Whether — or should we say weather? — it’s unseasonably snowy, cold or warm can have a big effect on the bottom line for the Denver Golf Expo.

Last year, when a major snowstorm hit the metro area the weekend of the Expo, the show drew its fewest attendees since 2002. This year, a dramatically different weather issue tooks its toll, according to organizers.

The three-day Expo, which concluded on Sunday at the Denver Mart, attracted 8,130 people, said Mark Cramer, who, along with Lynn Cramer, has run the show for the last 16 years. That total is up 13 percent from last year — and marked the first time since 2011 that attendance has increased compared to the previous year — but as noted, 2015 was a low point. From 2011 through ’14, the average for the show was 10,132.

Mark Cramer believes the issue was in stark contrast to last year: weather so warm that many golfers hit the course and played rather than possibly coming to the Expo. Temperatures approached the mid-60s on Friday and Saturday, while Sunday’s high was more typical — in the high 40s.

“I have mixed feelings,” Cramer said. “I came in with expectations high. After the blizzard last year, I thought there would be a real strong bounceback. But again, weather kind of bit me. The weather was too good. Talking to golf course operators, their tee sheets were full. If you multiply that out, that’s a lot of golfers. The courses have been under snow for two or three months. If I wasn’t doing the show, I would have finagled a tee time.

“I think we would have been between 9,000 and 9,500 if the weather had not been so nice. I’m looking forward to getting back to my (more) regular dates next year, Feb. 10-12. Those have been good dates for us.”

Other numbers from this year’s Expo were a mixed bag compared to recent norms.

The CGA’s Used Club Sale, which raises money for junior golf development programs through the Colorado Golf Foundation, sold $6,150 worth of clubs and equipment at the Expo. While that number was down considerably from recent years, it brings the total raised from the event since it started in 2002 to $146,500. The total over the last five years has surpassed $66,000.

“We didn’t have the high-end donations” that we had in recent years, said Dustin Jensen, the CGA’s managing director of operations, who helped oversee the Used Club Sale. “But it was a good show. We moved a lot of lower-dollar things. We appreciate the donations and the opportunity to showcase all that we do.”

Elsewhere, about 290 kids went though Junior Golf Central, with its Drive Chip & Putt theme — up a little from 2015. And Colorado PGA professionals gave 375 free 10-minute lessons to Expo attendees (left), down somewhat from 2015.

Cramer plans to move both Junior Golf Central and the free lesson area from the back to the front of the Expo next year.

Meanwhile, Cramer said he sold out exhibitor booths this year, with the CGA, CWGA, Colorado PGA and the new Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado among those on hand.

“I’m disappointed when I don’t meet (some of my expectations),” Cramer said. “But it’s also about getting customers in front of exhibitors. I always see myself in partnership with exhibitors. I didn’t get my numbers, but talking to exhibitors, they were very happy. The people that were there came to buy. There were less ‘tire-kickers.’

“It was a good show. I was proud of it. Just about all the (exhibitors) I talked to were really happy.”
 

When: Friday through Sunday (Feb. 19-21).
 Open Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
 Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
 Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Where: Denver Mart (58th Ave., just east of I-25).

Tickets:
Adults, $13; Seniors, $11; Military/Vets with I.D., $11; Kids 16 and Under, $3.
Available by CLICKING HERE, or at King Soopers or the Denver Mart during Expo days.

Sutton Appearance: Hal Sutton, winner of 14 PGA Tour events, is scheduled to participate in an Expo Q&A on Friday from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. For more information, CLICK HERE.

Scheduled Educational Seminars:
— 30 Days to Break Your Personal Par (Andy Hilts), Friday 10:15-10:45 a.m.
— Hal Sutton Q&A (Jerry Walters), Friday 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
— 30, 30, 3 Recipe to Score Better (Ty Walker, GolfTEC), Friday, 1-1:30 p.m.
— Two Swing Keys to Hitting the Ball Farther and Lowering Your Scores (Patrick Nuber, GolfTEC), Friday 2-2:30 p.m.
— Target-Proof Your Wedges 80 Yards and In (Stan Sayers, Colorado GC), Saturday 10-10:30 a.m.
— Key Changes in 2016 Rules of Golf (Alex Crall, CGA), Saturday noon-12:30 p.m.
— Move Well, Play Well (Dee Tidwell, Colorado Golf Fitness Club), Saturday 1-1:30 p.m.
— Unlocking the Secrets to Successful Putting (Jerry Walters, Trent Wearner Golf Academy), Saturday 2-2:30 p.m.
— Key Changes in 2016 Rules of Golf (Alex Crall, CGA), Sunday 10:15-10:45 a.m.
— Unlocking the Secrets to Successful Putting (Jerry Walters, Trent Wearner Golf Academy), Sunday 11-11:30 a.m.
— Target-Proof Your Wedges 80 Yards and In (Stan Sayers, Colorado GC), Sunday noon-12:30 p.m.
— How to Hit It Farther (Kelly Plaisier, Trent Wearner Golf Academy, Sunday 1-1:30 p.m.

CGA Used Club Sale: The CGA will hold its annual Used Club Sale (located just to the right of the entry area), with all the proceeds benefiting youth golf programs and initiatives in Colorado. The Used Club Sale has netted almost $60,000 for junior golf over the last four years combined.

Major Colorado Golf Organization Booths: CGA #1215; CWGA #1218; Colorado Golf Hall of Fame #1308; the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado #1330.

