New year, new big-time events, new rules, new look for old courses and new dates for some mainstays.

Such is the outlook as Colorado golf enters 2019 with more than the usual amount of major happenings to look forward to in the Centennial State.

Let’s hit some of the highlights:

— U.S. Mid-Amateur: For just the second time ever and the first since 1983 — when Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the proceedings and Jay Sigel added the U.S. Mid-Amateur title to the U.S. Amateur victory he had posted 32 days earlier — Colorado will host the national championship for amateurs 25 and older.

This time, Colorado Golf Club (left) in Parker will be the primary championship site for the 264-player event, which will run Sept. 14-19. Aurora-based CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the CGA, will serve as the second host facility for the stroke-play portion of the event Sept. 14-15. CommonGround did likewise for the 2012 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills hosted.

It will be the latest feather in the cap of Colorado Golf Club in terms of hosting big-time tournaments. It’s previously been the site of the 2010 Senior PGA Championship and the 2013 Solheim Cup. Bill Coore and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw designed Colorado Golf Club, which opened in 2007.

Besides the national title being on the line, the winner of the U.S. Mid-Am will receive a berth in the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York — and likely the 2020 Masters.

With the national championship coming to Colorado, the state will host two qualifying tournaments instead of the usual one for the event: Aug. 13 at the Omni Interlocken Golf Club in Broomfield and Aug. 19 at Inverness Golf Club in Englewood.

Admission to the U.S. Mid-Amateur will be free.

— TPC Colorado Championship: The other national/international tournament coming to Colorado in 2019 will be the inaugural TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes, set for July 11-14 at Berthoud-based TPC Colorado, which opened to the public in 2018.

The tournament, the first of at least five Web.com Tour events scheduled for TPC Colorado, will be mark the first visit to Colorado by the PGA Tour’s feeder circuit since 1997, when the second of two Nike Colorado Classics was held at Riverdale’s Dunes Course in Brighton. Stewart Cink, who has since won six times on the PGA Tour including the 2009 British Open, prevailed in the 1996 event at the Dunes.

The 2019 TPC Colorado Championship will feature a $600,000 purse and a 156-person field. Monday qualifying tournaments are set for Riverdale Dunes and Highlands Meadows Golf Course in Windsor on July 8.

— Return of City Park Golf Course: Sometime this year, after being closed for two years for a course redesign and construction project, a new-look City Park Golf Course (left) in Denver is scheduled to reopen. The return is no small matter given that City Park GC dates back to 1912 and has a strong regular clientele.

Todd  Schoeder and his Broomfield-based iCon Golf Studio teamed with design advisor — and three-time U.S. Open champion — Hale Irwin in the course redesign for the site, which will integrate stormwater detention areas to help protect some of the city’s most at-risk neighborhoods from flooding.

When the redesign project is complete, the site will feature the new 18-hole par-71 golf course, a full-size driving range, a dedicated four-hole course for The First Tee of Denver, a new clubhouse and maintenance facility, stormwater detention, and a reforestation program with a net gain of 500 trees.

— Comeback for Cornerstone: It was several years ago at a CGA senior championship that a member at Cornerstone, the Greg Norman-designed course in the high country near Montrose, said that there were plans to reopen the club, which stopped operating in 2012. And while it took a few years, it appears as if that member was correct.

The highly acclaimed private course is undergoing a renovation — at the hands of Matt Dusenberry and Dusenberry Golf Course Design — with plans to reopen in the summer of this year.

Cornerstone originally operated from 2008 through ’12.

— Colorado’s Second Topgolf: Since August 2015, there’s been one Topgolf location in Colorado — the one in Centennial. But three-plus months ago, ground was broken at a second site — at I-25 and 60th Ave., in Thornton. The 65,000-square-foot, three-level facility is scheduled to open to the public in late 2019. It will have 102 climate-controlled hitting bays — where players hit microchipped golf balls at targets with varying point values — in addition to a restaurant and three bars. There will be 250 HD televisions, a rooftop terrace with fire pits and 3,000 square feet of space devoted to private events. The Centennial Topgolf employs about 500 people, the same number that is expected in Thornton.

