Hardwick winning five state amateurs out of a possible six from 1957 through ’59. And from ’53 to ’56, she earned three CWGA Junior Match Play titles. And Marcia Bailey won the first of four CWGA Match Plays in 1963. She also prevailed in two CWGA Stroke Plays beginning in ’63.

— In 1961, the CGA merged with the Denver District Golf Association, bringing the state’s major amateur tournaments under the CGA’s umbrella.

— A founding member of the City Park Golf Course-based East Denver Golf Club, which was made up of African-American golfers, helped knock down racial barriers in state golf tournaments. After Judge James Flanigan was refused the right to play in the CGA Match Play Championship in 1961 — on the grounds he wasn’t a member of a CGA-sanctioned club — the association the next year changed its policies and admitted minority clubs, including the East Denver Golf Club.

— In 1961, the CGA established the Eisenhower Scholarship, awarded to selected college-bound junior golfers. The CGA merged the Eisenhower Scholarship with the Western Golf Association’s Evans Caddie Scholarship in 1963, and a house for the Eisenhower-Evans Scholars at the University of Colorado was purchased in the late 1960s.

— The Broadmoor hosted the Curtis Cup matches, between the best female amateurs from the U.S. and Great Britain & Ireland — in 1962. Colorado’s Judy Bell and Barbara McIntire, along with the future JoAnne Carner, led the U.S. to an 8-1 victory.

— Beginning in 1962, the CGA started measuring and rating all of the state’s golf courses in accordance with USGA procedures, creating a uniform rating system which laid the groundwork for the association to oversee a state-wide standardized handicap system starting in the late 1960s. 

— Chi Chi Rodriguez won his first PGA Tour event at the 1963 Denver Open at Denver Country Club. It would prove to be the last Denver Open the PGA Tour would hold.

— Larry McAtee won three consecutive CGA Match Plays beginning in 1963 and finished second to University of Colorado teammate Hale Irwin as he went for a four-peat in 1966. McAtee is now a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

— Irwin (left) became the first player to win three consecutive CGA Stroke Plays, beginning in 1963 at age 18. The future World Golf Hall of Famer also won a CGA Junior Match in 1962 and a state high school title in 1963.

— In 1963, future USGA president Judy Bell of Colorado Springs won the Women’s Trans National title at Pinehurst Country Club in south Denver.

— In other prestigious tournaments held in Colorado, Jim Wiechers won the 1964 Western Junior at the Air Force Academy and Wright Garrett prevailed at the 1964 Trans Miss at the Broadmoor.
 

In fact, the former Denver Country Club caddie, who earned a full tuition and housing Evans Scholarship at the University of Colorado thanks to toting bags as a teenager, will really put his middle-aged body to the test this year. Five times in 2015, he not only plans to caddie, but he’ll carry doubles on each occasion. That tends to wear out high school kids, much less a person pushing 50.

But it’s all for a good cause. With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its 1915 founding, one of the ways the association is commemorating the milestone is with the season-long, statewide Century of Golf Challenge fundraiser.

Through pledges they collect for golf-related activities revolving around the number 100, participants will raise money for the Colorado Golf Foundation and the Colorado-based youth-oriented golf programs it supports. The Century of Golf Challenge activities can include something like the 100 holes of caddying Mate plans, playing 100 holes of golf (in one day — as with the old Colorado Open Golf Marathon — or any set period up to the entire golf season), or just donating $100 to the Foundation.

In Mate’s case, once a month from May through September, he’s going to caddie for a different twosome, with the hope that the pledges he draws will be earmarked for a specific program the Colorado Golf Foundation supports or is likely to support. For instance, Mate plans to caddie for fellow CU Evans Scholar alums George and Duffy Solich, after whom the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course is named. Other programs Mate’s efforts will benefit will be the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools Program, the Western Colorado Golf Foundation, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Colorado Open Golf Foundation.

“The whole spirit of this is a coming together to raise money to advance golf,” Mate said this week.

Mate has set a personal goal of raising $10,000 through pledges for his 100-hole caddie odyssey, preferably with 100 donors or more participating. Overall, Mate hopes that the Century of Golf Challenge will net $100,000 for programs the Foundation will help fund.

“The idea is to get people to engage — to get them to do something that’s meaningful to them,” Mate said. “It’s just as important that we get a large number of people involved” as to meet specific fundraising goals.

