Considering he was receiving a golf-related award on Sunday evening, Armando Duarte didn’t used to have the most positive attitude about the game.

“Before I started (caddying), I never knew anything about golf,” the 15-year-old sophomore from Regis Jesuit High School said. “I thought golf was the most boring sport ever. Now, I’m back to playing it. I tried out for my high school team. I didn’t make it but I’m still playing. I think it’s a great thing to do. I got all that from caddying.”

And, specifically, from doing so as part of the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, which on Sunday celebrated its seventh season with an awards barbecue at CommonGround Golf Course, the CGA-owned facility where the Academy started in 2012.

Over the seven golf seasons since, the Solich Academy has put together some impressive numbers:

— Now with three sites for the program around the state — CommonGround, Meridian Golf Club in Englewood and Lincoln Park/Tiara Rado in Grand Junction — the Academy has produced more than 8,500 caddie loops over the seven years. That includes a record total of more than 1,500 in 2018, with 46 caddies participating. There were 888 loops at CommonGround, 419 at Meridian and 215 in Grand Junction.

— This fall, a record-tying four Solich Academy caddies became Evans Scholars — three at the University of Colorado and one at Northwestern — after being awarded the full tuition and housing scholarship earlier in 2018. All told, 17 Solich kids have earned Evans Scholarships, almost all at CU.

— Then there are the 10 key elements of the “Code of the West”, which are key parts of the “leadership” aspect of the Solich Academy: 1) Live each day with courage; 2) Take pride in your work; 3) Always finish what you start; 4) Do what has to be done; 5) Be tough, but fair; 6) When you make a promise, keep it; 7) Ride for the brand; 8) Talk less and say more; 9) Remember that some things aren’t for sale; 10) Know where to draw the line.

— And on Sunday, at the season-ending awards barbecue at CommonGround, nearly 150 people showed up for the festivities — caddies, their families, and supporters and organizers of the program.

That included one of the two people who lent their name and foundational support to the Solich Academy — brothers George and Geoff (Duffy) Solich. Both caddied themselves as teenagers — at The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs — and subsequently were awarded Evans Scholarships at CU. They’ve long been successful Colorado-based oilmen and philanthropists.

“What always stands out to me is the family support these kids have,” Duffy Solich said after Sunday’s festivities. “It’s really cool to see all these people here.”

Indeed, the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy continues to blossom. The program promotes the use of caddies by paying their base fees through an educational grant, with participating golfers having the option of adding a tip.

And, as noted earlier, there’s also a hearty leadership aspect to the Academy. Each youngster who participates not only caddies but is required to attend weekly leadership classes and do community-service work each summer.

“I think it’s an amazing program,” said CGA co-president Joe McCleary, who has regularly helped train some of the Solich Academy caddies over the years. “It’s just a great program for the kids. It provides a lot of learning opportunities and I think it’ll make a difference in their lives.

“I’ve said it before: The golf course (at CommonGround) is a laboratory for a variety of programs, and this is one of those perfect programs that fits right into the laboratory.”

And that lab has produced kids like Duarte, who on Sunday was named “Caddie Leader of the Year” at CommonGround for 2018.

“I get discipline out of the program,” he said. “This is pretty much a first job for a teenager like me. It teaches us how it is to have a job.

“Many of my golfers really gave me confidence to open myself up more to new people because I was a really shy person. That was really good for me.”

At all the Colorado courses, the Solich Academy is a flagship program for the CGA, which devotes considerable resources in nurturing and managing it. CGA executive director Ed Mate, like the Soliches, attended CU on an Evans Scholarship. Also playing key roles in the Academy’s success from the assocation are manager of caddie development Emily Olson, director of youth programs Erin Gangloff and director of development Ryan Smith.

The CGA raised almost $40,000 for the Solich Academy this year through two trips that were generously donated by the Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon — with one being raffled off and the other being awarded through an auction.

BMW, a presenting partner of the CGA, is also the exclusive partner for the Solich Academy at CommonGround.

