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
Zack Arbuckle likes just about every aspect of being part of the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy.
Except one thing, that is.
After two years in the program, he has to leave CommonGround Golf Course and “graduate” to a different caddie program in the Denver metro area.
“We have to go to another club after our second year here,” the sophomore at Heritage High School said Sunday. “I wish we could stay here. The connections that I made this year, and the family that’s here, I wish we could stay.”
Such is the way it is with the Solich Academy. Golfers who utilize Solich Academy caddies love the experience, CommonGround staff likes being associated with the program, and the caddies themselves buy in in a big way.
On Sunday, the Solich Academy, now with three years under its belt, helds its annual season-ending barbecue and a graduation of sorts.
In 2014, a total of 27 caddies racked up 832 loops, a number down somewhat from last year due in part to CommonGround not opening up fully until June 1 following last September’s flooding.
“The way I look at this is, it’s kind of one kid at a time,” said George Solich, for whom the Solich Academy is named, along with brother Geoff. “Sometimes you think if you’re not helping a hundred kids, it’s not impactive. But it’s impactive if you help one kid. That’s what we’ve got to keep in mind. We’re obviously having a great impact on these kids. Some of the kids are going to rise up and take advantage of it, which is great to see.”
The Solich Academy — and other programs which have been modeled after it — uses caddying and the game of golf to help teach kids valuable leadership skills. The Academy promotes the use of caddies by paying all of their base fees. It also trains teenagers who eventually will be available to caddie at other courses in the Denver metro area — like Arbuckle.
And some participants will have the added bonus of becoming candidates for the Evans Scholarship, which fully pays for college tuition and housing for qualified caddies who meet caddie, academic, financial and outstanding character requirements.
Arbuckle is among the Solich Academy caddies who hopes to one day be selected for an Evans Scholarship at the University of Colorado. On Sunday, following a “caddie Olympics” (left and below), he was once again named the Solich Academy Caddie Leader of the Year after accumulating the most loops for the second consecutive season. He has racked up 103 loops over the last two years combined.
One of those this year was for former Colorado Rockies great Todd Helton. The retired first baseman came out to CommonGround over the summer and was warming up when Arbuckle noticed him. CommonGround director of golf Dave Troyer subsequently asked Helton if he needed a caddie. The slugger said that although his group already had carts, he would take Arbuckle as a cart caddie.
“It was really cool,” Arbuckle said of the experience. “He’s a lefty baseball player, but he golfs righty. That was kind of fun to watch. He hits the ball really far.”
It’s unusual for a public course to have a thriving caddie program. But with the Solich Academy, CommonGround has hit upon the right formula. And there’s not just caddying involved. Every caddie at CommonGround — which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA — must go through regular leadership training and participate in community service.
That leadership training took on new depth and became more quantifiable this year, and CGA executive director Ed Mate has further plans to expand it, with an emphasis on self-reliance, individual responsibility and ethics.
“That’s one thing I’m really excited about,” said Mate, who like the Solich brothers is a former Evans Scholar at CU. “Granters (such as the Daniels Fund, which has given $30,000 to the Solich Academy for 2014-15) want to see evidence of real leadership training going on. We’re doing more activity-based stuff, where it’s not just a lecture. It’s really hands-on.”
While there’s always room for improvement, Geoff Solich is encouraged by feedback he receives from players who have experience with the Solich Academy.
“I hear people come by and say, ‘I just want you to know that I went out to CommonGround to take one of the caddies and go play the course’,” Solich said. “People are coming out here for that. I think it’s starting to be a draw. I’ve had people remember (Solich Academy caddie’s) names (long after the fact). That doesn’t happen very often.
“Ideally, you’d like more golfers taking caddies, but there are people coming out here specifically to use the program, which is pretty unusual.”
This year, a total of 21 caddies at CommonGround posted at least 36 loops, which is the minimum the program prescribes.
The Solich Academy and the Evans Scholarship received some welcome national publicity early this month when Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the BMW Championship, which benefits the Evans Scholarship. George Solich was the general chairman of that PGA Tour playoff event. Among other things, NBC’s national broadcast of the tournament included a story by essayist Jimmy Roberts which featured George Solich, current CU Evans Scholar Melyzjah Smith and the Solich Academy, where Smith caddied. Smith is one of five CU Evans Scholars the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy has produced over its first three years of existence.