Two participants in the Century of Golf Challenge will win tickets to the Nov. 14 Century of Golf Gala featuring Jack Nicklaus. One pair of tickets will go to the person who raises the most money, with the second pair being given to a donor of $100 or more via a random drawing.

With the time around the Masters being an unofficial start to the golf season for many Coloradans, so it is for the Century of Golf Challenge. Within the next couple of weeks, the Colorado Golf Foundation will have a portal set up to accept pledges for activities people have planned in association with the Century of Golf Challenge.

The portal will be accessible through ColoradoGives.org, the website for the annual Colorado Gives Day, with those pledging being able to search the site for the personalized activity they’d like to support. For more information, CLICK HERE. To access the fundraising page for Mate’s personal caddie challenge, CLICK HERE.
 

In fact, the former Denver Country Club caddie, who earned a full tuition and housing Evans Scholarship at the University of Colorado thanks to toting bags as a teenager, will really put his middle-aged body to the test this year. Five times in 2015, he not only plans to caddie, but he’ll carry doubles on each occasion. That tends to wear out high school kids, much less a person pushing 50.

But it’s all for a good cause. With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its 1915 founding, one of the ways the association is commemorating the milestone is with the season-long, statewide Century of Golf Challenge fundraiser.

Through pledges they collect for golf-related activities revolving around the number 100, participants will raise money for the Colorado Golf Foundation and the Colorado-based youth-oriented golf programs it supports. The Century of Golf Challenge activities can include something like the 100 holes of caddying Mate plans, playing 100 holes of golf (in one day — as with the old Colorado Open Golf Marathon — or any set period up to the entire golf season), or just donating $100 to the Foundation.

In Mate’s case, once a month from May through September, he’s going to caddie for a different twosome, with the hope that the pledges he draws will be earmarked for a specific program the Colorado Golf Foundation supports or is likely to support. For instance, Mate plans to caddie for fellow CU Evans Scholar alums George and Duffy Solich, after whom the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course is named. Other programs Mate’s efforts will benefit will be the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools Program, the Western Colorado Golf Foundation, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Colorado Open Golf Foundation.

“The whole spirit of this is a coming together to raise money to advance golf,” Mate said this week.

Mate has set a personal goal of raising $10,000 through pledges for his 100-hole caddie odyssey, preferably with 100 donors or more participating. Overall, Mate hopes that the Century of Golf Challenge will net $100,000 for programs the Foundation will help fund.

“The idea is to get people to engage — to get them to do something that’s meaningful to them,” Mate said. “It’s just as important that we get a large number of people involved” as to meet specific fundraising goals.

Two participants in the Century of Golf Challenge will win tickets to the Nov. 14 Century of Golf Gala featuring Jack Nicklaus. One pair of tickets will go to the person who raises the most money, with the second pair being given to a donor of $100 or more via a random drawing.

With the time around the Masters being an unofficial start to the golf season for many Coloradans, so it is for the Century of Golf Challenge. Within the next couple of weeks, the Colorado Golf Foundation will have a portal set up to accept pledges for activities people have planned in association with the Century of Golf Challenge.

The portal will be accessible through ColoradoGives.org, the website for the annual Colorado Gives Day, with those pledging being able to search the site for the personalized activity they’d like to support. For more information, CLICK HERE. To access the fundraising page for Mate’s personal caddie challenge, CLICK HERE.
 

Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the second monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles will be published on ColoradoGolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 1915-1924. For a list of all installments to date, CLICK HERE. 

While there were certainly very notable happenings in the history of Colorado golf prior to 1915, the decade starting then marked a watershed for the sport in the Centennial State.

After all, that period included the founding of both the CGA and the CWGA; the first USGA presidency held by a Coloradan; the opening of a club that’s gone on to host more major championships and USGA championships than any other in Colorado (Cherry Hills Country Club) and of another club that’s been home to the second-most USGA championships in Colorado history (the Broadmoor); and the debut of what would become one of the country’s top amateur tournaments (the Broadmoor Invitation).

That’s what you call laying a strong foundation for golf in the state.

But before we continue with that, let’s briefly note what preceded the CGA’s founding.

A half-dozen golf courses in Colorado that opened prior to World War I remain vibrant to this day. That list includes Overland Park in Denver (left, circa 1895), Denver Country Club, Patty Jewett in Colorado Springs, Pueblo Country Club, Lakewood Country Club (then known as The Colorado Golf Club), and City Park in Denver. And there’s been some indication that other courses can trace their lineage back to pre-World War I, including perhaps Greeley Country Club.