— Playing by the (New) Rules: The new Rules of Golf, part of a rules modernization project long in the works, took effect with the new year. But for those who don’t play golf outside of Colorado, there’s still some time to get up to date on the changes given that the first tournaments of the year are months away and that scores from Colorado courses can’t be posted for handicap purposes until March 15.

Whether it be putting with the flagstick left in or dropping from knee height, the CGA did a good job during recent months with a video series highlighting the key changes. To watch, CLICK HERE. 

— The Old Switcheroo: For the second time in six years, the dates of the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open and the Colorado Senior Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club have been swapped, so that now the women are back around Memorial Day — as they were in 2012 and earlier — and the seniors return to around Labor Day.

Specifically, the Women’s Open is set for May 29-31 and the Senior Open for Aug. 28-30. (The CoBank Colorado Open remains in its same basic slot, with this year’s event planned for July 25-28.)

As Kevin Laura, CEO of the CoBank Colorado Open Championships, said in an email early last month, “We wanted to strengthen the field of our Women’s Open championship by going against the U.S. Women’s Open so that we can pull players from the LPGA and Symetra tours (the latter is expected to have an off week that week).

“Our purse ($150,000) and especially first place ($50,000) should entice players to compete who have not otherwise been able to do so while we were against an LPGA and Symetra event.”

As for the Colorado Senior Open, it’s very possible the date switch will cost the event a possibility at its top draw from a fan and media standpoint. Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway has played in the tournament four times (2010, ’14, ’16 and ’18) — in addition to the Colorado Open four times. But given that the new dates for the Senior Open are now roughly a week before the start of the NFL regular season, and that Elway is the Denver Broncos general manager, it seems highly unlikely that he’ll compete at Green Valley Ranch in 2019.

— CGA Majors: The CGA will return to some familiar courses for its two men’s “major championships” in 2019. The 119th Match Play is set for June 17-21 at The Club at Rolling Hills in Golden, which hosted the event in 2012 as well as 1997, ’88 and ’79. And Aug. 8-11 the CGA Amateur returns to the recently renovated course at Lakewood Country Club, the site for the championship four times just since 1999 — and numerous times prior — with 2014 being its last time as the host.

On the women’s side, the two majors will be played at venues which are hosting their respective events for the first time. The CGA Women’s Stroke Play is scheduled for June 17-19 at Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora, where the 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links was contested. And the 104th CGA Women’s Match Play is set for July 9-11 at The Club at Ravenna in Littleton, which was the site of the men’s CGA Match Play the past two years.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton, who has matched Carol Flenniken’s record for CGA/CWGA women’s championship titles with 25, would grab the record outright with her next victory in one of the CGA events.

— USGA Qualifiers: A total of 18 qualifying tournaments for USGA national championships are scheduled in Colorado in 2019. Here’s the rundown on the men’s side:

* U.S. Open Locals: May 7 at Collindale in Fort Collins; May 9 at CommonGround in Aurora; and May 13 at Walnut Creek in Westminster.

* U.S. Senior Open: May 28 at Valley in Centennial.

* U.S. Junior Amateur: June 24 at Ptarmigan in Fort Collins.

* U.S. Amateur: July 1 at Columbine in Columbine Valley; and July 8 at Fort Collins Country Club.

* U.S. Senior Amateur: Aug. 5 at TPC Colorado in Berthoud.

* U.S. Mid-Amateur: Aug. 13 at Omni Interlocken in Broomfield and Aug. 19 at Inverness in Englewood.

* U.S. Amateur Four-Ball: Oct. 1 at Saddle Rock in Aurora.

And here’s the lineup for women’s USGA qualifiers:

* U.S. Senior Women’s Open: April 29 at Glenmoor in Englewood.

* U.S. Women’s Open: May 6 at Walnut Creek in Westminster.

* U.S. Girls’ Junior: June 24 at Colorado National in Erie.

* U.S. Women’s Amateur: July 3 at CommonGround in Aurora.

* U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur: July 24 at Meadow Hills in Aurora.

* U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur: Aug. 1 at the newly renovated Thorncreek in Thornton.