“It was a neat story and (Smith) did an awesome job,” George Solich said. “The publicity we had from the BMW Championship all throughout the state, I think it’s going to catapult the Evans Scholarship in applications, awareness and hopefully fundraising because that’s what it’s all about. With record attendance and really good TV ratings, a lot more people are going to know about the Evans Scholarship, so that will be great.”
Added Geoff Solich: “I don’t remember a BMW Championship or a Western Open (its predecessor) where there was ever more direct publicity and understanding as to what the Evans Scholarship is. I think a lot of people went, ‘Oh, OK.’ It was just really well done.”
When it comes to starting up outside-the-box caddie programs, Fort Collins Country Club and a group in southeast Wisconsin have come to the conclusion that there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
That wheel just needs to spin in similar ways in different locales.
With an ideal template having been established at the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora, Fort Collins CC and the Kenosha-based Caddie & Leadership Academy of Southeast Wisconsin are in the midst of doing their best to replicate what the CGA and CWGA have done at CommonGround with the Solich Academy.
The situation couldn’t be more satisfying for those associated with the Solich Academy, which is set to begin its third season at CommonGround. It was established in 2012 as the brainchild of George Solich, an oilman, philanthropist and a graduate of the Evans Caddie Scholarship program at the University of Colorado.
The Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy is named for George Solich and his older brother Geoff (Duffy) Solich, another prominent figure in the oil and gas business who likewise is a product of the Evans Caddie Scholarship program at CU.
“It’s exciting,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said of Fort Collins CC and Kenosha, Wis., deciding to follow the Solich Academy template. “We’ve always hoped (the idea) would be successful and expand. These are two examples, with the one (in Fort Collins) being a satellite of the Solich program, and the one in Wisconsin being modeled after ours.”
Several things set the Solich Academy apart from a traditional caddie program. Most notably, all of the base caddie fees are paid by the Academy, with participating golfers providing an optional tip. And after a year or two at the Academy, caddies can “graduate” to jobs with other caddie programs in the area.
In addition, there are requirements for participating teenagers to do some community service and participate in leadership training. And it’s hoped that some of the caddies will eventually become candidates for the Evans Scholarship, which provides full tuition and housing at various universities, renewable for four years.
At Fort Collins Country Club, the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy Spike Baker Chapter will be launched this year. The chapter is named for Robert “Spike” Baker, a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer who passed away four years ago. Baker, who caddied at Park Hill Golf Club in Denver during his youth, went on to be a founding member of Fort Collins Country Club, one of the state’s top amateurs, and a governor for the CGA.
While CommonGround’s program includes more than 30 kids and produces roughly 1,000 loops per year, the Spike Baker Chapter will feature four or five teenagers, with the possibility of expanding in the future.
“I’m 110 percent behind this,” said John Hanrahan, the club’s director of golf for the last 20 years. “We tried to do a caddie program about 15 years ago (at Fort Collins CC). At that time, we had 95 percent (of the club’s play) riding in a cart. So it got going, then fizzled out after a couple of years.
“Nowadays, we’re 40 percent walking at the club. Over the last 15 years, our membership has gotten younger and a lot of them want to walk. There’s a health-conscious environment in Fort Collins. With a strong push for people walking, this was a good time to take a shot at (having a caddie program again). Of course, anything you do at a club, if you don’t have internal support, it won’t go far. But we have all the right elements now.”
More than a year ago, Hanrahan contacted Mate about re-establishing at caddie program at Fort Collins CC. Hanrahan, who caddied as a youngster at Omaha Country Club, didn’t know about the Solich Caddie Academy at CommonGround at that time, but when Mate brought it up, Hanrahan liked the idea. He then approached the Baker family, which remains part of the Fort Collins CC membership, about using the Spike Baker name on a Solich Academy chapter, and he received an enthusiastic response.
After sending out a press release that was published locally and getting some help from the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce, Hanrahan and other leaders at the club are in the midst of selecting the four or five caddies out of the applications they’ve received.
From there, the plan is to have a meeting with the kids and their parents, conduct four training sessions in April, have a couple of members take the caddies out for on-course training in May, then formally kick off the program in the second half of that month.
“We’ve been talking for over a year,” Mate said. “It’s important to start off on the right foot, with the right kids and the right number of kids.”