Denver Country Club was one of the original 15 clubs in the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association (as was the Town & Gown Golf Club of Colorado Springs), and in the early years DCC hosted the Trans-Miss Championship in 1910 (won by a gentleman by the name of Harry Legg) and 1921 (George Von Elm). DCC was also the site of the 1912 Western Amateur won by Chick Evans, now best known as the founder of the Evans Scholarship for caddies. Evans would go on to capture eight Western Amateur titles in addition to two U.S. Amateurs and the 1916 U.S. Open.

Even though the CGA wasn’t founded until 1915, the tournament now known as the CGA Match Play dates back to 1901, making it the oldest continuously held state golf championship in Colorado. Frank Woodward, who played an exhibition match at Overland against the famed Harry Vardon during Vardon’s nationwide tour in 1900, captured the first Match Play title. (Keep his name in mind for a little history he’ll make later.)

Walter Fairbanks (pictured at top), also part of the Vardon exhibition, strung together four consecutive Match Play titles from 1902-05, a feat that remains unmatched in tournament history. But by far the most successful performer overall in the Match Play was Dr. Larry Bromfield, who won eight titles between 1912-28.

As for the specific decade at hand (1915-24), here are some of the highlights:

— The Colorado Golf Association was formally founded on Aug. 20, 1915. A two-paragraph Denver Post story noted that the “organization will control the state tournaments, give the cups and appoint the officers, and the winner will be the recognized champion of the association and state.”

M.A. McLaughlin of Lakewood Country Club was elected the first president. That same year, coincidentally, McLaughlin won the first of his two CGA Match Plays, this time defeating Bromfield. McLaughlin had been the Match Play runner-up the previous three years.

— The following year, on March 14, 1916, the Colorado Women’s Golf Association came into being when eight women met and elected a president, adopted a constitution and bylaws, and delineated the association’s objectives and purpose: to promote and maintain the best interests of the game of golf; to hold golf tournaments; and to promote good fellowship among member clubs.” Mrs. Olyn Hemming was named the CWGA’s first president.

In September 2016 the first CWGA Match Play Championship was held, with Mrs. M.A. McLaughlin of Lakewood prevailing for the title.

During the period from 1915-21, the McLaughlins won five CGA/CWGA Match Play titles between them.

— Meanwhile, at this same time, a Coloradan was making some history nationally. The United States Golf Association was founded in 1894, and from then through 1914, all the presidents of the organization had come from the East or Midwest. But Denver Country Club founding member Woodward, winner of the first CGA Match Play 14 years earlier, in 1915 became the first USGA president from the western U.S. He served a two-year term during which the USGA in 1916 stripped the amateur status from 1913 U.S. Open champion Francis Ouimet because Ouimet intended to open a sporting goods store. Ouimet wouldn’t be reinstated until 1918. The next USGA president from Colorado wouldn’t take office until 1980 (Will Nicholson Jr.).

During the period from 1909-20, Woodward would be president of Denver Country Club for five years. He was also a chairman of the Western Golf Association and the Trans Mississippi Golf Association.

— During the period from 1915-24, two of Colorado’s most famous courses opened, with the Donald Ross-designed Broadmoor Golf Club coming online in 1918 and William Flynn-designed Cherry Hills in 1922. Between them, Cherry Hills and the Broadmoor have hosted 16 USGA championships and 10 major championships (PGA, LPGA and Champions tours combined).

— In 1921, the Broadmoor debuted the Broadmoor Invitation (sometimes referred to as the Broadmoor Amateur Open in the early years), which would become one of the most prestigious amateur tournaments in the country. From 1921 to ’95, the tournament built a reputation for crowning top-notch champions. Among the winners of the tournament over those years — the event returned in 2014 as a scratch four-ball — were Hale Irwin, Lawson Little, Tom Purtzer, Grier Jones, Duffy Waldorf, Bob Dickson, John Fought and Willie Wood — all of whom went on to win on the PGA Tour — as well as Charlie Coe and locals N.C. “Tub” Morris (his 1922 Broadmoor Invitation medalist honor is pictured above), Bill Loeffler and Jim English.

As for the Broadmoor Ladies Invitation, its most famous champion would be Babe Zaharias, who won the event three consecutive years beginning in 1945.