Besides CommonGround, Meridian, Lincoln Park and Tiara Rado, courses in southeast Wisconsin and in Oceanside, Calif., have taken the Solich Academy template and used it at their facilities, with tweaks as necessary.

“There’s room for people to take the ball and run with it” regarding expanding the program’s concept, Duffy Solich (left) said.

The normal pattern in the Denver metro area is for Solich caddies to spend two years at CommonGround or Meridian, then graduate to other programs around the area such as those at Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver Country Club, Lakewood Country Club, etc.

“It’s so gratifying to go to these other courses and see caddies who have graduated from here thrive at these other courses,” Duffy Solich noted.

Meridian came on board by establishing a Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy chapter four years ago. And now the Englewood-based club is up to 11 caddies who this year produced 419 loops, a season-high for the course. Paul Lobato, the longtime PGA head professional at Meridian, has shepherded the program at the club, and is trying to take it up a notch or two. Lobato and his team at Meridian spend 10 hours working with the kids before ever sending them out to caddie.

“I think we’re holding the kids to different expectations — that we expect them to get better each time out — to raise the level from being just bag carriers and sherpas to being more of a true caddie,” Lobato said.

Lobato finds it very gratifying to see the results — not only at his course, but for the Solich Academy program in general.

“It seems that caddying is very much back in vogue,” he said. “People are requesting them, people are interested in them. They’re interested in kids not only as caddies but as golfers and students and things like that. It is fun to see the growth of it.

“Caddies only used to be at certain places, but now they’re becoming a lot more common around town. Everybody is kind of getting their foot in the door. We just need to bust the door open and get stronger caddie programs with better caddies and people requesting them more.”

Here are the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy awards that were presented on Sunday:

Caddie Leader of the Year
CommonGround — Armando Duarte
Meridian — Tara Simone
Grand Junction — Chloe Manchester

Congeniality Award
CommonGround — Anthony Montoya-Olivas
Meridian — Kimberly Helfer
 
Rookie of the Year
CommonGround — Lindsi Reyes
Meridian — Antonio Vasquez

Most Improved Caddie
CommonGround — Jaziel Guerrero
Meridian — Aidan McMahon
Grand Junction — Kalea Potter
 
3D Award (Dedication-Determination-Desire)
CommonGround — Simon Seyoum
Meridian — Logan Douglass
 

The turnout on Sunday evening for a season-ending awards barbecue at CommonGround Golf Course was a testament to the ongoing success of the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy.

A large event tent was full of caddies and their families, program supporters and organizers, and all the adjacent tables outside were occupied, while another group of people were standing as they took in the festivities. It was one of the most well-attended season wrapups for the program that was founded in 2012.

“After six years you’d think coming to these barbecues would get like, ‘Ho, hum.’ It’s not. It’s the same excitement as the first year,” said Geoff (Duffy) Solich, who along with brother George lent their name and their support to the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy. “There’s great turnout. Probably 80 percent of the kids and their parents are here. You don’t see that in many programs.”

And what’s not to like? Six seasons after the unique program made its debut, it has produced about 7,000 caddie loops for Colorado kids. It’s given them continual leadership training and guidance as an integral part of Academy. It’s provided various clubs in the Denver metro area with well-trained caddies. It’s had 13 of its best caddies go on to earn full-tuition and housing Evans Scholarships at the University of Colorado. And, perhaps most importantly, in some cases it’s helped turned sometimes-aimless boys and girls into highly motivated young men and women with high character.

“The uniqueness of the Leadership Academy here is what I think makes it special,” Duffy Solich noted after the barbecue. “I played nine holes before coming over here today and I had a (caddie) who was a CommonGround kid (from the Solich Academy) who has spent two years at Cherry Hills and is applying for the (Evans) Scholarship. I said, ‘OK, tell me what was the most memorable thing from all the time at CommonGround? What stuck with you the most?’ Without skipping a beat (he said), ‘I love the Leadership Academy. I learned so many things there.’ It wasn’t about caddying or getting a hot dog at the turn. That’s what got his attention. That’s a unique difference that this has that others (caddie programs) don’t.”