* U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball: Sept. 30 at The Ranch in Westminster.

— Junior Tournaments: While the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado schedule is still being set in stone, the biggest junior tournament in Colorado for 2019 is finalized as the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior is scheduled for June 3-6 at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster. It will be the fifth year for the event, with Walnut Creek serving as host for the third straight season.

The girls state high school tournaments this spring are set for May 20-21 at Harmony Club in Timnath (5A), Pelican Lakes in Windsor (4A) and Eagle Ranch in Eagle (3A).

— Colorado PGA Championships: The Colorado PGA will hold its biggest tournament, the three-day Section Championship, Sept. 9-11 at Meridian Golf Club in Englewood.

The CPGA Women’s Championship is set for Glenmoor in Englewood June 19-20. The Assistants Championship is planned for Walnut Creek in Westminster July 29-30, and the Senior Championship Aug. 12-13 at Inverness in Englewood.

And, after an off year, the CGA amateurs and the Colorado PGA professionals will square off for the Colorado Cup Matches on Oct. 16 at the West Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

— Winter Events: Meanwhile, one of the first major Colorado golf events of the year will take place in about a month as the Denver Golf Expo returns to the Denver Mart (I-25 and 58th Ave.) Feb. 8-10. Typically, the three-day show attracts close to 10,000 people. Last year, the Expo celebrated its 25th anniversary.

The CGA Women’s Golf Summit, traditionally known as the Annual Meeting, will take place on March 9 at Pinehurst in south Denver.
 

Earlier this month, nearly a year after City Park Golf Course in Denver closed to make way for a $40 million course redesign and construction project, its prominent design advisor paid a visit to see how things were progressing and to provide insight on the new 18-hole course which is scheduled to reopen sometime next year.

Hale Irwin teamed with City Park Golf Course architect Todd Schoeder and his Broomfield-based iCon Golf Studio in the course redesign for the site, which will integrate stormwater detention areas to help protect some of the city’s most at-risk neighborhoods from flooding — specifically those north and northwest of the course, which first opened in 1912.

“It is exciting to physically see the progress being made on the City Park Golf Course project,” Irwin said during his Oct. 5 visit, according to a Saunders Construction release. “When completed, this will not only be a place for us all to enjoy now, it will be a place we would encourage our children to come and play golf. This project is a legacy for the future.”

In his Oct. 5 trip to City Park GC, Irwin visited with Schoeder and the rest of the project team at the City of Denver project. (Irwin is pictured, second from right, in a Saunders photo.)

Irwin, a World Golf Hall of Famer who’s won three U.S. Opens and a record 45 tournaments on PGA Tour Champions, has designed — or co-designed — several courses in Colorado, including Indian Peaks Golf Course in Lafayette, the newly renamed University of Denver Golf Club at Highlands Ranch, The Club at Cordillera’s Mountain Course west of Vail and Glacier Club’s Mountain Course (with Schoeder) in Durango. Irwin graduated from Boulder High School and the University of Colorado.

Seeding at City Park Golf Course is over 75 percent complete, according to Saunders, and the city’s October update reports that mowing has begun on the east and north sides of the course. According to the city, the golf-related earthwork is “substantially complete”, while topsoil and irrigation installation is ongoing. Planting of new trees is taking place through the fall, and irrigation — via recycled water — is operational where seeding and trees are in place. The west pond and water-quality channel are complete. Construction on the new clubhouse continues.

(At left is an aerial photo — courtesy of Rocky Mountain Photography — of the project as of this earlier this month.)

The Saunders release said construction at City Park GC “remains on schedule.”

When the redesign project is complete, the site will feature the new 18-hole par-71 golf course, a full-size driving range, a dedicated four-hole course for The First Tee of Denver, a new clubhouse and maintenance facility, stormwater detention, and a reforestation program with a net gain of 500 trees.

Olinger shot rounds of 69-67 at City Park Golf Course, giving him an 8-under-par 136 total and a spot in a sudden-death playoff. Then he prevailed on the first extra hole with a par, defeating Charles Chon of Aurora, who had posted rounds of 70-66.

Ryan Axlund finished third at 137 after closing with a 66.