Fort Collins-based donors have long since earmarked donations to the Colorado Golf Foundation specifically for use at the Solich Academy Spike Baker Chapter. The CGA provided consultation regarding recruiting caddies, and the Spike Baker Chapter has adopted the methodology developed for the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround. Basically, the procedures manual includes expectations for the kids regarding loops, keeping a work log, doing community service and leadership training. It’s then the responsibility of the folks at Fort Collins CC to operate the Academy.
Hanrahan said the plan for the Spike Baker Chapter is to have the kids each complete 12 loops per month and be paid $400 for that work.
While Fort Collins Country Club is the first new Colorado chapter for the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, it isn’t alone in having expressed an interest in replicating what’s been done at CommonGround. Mate said a couple of other courses on the Western Slope have also inquired about the possibilities, though nothing has been solidified — yet.
After all, he was the product of just such a program.
Solich earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado after going to school on an Evans Caddie Scholarship, and now he’s doing his best to pay it forward.
His latest venture in that regard is one on a very large scale. With a $2 million lead gift from Solich and his wife Carol, the CGA on Monday announced the formation of the Colorado Golf Foundation, which will provide assistance “for innovative programs that use the game of golf to instill hard work and self-reliance in young people.”
For Solich, the kids are the key.
“I love golf and what it can teach kids of all socio-economic backgrounds — good lessons about character and competition,” he said. “For me, the game has affected my life in so many great ways.”
The CGA has been designated the organization that will manage the day-to-day affairs of the CGF, with guidance provided by an independent nine-person board of directors and five advisory directors who will review opportunities and distribute appropriate grants.
Former USGA president Will Nicholson Jr., a lifelong Coloradan who helped structure the foundation, has been named the CGF’s chairman.
Among the programs the Colorado Golf Foundation anticipates funding are two which Solich has helped fund and support in the past: the year-old Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course, and the CGA’s Evans Scholarship Recruiter position. Others programs that have been specified for anticipated funding are other Colorado-based caddie programs and the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program at CommonGround.
(Solich is pictured above congratulating a participant in the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy.)
And the plan is to consider support for “other youth-based programs and initiatives that place a high value on leadership, character development and the traditions of the game of golf.”
“I think the (CGF) will make a big difference,” said Nicholson, who has a long history of volunteerism in the game. “And I think it will be great particularly for young people; that’s the emphasis. I’m delighted and honored that George asked me to be chairman.”
Like Solich, Nicholson believes golf is an especially effective vehicle for instilling key values in young men and women.
“The key is that golf is a game of self-discipline and doing what’s right when no one is looking,” said Nicholson, who last year was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Solich hopes to see the $2 million seed he’s planted blossom into something that other philanthropists support and which will grow and thrive over the long haul.
The foundation “is almost a co-op for a lot of different programs we want to support through golf, and we hope others see the benefit (and assist in the effort),” Solich said. “I hope that $2 million (grows to be) a much bigger foundation and will drive some good programs in the state of Colorado that are rooted in golf and that will have a broad effect on people’s lives.
“When we look back in five or 10 years, I hope we can say, ‘Look at what we started and how many kids we affected.'”
The nine members of the CGF board, which must include at least two members of the CGA Board of Governors, are Nicholson, George Caulkins, former Cherry Hills Country Club head professional Clayton Cole, Jim Hayes, Phil Lane, CGA president Tom Lawrence, CGA executive director Ed Mate, Geoff Solich (George’s brother and an Evans Scholars alum) and Castle Pines Golf Club general manager Keith Schneider.
The advisory board will include George Solich, World Golf Hall of Famers Hale Irwin and Judy Bell, and Colorado Sports Hall of Famers Jack Vickers and Dow Finsterwald.
For several reasons, Solich feels the CGA is the ideal organization to manage the day-to-day affairs of the foundation.
“The mission of both organizations are strongly aligned, and what the CGA has done with CommonGround (which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA) as a tool is so admirable. They have the caddie program, the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program; it’s turned out to be an incredible confluence, a great staging area to deliver all these great programs. I also believe the leadership at the CGA has never been stronger, and the mission and direction has never been stronger. So it was perfect alignment.”
Providing the lead gift and guidance for the Colorado Golf Foundation is the latest of several major endeavors Solich has taken on in the golf realm over the last several years.