All in all, the decade beginning in 1915 — along with the period leading up to it — had Colorado golf off to a rousing start through the first quarter of the 20th century. But many ups and downs awaited in the years to come.

Next up: 1925-34.
 

Who would have thought that an event summarized in two newspaper paragraphs — fewer than 60 words — would have such a longstanding and ever-growing impact?

On Aug. 21, 1915, a small item appeared in the Denver Post under the headline, “M’LAUGHLIN HEADS GOLF ASSOCIATION”. The “short” — as it is often referred to by newsroom staffers — notes the events of Aug. 20, detailing a newly formed organization called the Colorado Golf Association and the election of its officers, including president M.A. McLaughlin.

The story further reports on the other officers elected and says, “The organization will control the state tournaments, give the cups and appoint the officers, and the winner will be the recognized champion of the association and state.”

One hundred years after that humble beginning, the CGA’s mission has expanded dramatically over the decades, and the association moves forward as a steward for the traditions and future of golf in the state. And now the CGA is gearing up to celebrate its centennial throughout 2015. That will culminate with a Century of Golf Gala, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 14. At that event, a number of Colorado golf’s all-time luminaries will be honored, and both the history and future of golf in the state will be celebrated.

During the coming year, the CGA plans to unveil a new logo along with artwork that will highlight a century of golf in Colorado. Also on the docket are a monthly series of articles — published on COgolf.org and in the first-of-each-month CGA Revision newsletters throughout the year. A decade at a time since the CGA’s founding — 1915-24, 1925-34, etc. — will be focused on in each of the series of stories, with the last article of the year being a look-ahead.

In addition, the CGA will hold a season-long fundraising event that will support the Colorado Golf Foundation and benefit its many programs that foster youth development through golf. That event will be called “100 Holes for 100 Years”, and participants will raise money through donations pledged for a personalized golf-related activity centering around the number 100. For instance, a person could play 100 holes in a day, or in another set period of time. Or participants can add any twist they’d like to the event, as long as it involves the number 100.

“The goal is to raise awareness and engage the golf community to play golf for a purpose,” said CGA executive director Ed Mate. “It will get the whole state involved.”

The CGA plans to set up an internet portal in which the financial aspects of 100 Holes for 100 Years will be handled. Details about that will be forthcoming.

“Why we’re doing all this is to advance golf in Colorado,” Mate said. “It’s not just a celebration, but that’s the driving force behind it all. We want to seize on the centennial to position the CGA, the community of golf and the Colorado Golf Foundation for the next 100 years. We want to make sure that the game not only will be around, but will be thriving.”

As for the upcoming series of stories focusing on the last century of Colorado golf, there is certainly no lack of history having been made in the Centennial State. Just consider this list of golf “firsts” that occurred in Colorado:

— Arnold Palmer won his only U.S. Open in Colorado, in 1960 at Cherry Hills Country Club. (Palmer is pictured at left tossing his visor in celebration on the 18th green.)

— Jack Nicklaus won the first and last of his eight USGA championships in Colorado, prevailing in the 1959 U.S. Amateur at the Broadmoor and the 1993 U.S. Senior Open at Cherry Hills.

— Phil Mickelson won his only USGA event (to date) in Colorado, the 1990 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.

— Annika Sorenstam made the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor the first of her 72 LPGA Tour victories.

— Frank Woodward of Denver, who won the first CGA championship ever in 1901, was elected the first president of the United States Golf Association from the western U.S.

— In 1959 at Wellshire Golf Course, Bill Wright became the first African-American golfer to win a USGA championship, in his case the U.S. Amateur Public Links title.

— In 1996, Judy Bell of Colorado Springs became the only female president in the history of the USGA.

— And just recently, Colorado Golf Club was the site of the first victory on U.S. soil by a European team in the Solheim Cup.

Winners of big tournaments in Colorado have included a who’s who of golf: Besides Palmer, Nicklaus, Sorenstam and Mickelson, that list features Babe Zaharias, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Kathy Whitworth, Hale Irwin, Greg Norman, JoAnne Carner, Judy Rankin, Juli Inkster, Pat Bradley, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Hubert Green, Betsy King, Amy Alcott and Davis Love.

The centennial series will explore all that and much, much more. After all, a lot has happened, golf-wise, in Colorado since that two-paragraph story appeared in the Denver Post during World War I.