Indeed, there are things that set the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy apart. Notably, it promotes the use of caddies by paying their base fees through an educational grant, with participating golfers having the option of adding a tip.

But don’t get the impression that the word “Leadership” in the academy title is a mere afterthought — a throw-in to make it sound better. Each of the caddies who are part of the program are required to attend weekly leadership classes and do volunteer community-service work each summer. Included is learning the key elements of the “Code of the West”: 1) Live each day with courage; 2) Take pride in your work; 3) Always finish what you start; 4) Do what has to be done; 5) Be tough, but fair; 6) When you make a promise, keep it; 7) Ride for the brand; 8) Talk less and say more; 9) Remember that some things aren’t for sale; 10) Know where to draw the line.

And, of course, the teenagers further learn life lessons through caddying itself. 

“The two years you spend here learning character traits, learning the Code of the West, learning how to get up early and learning how to work hard are invaluable,” George Solich told the caddies and their parents. “The ‘want to’ is what really counts. We’ve all got to have that ‘want to’. We’ve all got to make as much effort as we possibly can. Caddying really taught me early on that if you’re going to put in a day, you might as well get up early and get going. Not only did it teach me how to love the game of golf, but it taught me hard work.”

George and Duffy Solich were both caddies at The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs as teenagers. They both earned Evans Scholarships at CU and have become successful oilmen and philanthropists. (In photos congratulating the caddies, George is pictured at left and Duffy at right.)

The Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy has been such a success at CGA-owned-and-operated CommonGround Golf Course that it has expanded and become a model for other programs to emulate. Meridian Golf Club launched a chapter three years ago, and Grand Junction (at Lincoln Park and Tiara Rado) did this year. And more expansion may be on the way in coming years.

At all the Colorado courses, the Solich Academy is a flagship program for the CGA, which devotes considerable resources in nurturing and managing it. CGA executive director Ed Mate, like the Soliches, attended CU on an Evans Scholarship. Also playing key roles in the Academy’s success from the assocation are manager of caddie development Emily Olson, director of youth programs Erin Gangloff and director of development Ryan Smith. The CGA held a Bandon Dunes raffle this year that raised about $31,000 for the Solich Academy. BMW, a presenting partner of the CGA, is also the exclusive partner for the Solich Academy at CommonGround.

Besides CommonGround, Meridian, Lincoln Park and Tiara Rado, courses in southeast Wisconsin and in Oceanside, Calif., have taken the Solich Academy template and run with it.

“It’s the system that works,” George Solich said. “We’ve put together a really good system and organization.”

The normal pattern in the Denver metro area is for Solich caddies to spend two years at CommonGround or Meridian, then graduate to other programs around the metro area such as those at Cherry Hills Country Club, Denver Country Club, Lakewood Country Club, etc.

“The top caddies at Cherry Hills all came from here,” said George Solich, a member at Cherry Hills. “The training really works well. By the time we get done with them, they’ve got 75-80 loops and a little more confidence. They’ve gone through the leadership (training). They’ve got a little more swagger than they used to have. That’s what really makes it work.”

This season, 35 caddies finished the year at CommonGround, chalking up 959 loops, a total which may increase the remainder of this month. At Meridian, where PGA head professional Paul Lobato has been a driving force for the program, there’s 13 caddies who did 391 loops this year. And in the first year in Grand Junction, four kids accumulated 130 loops.

At Meridian, the loop totals are up more than 15 percent compared to 2016.

“Probably the best part of my job — the part of the job I have most fun with — is to see kids (progress),” Lobato said. “That first day of caddie training, we can barely walk down the fairway with a bag on our shoulder. Kids are very meek, very quiet (and) hardly will even say hello to you. Then midway through the summer you can see them getting better and more confident, coming out of their shells a little bit. So it’s very gratifying.”

Likewise at CommonGround, which sits in a diverse area at the intersection of Havana and 1st Avenue.