He was a major force in bringing the 2014 BMW Championship PGA Tour playoff event to Cherry Hills Country Club, and he will serve as general chairman of that tournament. The BMW Championship helps fund the Evans Caddie Scholarship. And in a related matter, Solich has been a Match Play Challenge partner in an initiative in which major donors match contributions of $2,500 or more to the Evans Scholarship. And that’s all in addition to the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy — which is named in honor of brothers George and Geoff, both former Evans Scholars and prominent players in the oil and gas business — and George funding the CGA’s Evans Scholars Recruiter position.
“I’ve been blessed to be able” to give back, Solich said.
For more information on the Colorado Golf Foundation, or to support the CGF, contact Will Nicholson at 303-585-7100.
]]>Getting a caddie program to take hold in Colorado isn’t a simple proposition in this day and age. To get a large-scale one to take root at a public course on the Denver/Aurora city limits is exponentially more challenging.
But, as the folks at CommonGround Golf Course proved this year, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Thanks to the launching of a unique caddie initiative at CommonGround — one with the steadfast support of the CGA, CWGA and a couple of brothers who went to college on the Evans Caddie Scholarship — about 920 loops were completed this summer through the new Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy.
The Academy held its first “graduation” Sunday at the course — which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA — and more than two dozen teenagers received certificates for successfully completing a full summer of caddying and community service. (Pictured above, George, left, and Geoff Solich congratulate the graduates.)
All told, almost 100 people attended the festivities, which included a “Caddie Olympics” for the Academy grads (pictured below).
“I didn’t really expect so many golfers at CommonGround to say, ‘Yeah, I’ll not only train caddies, I’ll take caddies,'” said George Solich, who along with older brother Geoff lent their name and considerable financial support to the program. “It’s great how much enthusiasm the golfing community had about caddying. I would literally get e-mails from guys who took caddies saying what a great experience it was and that they were going to do it again. That’s probably the greatest surprise I had.”
The incentive the Solich Academy provided — paying all of the caddies’ base fee — resonated with enough golfers at CommonGround that kids who started in the program Memorial Day weekend finished the summer with anywhere from 13 to 45 loops. Fourteen teenagers, boys and girls included, accumulated at least 30 loops, and a couple eclipsed the 40 mark.
“I think it went fantastic for the first year,” said Geoff Solich, who like brother George caddied at the Broadmoor Golf Club and graduated from the Evans Scholarship program at the University of Colorado. “I don’t think anyone had the expectations for what we ended up achieving. It’s a great foundation for going forward.”
Besides providing kids — many of whom have significant financial need — a place to develop a strong work ethic and character and leadership skills, the Solich Academy will likely produce many candidates for the Evans Caddie Scholarship at CU. Evans Scholars, who must demonstrate considerable financial need, receive full tuition and housing at the university. The Evans Scholarship is a flagship program for both the CGA and CWGA.
Another aspect of the Academy will be the training of youngsters who can be sent in future years to other clubs with caddie programs in the metro area, including Cherry Hills, Lakewood and Bear Creek, among others.
CGA executive director Ed Mate, who along with the Soliches was one of the major forces behind the creation of the Academy, said about a dozen of this year’s “graduates” will be farmed out to other clubs next year.
Mate was among those who spent many hours nurturing the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy in its initial year. Besides formulating many of the plans that went into the initiative, he personally took Academy caddies on 15 to 20 rounds this year at CommonGround.
“This is one of the most gratifying things I’ve been involved with since I’ve been with the CGA,” Mate said. This first year “was a home run. If I had known when I started what I know now, I would think there’s no way we could pull it off because of the amount of work involved. When you start with 40 kids — all 14-, 15-, 16-year-olds — it’s like herding cats. Trying to train them, teach them the game, get them out here, deal with matching them up with loops, it took a huge amount of man hours. So to accomplish all that in the first year and to get it established as well as we did is really phenomenal.”
The Academy program will be a two-year proposition from now on as second-year returnees will help initiate newcomers. Next year, as many as 16 kids will return for their second year at CommonGround, and the CGA staff will “vet” good new candidates to supplement the ranks.
Though the Soliches, along with the USGA and other individuals, have committed financially to the program, Geoff Solich believes the Academy has what it takes to be self-funding.
