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.'”

And in many ways the activities and initiatives that were directly the result of the “Century of Golf” exceeded expectations. The Century of Golf Gala and related activities raised roughly $400,000, according to CGA executive director Ed Mate — significantly more than originally envisioned. The proceeds from the Gala and related undertakings benefit the Colorado Golf Foundation and its mission of youth development through golf, including junior player development, caddie programs, community partnerships, and college scholarships.

Besides the Gala and other fundraising efforts, and an extensive look back on the last 100 years of Colorado golf, the Century of Golf included a rebranding for the CGA, and “positioning the Colorado Golf Foundation as a mechanism for collaboration to raise money for golf,” Mate said recently.

“We made the most of the centennial,” Mate noted. The Gala was “the biggest golf gathering of our time (with about 1,250 in attendance at The Broadmoor). We raised a ton of money. We launched an exciting relationship with the PGA. It’s a home run. I look back on this as a special year. It’ll be a tough act to follow.”

Indeed, the question now is, where to go from here? And what will the second century of the CGA — the the future of Colorado golf in general — look like?

Of course, it’s much easier to foresee the short term, but that may provide some hints about what’s to come decades from now.

“Going forward, there’s a lot of ways it will manifest itself,” Mate said when asked what he hopes will come out of the Century of Golf. “None is more important than our collaboration with the (Colorado) PGA on junior golf (READ MORE). That’s evidence of us working together. We’re walking the walk. By (joining forces) we can accomplish the greatest good in golf.” (Pictured at top are CGA president Phil Lane and CPGA president Leslie Core-Drevecky signing a memorandum of agreement in October.)

Indeed, many activities and initiatives revolving around the Century of Golf were collaborative efforts of the CGA, Colorado PGA, CWGA and the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association.

Looking ahead, another partner, the USGA, is examining its business model and how it works with state and regional golf associations like the CGA and CWGA, Mate said.

“It’s a great opportunity to create a stronger partnership with the USGA — one robust and with more meat on it,” said Mate, who recently joined the USGA Rules of Golf Committee. “I think our future over the next 100 years will look much different. We’ll have ways to reach more golfers — whether it be through technology, apps or other things to be determined. We’ll work very closely with the USGA and Colorado PGA to reach more golfers — including more casual and less serious golfers. And then there’s things like the World Handicap System (READ MORE). Some game-changing stuff is being worked on.”

And some of those things currently in the pipeline, or in their formative stages, could significantly blossom over the coming decades. That includes programs such as Colorado PGA Golf in Schools; the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, PGA Junior League, etc., etc.

“I foresee our role being more significant,” Mate said. “The CGA won’t exist unless the game of golf is healthy, and I think the game of golf will be. It’s a fundamentally great game. I think we’ll look back on this chapter, when we were so oversupplied with golf courses because of the real-estate bubble. We went through soul-searching, and I think we kind of were grasping at straws — with things like using a bigger hole, less holes … — but the game isn’t broken.

“If we’re smart — with things like Golf in Schools, Drive Chip & Putt and PGA Junior League — we’ll make sure the game is put in the hands of the next generation in a thoughtful way. Sanity has returned. We got back to the basics of blocking and tackling (in growing golf). The game will take care of the rest. I think we’ll see the game thriving.”
 

Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the 10th monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles are being published on coloradogolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 2005-present. For the previous installments, CLICK HERE

When it comes to big-time golf tournaments being held in Colorado, the last decade has certainly had its ups and downs.

And many of the “ups” may have largely been the result of the biggest “down”.

The dominoes began to fall early in 2007. That was when Jack Vickers, founder of The International and of Castle Pines Golf Club, and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announced at a Denver-based press conference that The International’s run in Colorado was ending after 21 consecutive years on the PGA Tour.

Though there were many contributing reasons, the lack of a title sponsor in the final years of the event played a major role. The tournament hadn’t had a title or presenting sponsor after 2002. Tiger Woods seldom playing in the event — he competed in 1998 and ’99 only — was another factor, as were problems with the tournament’s dates.