A week earlier, Olinger, a Colorado Mesa University golfer, won the Colorado West Amateur Championship in Grand Junction.

The Denver City Amateur is expected to be one of the final major competitions at City Park before the course closes in November for about a year and a half to be redesigned and to integrate stormwater detention areas onto the property — assuming nothing derails those plans.

For all the scores from the various flights at the Denver City Amateur, CLICK HERE. In all, 147 players competed in the event.
 

As the meat of the golf season approaches, it’s pretty much business as usual at City Park Golf Course in Denver. But, in all likelihood, this is the last springtime in a while that that will be the case.

The course, which opened 105 years ago, is expected to close late this year and not reopen for business until sometime in 2019 — though it’s possible pending litigation could affect plans.

As part of the contentious Platte to Park Hill stormwater drainage project the city of Denver has planned, a newly redesigned 18-hole City Park Golf Course will be used in part for stormwater detention, assuming nothing derails the plans. The idea is to integrate stormwater detention areas into the course to “help protect some of the city’s most at-risk neighborhoods from flooding” — specifically those north and northwest of the site, according to the City and County of Denver website.

As part of the project, the redesigned City Park Golf Course will “temporarily hold and slow floodwaters while protecting the course from damage” during major storms. … “Outside of major storms, the area will remain a dry, fully-functioning golf course.”

Miles Graham from GBSM, which handles communications and community outreach for the city on this project, said that things will largely remain status quo for this golf season.

“Other than some exciting news about which of the teams will be doing the final design and the construction on the redesign, there’s not going to be any change or disruption this golf season,” he said. “It’s going to be business as usual.”

Ed Mate, the CGA’s executive director, grew up as a regular at City Park GC. He played his first 18-hole round of golf there, and to this day, he says he’s played more at the historic layout than anywhere else.

Asked his feelings about the changes that are planned, Mate said, “It’s bittersweet. It’s where I grew up playing. With the nostalgia and all that, obviously it’s hard to see (the existing course) go away. But you have to be realistic. There’s a way to transform public property that incorporates very-much-needed (public safety-related changes) and modernizes the course like at (CGA-owned and operated) CommonGround. It’s sad to see the old course go, but I’m glad to see it used for the greater good of the community. If it was becoming a parking lot or a high-rise, it would be a different matter, but it’s staying a golf course.”

The plan calls for a course architect and construction team to be selected to design and build a new 18-hole layout at the site, with that choice expected to be made public this summer after contract finalization. The finalists are Robert Trent Jones II, with Landscapes Unlimited; iCon Golf Studio with Hale Irwin Golf Design, with Saunders Construction; and Dye Design, with SEMA Construction. Among their Colorado work, Trent Jones designed Ute Creek Golf Course in Longmont, Icon Golf Studio the Glacier Club in Durango, and Dye Design Riverdale Dunes in Brighton.

City Park GC was originally designed by Scotsman Tom Bendelow. After public input was solicited on the matter, it’s hoped that some of the most iconic elements of the existing course and site can be incorporated into the new layout.

“City Park Golf Course is a very special place and so are the people there,” said Keith Soriano, currently a Colorado PGA assistant executive director, who served as the PGA head professional at City Park from 2009 through 2012. “Whoever they choose (for the redesign team), I hope they maintain some of the uniquesness of the course.

“Because of the confined nature (of the site), I hope they stay with small greens, with approach shots having to be placed well and on the correct side (of the pin).”

Soriano understands why some people are unhappy with the impending changes, but is glad there still will be a golf course at the site.

“Anytime you change something historical as that, that’s been there 100 years” there’s bound to be some controversy. “But that’s the cost of progress,” he said. “At least there will be a golf course there. People will have access to green space (amid) the concrete jungle, and to PGA professionals, but the look of it may change.”

Added Mate: “It’s a really good golf course as it is. It’s underappreciated. It has really fun greens that are challenging. It’s a classic Tom Bendelow course. Whatever they replace it with won’t be the same. You can’t recreate the charm.

“But I recognize the stormwater challenge, and the city needs to be proactive. I trust the engineers (and other experts). The way I look at it, if that work is needed, then it’s needed. And it could be that the course they replace it with is a fun, sporty layout.”