“We had a couple of events out here with some friends of mine; we had 20 guys out here, and we could get 200 guys,” Geoff said. “This touches people. They can see the kids so it makes a difference.”
George Solich, like Geoff, is a longtime prominent figure in the oil and gas business, and he particularly like the “leadership” aspect of the Academy. That part entails each caddie doing community service by working with outreach programs such as Special Olympics, Big Brothers-Big Sisters, the Challenge Foundation and Goodwill Industries.
“When we were first talking about the business plan, I don’t know whose idea it was that we not only make it a caddie academy but a Caddie & Leadership Academy — where you do community service — but I think that really set it apart,” George Solich said. “That was really, really neat.”
The academy will promote the use of caddies through a powerful incentive — by paying all of their base fees — and will train teenagers who eventually will be available to caddie at courses throughout the Denver metro area. The academy’s mission is to use caddying and the game of golf to teach kids how to succeed in life.
The Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy was named in honor of two former caddies who have long been major supporters of caddie programs and of the Evans Caddie Scholarship at the University of Colorado. Brothers George and Geoff (Duffy) Solich caddied at the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs and graduated from the Evans Scholars program at CU in the early 1980s. Both are prominent figures in the oil and gas business in Colorado and the surrounding region.
Pictured above are (from left) George Solich; John Kaczkowski, president and CEO of the Western Golf Association; Geoff Solich; and Denver resident Jim Bunch, chairman of the WGA. The WGA administers the Evans Scholarship on a nationwide basis.
The Soliches have been major financial supporters in helping the CGA and CWGA launch the Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround, which is owned and operated by the golf associations.
“With all the Evans Scholarship has done for us and many others — it changes the course of lives — to have our names associated with this program is pretty cool,” said Geoff Solich, who encouraged younger brother George to first start caddying at the Broadmoor in the 1970s.
Through much of the spring, the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy has been training the applicants at CommonGround, which has had a small caddie program since opening in 2009. Starting on Memorial Day weekend, and continuing for about 10 weeks, the caddies will work an average of at least four rounds per week. The academy will fund the $1,200-per-caddie grant that will be given to those who complete the program.
In addition, the program is designed to teach the participating young men and women the value of a strong work ethic, social interaction and perseverance. Besides caddying, the teenagers will be required to participate in community service by working with one of the junior outreach programs with which CommonGround partners. Those organizations include Special Olympics, Big Brothers-Big Sisters, the Challenge Foundation and Goodwill Industries.
The Solich brothers “have the same view about what caddying can do for you,” George Solich noted. “It introduces you to neat people and teaches you how to handle work. It also helps you communicate with older, successful people.
“This isn’t 100 percent about caddying. It’s about a person growing and gaining leadership skills. Doing it through the game of golf makes it even more fun. And that’s what CommonGround (through its community-outreach and junior-golf initiatives) is designed to do.”
Beyond earning money through the summer — and learning some valuable life lessons — some of the participating youngsters ideally will meet the requirements to be eligible for the Evans Scholarship, which provides full tuition and housing at CU and other universities to qualified caddies who demonstrate financial need. The Evans Scholarship at CU is a flagship program for both the CGA and CWGA.
The goal is to have 30 youngsters “graduate” from the academy this year.
“Part of the appeal to me is this is very much a grassroots effort to marry what caddying can mean to kids with the potential to earn an Evans Scholarship,” said Geoff Solich, who recently helped with some of the academy’s training of caddies. “We’re always trying to get kids into the (Evans Scholars) pipeline. So to marry those two objectives, that’s critical.”
Among those who have supported the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy financially is the USGA, which contributed a $10,000 grant to the cause earlier this year.
The inspiration for the academy came from George Solich reading a magazine article about a caddie camp in Nantucket, Mass.
“I thought, ‘Why don’t we do a caddie camp?'” Solich said. “So I sent it to Ed (Mate, executive director of the CGA) and said, ‘This isn’t exactly what I was thinking, but why don’t we do something like this for CommonGround?’ It gets kids interested in golf and gives them a summer job, and they get good enough to caddie at other clubs. Ed added the community service and leadership aspect, which was a natural fit.
“The execution was Ed’s and his passion for CommonGround. I’m really excited about the CGA leadership and CommonGround and what it can do for junior golf and caddying and keeping the traditions of the game alive. It’s a great place to nurture the process step by step. So this (academy) is another part of that.”