“What I really love about CommonGround in particular is we’re able to take kids from walks of life that have never been on a golf course and change their lives — either through the (Evans) Scholarship or otherwise,” George Solich said. “Not even 10 percent of the kids in this program are going to get the scholarship, so the goal is to impact the kids that don’t get the scholarship AND the kids that get the scholarship. Impact their work ethic, their character, their understanding of how to communicate and deal with adults — all the stuff we all learn from caddying.

“It’s really cool to be able to see how much impact (the program) has. … It’s exactly what we hoped.”

Notable: During Sunday’s festivities, the CommonGround Men’s Club presented a contribution to the Solich Academy — via the Colorado Golf Foundation — for $3,600. Giving the check to Mate was Andy Harwood from the Men’s Club, a CU Evans Scholar alum. (They’re pictured at left.)

“In the six years this program has been around, I don’t think George or I or Ed or Emily or Erin could have ever envisioned the amount of support and backing (we’ve gotten) from a lot of friends in the Colorado golf community. It’s really taken off,” said Duffy Solich. …

Quincy Slaughter of Aurora, a veteran of the Solich Academy, caddied over the summer at the Sankaty Head Caddie Camp in Nantucket, Mass., which was the inspiration for the creation of the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy after George Solich read about it in a magazine. Sankaty Head has operated since 1930. Caddies who are selected from all over the U.S. and abroad to come to the camp spend part of each day caddying at Sankaty Head Golf Club. They bunk at the campgrounds, located between the 11th, 12th and 13th holes at the course. …

As part of Sunday’s barbecue, caddie award winners for 2017 were announced:

Caddie Leader of the Year (CommonGround)
Kyle Arbuckle
 
Caddie Leader of the Year (Meridian)
Davis Helmerich

Congeniality Award (CommonGround)
Helina Seyoum
 
Congeniality Award (Meridian)
Aidan McMahon

Rookie of the Year (CommonGround)
Helmuth Grohmann
 
Rookie of the Year (Meridian)
Nate Hancock

Most Improved Caddie (CommonGround)
Jayce Aguilar-Wynn
 
Most Improved Caddie (Meridian)
Sam Murray

3D Award – Determination, Dedication, Desire (CommonGround)
Quezdon Ivey
  
3D Award – Determination, Dedication, Desire (Meridian)
Tara Simone

Chatting with kids after they participate in a Golf in Schools field trip can reinstill faith that golf will be just fine decades in the future when they’re at the helm of society.

Asked what they thought of the game — and the day — after Thursday’s field trip at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora, here is a sampling of responses from third-graders at Side Creek Elementary School:

“It was really fun,” Mariama Keita said. “Golf is an interesting sport. You get to see how far you can hit the ball and how slow you could do it.”

“It was the best,” Keoni Johnson said, adding that his only previous experience with the game was when “I went to this mini-golf place and (after that) I always wanted to go golfing.” Asked what he learned from Golf in Schools and the field trip, Johnson responded, “How to hold the golfing stick properly and how to hit the ball properly because if you hit it wrong, it’s going to hit somebody in the head. And watch out for the head part because if it hits somebody’s head, you have to call 9-1-1.”

And from Eric Le: “It was pretty fun. I got to hit balls and I hit one to the first pole (on the driving range). I hit the ground so hard I made a hole.”

Only time will tell how many of the 96 third-graders from Side Creek will play golf years down the road, but it’s safe to say that Golf in Schools makes it considerably more likely. At no cost to either students or schools, the program exposes kids to golf through their physical education classes at school, with the experience often culminating with a field trip to the golf course like the one Side Creek students had on Thursday at CommonGround, the course the CGA owns and operates. Two more field trips are planned later this month at CommonGround.

Golf in Schools programs in Colorado date back quite a few years. And since 2011, they’ve fallen under one large umbrella, thanks to the CGA, Colorado PGA, CWGA and the other Allied Golf Associations of Colorado joining forces. According to the Colorado PGA, Golf in Schools has reached roughly 50,000 kids since the joint program was announced in 2011. In the CGA’s case, though Golf in Schools focuses primarily on fourth- and fifth-graders, there is a GIS program at Rock Canyon High School.