Junior Golf Central, including the Drive Chip & Putt activities, will be located at the west end of the Expo. The area where Colorado PGA professionals will give free 10-minute lessons to all interested Expo attendees is adjacent to Junior Golf Central.

For a full list of exhibitors, CLICK HERE. 

For more information: CLICK HERE. 

“Be the right club today. … Yes!!!”

For most longtime golf fans, that quote is immediately identifiable.

Hal Sutton, 72nd hole of The Players Championship, fairway of the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass, in 2000.

Playing head-to-head with Tiger Woods in his prime, Sutton hit a stellar 6-iron approach shot under pressure on the intimidating 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass. While the ball was in the air, Sutton’s words — uttered with his southern accent — were caught on TV and forever immortalized. The ball finished 8 feet from the flag.

Seventeen years after he’d won his first Players Championship, Sutton captured his second, this time outdueling Tiger, who had won an outstanding 13 of his previous 21 tournaments.

While many other players seemed intimidated by Woods, Sutton wasn’t among them.

“I will tell you this: Praising Tiger all the time is certainly (creating) a defeatist attitude,” Sutton said that week. “There are a lot of people who don’t think they can beat him right now down the stretch on Sunday. There’s a lot of doubt in their minds.”

But, Sutton noted, “I am not going to roll over and play dead.”

And he backed up his talk by beating Tiger in one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

“The other night I was lying in bed, and I said, ‘You know what? I’m not praying to him. He’s not a god. He’s human just like I am, so we can do this!'”

With that as a backdrop, it was recently announced that Sutton, now 57 years old, will be a headliner at the 2016 Denver Golf Expo, which runs Feb. 19-21 at the Denver Mart (I-25 and 58th Ave.). Mark Cramer, who operates the event along with Lynn Cramer, said Sutton will participate in a main-stage Q&A with longtime “In the Fairway” radio host Jerry Walters on Feb. 19 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with the audience also being allowed to throw a few questions Sutton’s way. Mark Cramer also said that Sutton is expected to be on hand in the Stryker Orthopaedics booth at the Expo for the hour prior to his Q&A.

Sutton is a paid spokesperson for Stryker, which arranged for his appearance at the Expo, and he has had hip replacements with Styker products in 2012 and ’13.

The Denver Golf Expo has featured big-name tour players at the show on other occasions — most notably Patty Sheehan, Meg Mallon, Dottie Pepper and Hollis Stacy leading up to the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club. (Pepper, by the way, is scheduled to be among the speakers at the G4 Summit that will take place Feb. 16 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.)

“We’ve had some exceptional female pros (at the Expo), but I think this is the first time we’ve had a PGA Tour veteran,” Mark Cramer said. “That’s kind of neat. … Hal Sutton is a big thing.”

Indeed, he’s won 14 times overall on the PGA Tour, including the 1983 PGA Championship, two Players Championships and the 1998 Tour Championship. He’s earned more than $15.2 million on the PGA Tour and $1.8 million on the Champions circuit.

Major Junior Golf Presence: While Sutton no doubt will be popular among middle-aged-and-older attendees of the Denver Golf Expo, juniors will once again be a major focus of the show. Earlier that week, at the G4 Summit at The Broadmoor, the CGA and Colorado PGA plan to publicly unveil the name and website for the new junior golf collaboration which they’re launching this year with help from the CWGA. And the associations plan to build on the momentum at the Expo with a significant junior golf presence at the Denver Mart.

In addition, the CGA will hold its annual Used Club Sale, with all the proceeds benefiting youth golf programs and initiatives in Colorado. The Used Club Sale has netted almost $60,000 for junior golf over the last four years combined.

People interested in donating quality used clubs and equipment can drop them off — by Feb. 15 — at the CGA offices (5990 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., #102, in Greenwood Village) or the PGA Tour Superstore (9451 East Arapahoe Road, also in Greenwood Village) during normal business hours. Contact Dustin Jensen, the CGA’s managing director of operations, at 303-974-2106 or at djensen@coloradogolf.org for more information.

In addition, the Drive, Chip & Putt area for juniors — which picks up on the theme of the DC&P junior skills championship conducted by the USGA, PGA of America and the Masters — is situated adjacent to the Colorado PGA area at the Expo, where Section professionals provide free 10-minute lessons to all interested Expo attendees. Admission for kids, age 16 and under, is $3 apiece at the Expo.

The CGA, CWGA, CPGA and Colorado Golf Hall of Fame all plan on having significant presences at the Expo once again this year. The CWGA is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016.

Short and Sweet: At least 13 seminars are planned over the three days of the Expo, ranging from the Sutton Q&A to swing, putting, scoring and fitness tips to updates on the Rules of Golf. … Cramer said the popular Topgolf, which opened a 65,000-square-foot, multi-level golf entertainment complex in Centennial in August, will have an exhibit presence at the Expo for the first time next month. Cramer also said Denver-based GolfTEC will be an exhibitor — he believes for the first time since the Cramers started running the show in 2000. … Cramer indicated that a month prior to the show’s open, there are just 12 exhibitor spots remaining for the Expo. “Exhibit sales have gone through the roof this year,” he said. … Cramer said that the grand prize for this year’s show — available to attendees who fill out a survey upon entering the Expo — will be a trip to the Bandon Dunes Resort worth an estimated $9,000 retail. It’s for four people, 12 rounds in all, and three nights accommodations.

“With the blizzard we had last year (during the Expo), I think this year will be record-setting,” Cramer said. “I think there’s pent-up demand.”

For more information about the Denver Golf Expo, CLICK HERE.