Integrating stormwater detention areas into golf courses isn’t unusual. Examples in the Denver metro area are CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora and Lakewood Country Club. That certainly came into play at CommonGround during the September 2013 flooding as more than 14 inches of rain fell in just six days. At one time, nearly half the course was under water, at some points 6 feet deep of it. It took nearly a month before the water drained off the course completely, and by then eight holes were damaged severely and the turf on five greens died. But the good news was that the Westerly Creek Dam that borders the course did its job — flood control — by protecting land and real estate in nearby areas of eastern Denver and northwestern Aurora.

“Sometimes the best interest is to be a true citizen in the larger picture,” Mate said. “Public safety concern has to supersede (golf course matters). As hard as it was to see CommonGround flooded in 2013, this community asset served a greater good. It kept (homes, businesses and the people that use them) from the effects of the flood. The fact that they’re keeping (City Park) as a golf course, that’s a great outcome. Times change.”

But that doesn’t mean that the old layout won’t be missed. Both Soriano and Mate specifically noted how much they like the 18th hole at City Park.

Dating back more than a century, City Park certainly has a unique history to draw upon.

Among those who have played the course are former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, outstanding all-around athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Charlie Sifford and Jonathan Kaye of PGA Tour fame, and 1952 Olympic long jump champion Jerome Biffle.

Some of those players — and many others — were attracted to City Park because it was known as a place where there was plenty of “action” — in other words, where a little cash was known to be exchanged via golf bets.

A founding member of the City Park-based East Denver Golf Club, Judge James Flanigan, helped knock down racial barriers in state golf tournaments when he was refused the right to play in the CGA Match Play Championship in 1961. The next year, the CGA changed its policies and admitted minority clubs, including the East Denver Golf Club.

Another thing that’s made City Park distinctive is the makeup of its players. To put it succinctly, the course is among the most diverse in Denver. While many of the various men’s club golfers played with their own groups at City Park, gambling eventually integrated people of different races.

“When I started playing there (in the late 1960s), the men’s clubs were pretty much segregated, but the gambling games weren’t,” Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Tom Woodard, a former PGA head professional at City Park, as well as a former director of golf for the City of Denver, said when the course celebrated its 100th anniversary. “The color of money — green — was the only thing that mattered there. I thought that was pretty amazing.

“The thing I remember most is the gambling games. Every Friday and Saturday you could find a game — but you better bring your ‘A’ game. You better be ready to play. If you were a good player from a public course, you eventually made your way to City Park.”

With the impending course redesign, the city is considering various priorities for the site, according the the city’s website. Based on community outreach sessions, those include improved/updated practice facilities, expanding/improving The First Tee of Denver program that’s based at the course, and relocating/redesigning the clubhouse, among other things.

“City Park is certainly one of the most beloved municipal courses in Denver. It’s got a ton of history,” Graham said. “The city is fully committed to making sure this redesign retains all of those great aspects of City Park and looks for opportunities to update it further.

“That eight-month collaborative process we did with the community really heavily referred back to the history of the course, making sure we retain the character of the course. But there will be opportunities to make some updates that would improve playability.”

Courses closing for more than a year, then reopening, certainly isn’t unprecedented in the Denver metro area. Just in recent years, Coal Creek Golf Course in Louisville closed in the wake of the 2013 flood before being rebuilt and returning to business in 2015. And Thorncreek Golf Course in Thornton closed last fall for renovation, with officials anticipating a 2018 reopening.

For more information on the City Park Golf Course plans, CLICK HERE.

While big changes are planned for City Park GC, it’s not the only City of Denver course that’s been in the news. The city is in the running to host a three-day outdoor musical festival at Overland Park Golf Course starting in 2018, most likely in September of that year. If a deal is struck, Overland would be closed for 4-6 weeks, according to the city website. Assuming the musical festival comes to Denver, city officials say they anticipate an initial five-year contract.

Denver is one of two cities being considered to host the music festival. A decision on the matter is expected in late spring of this year.

For more information about the Overland proposal, CLICK HERE.