“This is just a way to get golf in front of them because P.E. classes don’t have the means to teach golf — or have the equipment, but we do have the equipment and instructors to do it,” said Erin Gangloff, the CGA’s managing director of programs, who, as usual, was running things for the field trip at CommonGround. “Our goal is to put a golf club in their hands and let them know about the sport — and hopefully have a lifelong golfer in the end.”

In the case of this week’s field trip, two busloads of third-graders from the public Aurora elementary school came to CommonGround, and for about three hours, they learned a lot about golf and had plenty of fun and games in the process. They rotatated among stations at CommonGround’s Kids Course, hitting balls at the back of the practice range, chipping, putting, playing on the course and learning a little about the Rules. There was even some up-close exposure to golf course machinery — specifically mowers — and (new this year) a little agronomy lesson, complete with different samples of turf. And, of course, the field trip was capped off by an outdoor lunch at the course.

All this after early in the school year getting three separate P.E. classes on the full swing, chipping and putting.

“Coming here is just phenomenal,” said LeAnn Zimmerman, a Side Creek P.E. teacher who has brought three or four classes to CommonGround over the years as part of Golf in Schools. “The kids get so excited. This is an opportunity that they’ll never have again. They allow the students to explore the entire (Kids) Course, where they understand it and they feel comfortable to come out on their own. They also allow the students to come all summer for free (to play on the Kids Course). Hopefully they take advantage of that. It’s just amazing their staff while we’re here is so welcoming and warm.”

On Thursday, staffers from the CGA and one from the USGA, along with many volunteers, kept things fun and informative for the 96 kids. Needless to say, given that most of the third-graders hadn’t been on a golf course before, safety was a high priority for organizers. In fact, one of the first orders of business was a little something staffers learned from PGA instructor Gary Davis at a Golf in Schools session years ago.

“Our favorite part is Hector the honeydew (melon),” Gangloff said. “We do that every field trip. We go over safety and we talk about holding the club heads up, grips down; don’t be swinging around; pay attention. We call our honeydew Hector or Henry and we say, ‘He wasn’t paying attention and this is what happened'” as a field trip leader takes an iron to the unsuspecting melon, breaking it into pieces. “It just gets the kids so excited. They love it. That’s a big highlight for us — to see their faces when we do that.”

By her own estimate, Gangloff has been on hand for about a dozen of these field trips over the years. Not surprisingly, she remembers a couple of incidents that raised her blood pressure a little. Last year, she noted, CGA director of development Ryan Smith got a golf ball to the top of his head after a student had given it a toss. “I told the kids today about it and said, ‘He’s not here today because he’s afraid of you,'” Gangloff said with a smile. “Really, he has a meeting, but …”

Then there was the time some kids were retrieving balls they had hit at the back end of the practice range when they wandered a little further out than they should have. Fortunately, “most of the players on the (front end of the) range had stopped hitting,” Gangloff remembers with relief.

Speaking of Gangloff, by all accounts she’s a major part of making the field trips a success.

“Erin is a rock star,” Zimmerman said. “All props to her.”

Zimmerman noted that the Golf in Schools field trip has become quite the popular event at Side Creek Elementary. Of course, most field trips are popular for schoolkids, but this one has a unique quality.

“Brothers and sisters have told these kids exactly what to expect — and these are kids from years ago,” Zimmerman said. “It stuck in their mind obviously now that they’re in middle school or high school and they’re amped to tell their siblings all about it, so they’re all excited to come. I think it is memorable for sure. My fifth-graders did not earn the field trip, and they were bummed about it because they had been here before as third-graders.”

And what feedback has Gangloff gotten from parents and kids over the years after hosting field trips at CommonGround?

“We’ve had kids that have been like, ‘I really like this sport. This might be my new favorite sport,'” she said. “I was talking to a dad today who said, ‘My son plays baseball and I didn’t know what kind of contact he’d make with a golf ball. But he got into it, and now we’re going to start looking at golf too.’ We have a lot of kids who say, ‘This is so much fun.’ If they make contact the first time, that’s what you see. They’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can actually play this game.'”

On Sunday at CommonGround Golf Course, as the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy unofficially celebrated its fifth “birthday” with its annual post-season buffet and awards ceremony, Duffy Solich heard a comment from a caddie’s parent that was music to his ears.

“One of the parents told me tonight, ‘Whether my son gets an Evans Scholarship (a full tuition and housing scholarship awarded to selected caddies at the University of Colorado) or not, (the Solich Academy) has made him who he is,'” Solich recounted Sunday evening. “I’m like, ‘Wow. That’s the nicest thing you could say.’ Those are hidden benefits you don’t realize when we started this. Things mature and happen and grow.”

Indeed, the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy to which brothers George and Duffy Solich (pictured above, with Duffy at left) lent their name was a unique idea when it was launched at CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course in 2012. The Academy promotes the use of caddies in a major way by paying the base caddie fees, with participating golfers having the option of adding a tip. But in addition to the caddying, per se, a major component of the Academy is that all of the caddies are required to attend weekly leadership classes and do volunteer community-service work each summer. And after two summers in the Academy, the youngsters who are successful graduate to other caddie programs in the area. And, ideally, some will become good candidates for the Evans Scholarship at CU.

So, having just completed season No. 5, how successful has the Solich Academy been?

With more than 1,400 caddie loops in 2016 (1,095 at CommonGround and 330 at Meridian Golf Club, which came into the fold starting last year), the two Colorado sites have generated almost 5,400 loops over the five years. CommonGround on its own has racked up almost 4,800. And nine Solich Academy caddies have gone on to earn Evans Scholarships.

“What’s really great is the kids are getting a lot out of it whether they get the Evans Scholarship or not,” said George Solich, who provided the inspiration for the Academy after reading a magazine article about a caddie camp in Nantucket, Mass. “We’ve touched a lot of kids. It’s been an awesome start.

“It’s really in a great spot. And thanks to the CGA for all its work in managing it and running it. Thanks to the Colorado Golf Foundation for supporting it. We love what it does.”

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that many of the driving forces behind the Solich Academy were caddies themselves as youngsters, and quite a few received the Evans Scholarship at CU. That includes both George and Duffy Solich, CGA executive director Ed Mate, who was responsible for the execution of George’s original inspiration, and of major supporters such as Frank Nessinger. And even though he wasn’t an Evans Scholar, Paul Lobato, the PGA head professional who championed the idea of adding a Solich Academy chapter at Meridian Golf Club, caddied at Denver Country Club as a teenager.

Meridian’s program is much smaller than CommonGround’s, but likewise has gained grassroots support.

“It gets better every year,” said Lobato (below). “It started as a 9, now it’s a 10. Probably the most fun part of my job is seeing how (the caddies) grow, seeing how they get confidence talking to adults and getting better at their job. Some of the young kids come in really meek and quiet, then they start to gain confidence and get better and better and better. It’s really fun to see. It’s a great, great program.”

This year, between the two Colorado courses, there were 46 Solich Academy caddies — 36 at CommonGround at 10 at Meridian. In their leadership classes, they learn about “Cowboy Ethics” and the 10-point “Code of the West”: 1) Live each day with courage; 2) Take pride in your work; 3) Always finish what you start; 4) Do what has to be done; 5) Be tough, but fair; 6) When you make a promise, keep it; 7) Ride for the brand; 8) Talk less and say more; 9) Remember that some things aren’t for sale; 10) Know where to draw the line.

“We love what caddying does,” said George Solich, like Duffy a success in the oil and gas business and a philanthropist. “Not only can you make money, but you can be around successful people. You can learn about leadership, you can learn principles (of success) and you can learn hard work. And regardless of where you go in life, those qualities and characteristics will benefit you for years and years. They did us, for sure.”

The formula for success adopted by the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy hasn’t gone unnoticed. Besides what has germinated in Colorado, courses in southeast Wisconsin and in Oceanside, Calif., have taken the Solich Academy template and run with it.

“It’s a really good model,” said George Solich. “The goal is to have it at a lot of different places across the country that can benefit kids and give them an opportunity.

“We have some good momentum. It would be great to see it thrive (further). The Evans Scholars Foundation is moving this way too. They have a (WGA Caddie Academy) for girls in Chicago. John (Kaczkowski, president and CEO of the WGA) and I have talked (about) how does all this kind of fit together. I think the idea is, finding more kids you can give the opportunity to.”

Suffice it to say that in five years the Solich Academy has succeeded beyond what anyone foresaw.

“I would have guaranteed you none of us had this kind of expectations (five years ago),” said Duffy Solich. “It’s far exceeded anything we expected. There was nothing like it in the country that I’m aware of. And some of the byproducts that come from it are not something you could have ever planned on.”

This year, when BMW became a presenting partner of the CGA, it also became the exclusive partner for the Solich Academy at CommonGround. The PGA Tour’s BMW Championship, which just concluded in Indiana, has raised, from the tournament’s inception in 2007 through 2015, more than $21 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation.

Also new this year, a Solich Academy Invitational was held at CommonGround with the intention of giving supporters and potential supporters a first-hand experience with Academy caddies and the program overall.

While the Soliches, Mate, Lobato and others have provided big-picture guidance to the Solich Academy, the day-to-day operations have mainly been in the hands of Emily Olson, the CGA’s manager of caddie development; Erin Gangloff, the CGA’s managing director of programs; and the caddiemasters at the respective courses, Matt Tedeschi (CommonGround) and Melyzjah Smith (Meridian). Smith is one of 53 Evans Scholars currently living at the newly renovated scholarship house at CU.

“This program would not work without the four of them,” George Solich said. “It’s really neat to see that they actually own it. They’re accountable, they’re responsible. They’re thinking about new ways to make it better.”

Added Duffy Solich: “My first round out here (at CommonGround), Melyzjah was my caddie. I was totally taken by her and I thought we have to get this girl an Evans Scholarship. She was light on loops so she had to go to school on her own (at CU) for a year. She came back and got the Evans Scholarship and now she’s a leader at the Meridian Chapter. That’s a pretty good story.”

The fruits of the labor of Olson, Gangloff, Tedeschi, Smith and others are being seen at other major clubs in the Denver metro area that utilize Solich Academy graduates in their own caddie programs.

“Personally, I’d tell you the kids that come to Cherry Hills (Country Club) from the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy are always the best kids — because they’re trained, they know the deal,” George Solich said. “That’s one of the hard parts about clubs is training caddies. I think this model really works if we can send 15 kids a year to five or six other clubs.”

Besides the benefits of kids earning money through caddying — and possibly qualifying for an Evans Scholarship — the Academy’s leadership training and volunteerism remain equally important aspects of this whole initiative.

“I really, really love the Code of the West,” George Solich said. “It’s the perfect age to talk to these kids about character, which is what Code of the West really is. When you look at programs that are very successful, it’s all about character traits and moving that into a kid’s thought process. It really adds to the experience they get at a golf course.

“When we launched, I’m so glad we decided to do that along with the caddie program. It’s as meaningful as the hard work on the golf course and as the money these kids take home.”

As part of Sunday’s festivities, awards were given out to some of the oustanding Solich Academy caddies at CommonGround and Meridian:

Caddie Leader of the Year (CommonGround)
David Acevedo
 
Caddie Leader of the Year (Meridian)
Ricardo Angel-Lucero

Congeniality Award (CommonGround)
Sydney McCleary
 
Congeniality Award (Meridian)
Courtney Lopez

Rookie of the Year (CommonGround)
Kyle Arbuckle
 
Rookie of the Year (Meridian)
Davis Helmerich

Most Improved Caddie (CommonGround)
Dillon Zastrocky
 
Most Improved Caddie (Meridian)
Oliver King

3D Award: Determination, Dedication, Desire (CommonGround)
Eliannah Angel-Lucero

3D Award: Determination, Dedication, Desire (Meridian)
Fenton Dowling
 

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.”