But whatever the case, there was a sense of mourning on the Colorado sports scene. The International had produced champions such as Phil Mickelson (twice), Davis Love III (twice), Greg Norman, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh. Among the many other giants of the game to have played at Castle Pines were Jack Nicklaus (designer of Castle Pines GC), Woods and Arnold Palmer.

And the event produced some incredible golf, including in 2002, when one of the most amazing finishes in Colorado golf history occurred. Ten points out of the lead with five holes left, Steve Lowery went birdie-eagle-bogey-double eagle in a four-hole stretch, twice holing out from the fairway during that run. Only an eagle at the 17th hole by Rich Beem and Lowery’s missed birdie putt on 18 kept Lowery from carting off the trophy.

With the International’s exit, for the first calendar year since 1971, Colorado was left without a PGA, LPGA or Champions Tour event in 2007.

But as it turned out, the void was largely filled, and the last decade has been full of top-level spectator events.

— Before 2005, the U.S. Women’s Open had been held in Colorado just once — at 1995 at The Broadmoor, with Annika Sorenstam winning. But twice in the seven-year period from 2005 through 2001, the Centennial State would host the top tournament in women’s golf.

Birdie Kim won the 2005 championship in spectatcular fashion at Cherry Hills Country Club, holing out for — what else, given her name — birdie from a deep greenside bunker on the 72nd hole.

Six years later, at The Broadmoor’s East Course, another South Korean, So Yeon Ryu (left, in orange), prevailed, winning in the first three-hole aggregate playoff in the tournament’s history. Like Sorenstam at The Broadmoor and Kim at Cherry Hills, Ryu made the U.S. Women’s Open her first LPGA Tour victory.

Both the 2005 and ’11 Women’s Opens in Colorado drew more than 130,000 spectators for the week.

–The Broadmoor attracted a similar number for the 2008 U.S. Senior Open, won by Eduardo Romero of Argentina. That tournament is remembered for the black bear that ran across a fairway in which Bernhard Langer was playing. And then there was the presence of then-celebrity couple Greg Norman and Chris Evert …

— Colorado would go on to host two Champions Tour majors in three years as the 2010 Senior PGA Championship came to Colorado Golf Club, with Tom Lehman claiming the title.

— In 2012, the U.S. Amateur came to Cherry Hills for the second time — Phil Mickelson’s win in 1990 being the first — with CommonGround Golf Course serving as the second stroke-play venue. Steven Fox won the championship this time in one of Jordan Spieth’s final amateur events.

— In 2013, the Solheim Cup — the female version of the Ryder Cup — came to the western U.S. for the first time, with Colorado Golf Club being the host. The Europeans (left) won the Cup on U.S. soil for the first time. The 18-10 score marked the largest final margin in the history of the event.

— And then in 2014, the PGA Tour returned to Colorado for the first time since 2006, with Cherry Hills hosting the BMW Championship, the penultimate event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Billy Horschel won the tournament en route to claiming the 2014 FedEx Cup title.

The 2014 BMW Championship (pictured at top, with Rory McIlroy competing at Cherry Hills) was later named the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year for the third straight season. With University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum George Solich serving as general chairman, the event raised a record $3.5 million for the Evans Scholars.

— And, looking ahead, another major spectator event is on tap for the state as the 2018 U.S. Senior Open will be contested at The Broadmoor the same year as the resort turns 100 years old.

Here are some of the other Colorado golf highlights of the period from 2005 to present:

— Two distinguished Colorado PGA golf professionals, Warren Smith and Charles “Vic” Kline, were both inducted into the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame in 2005.

— In 2005, the CGA and CWGA officially purchased the former Lowry golf course, the site of the present-day CommonGround Golf Course.

— Rick DeWitt became the oldest (at age 50) winner of the CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year Award, in 2006.

— In 2006, the Walking Stick course in Pueblo hosted the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, with Tiffany Joh defeating Kimberly Kim in the final.

— In 2007, former University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin won his record 45th Champions Tour event — 16 more than the No. 2 player on the list, Lee Trevino.

— In 2008, Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora was the site of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship, with Jack Newman earning the title. Among the other competitors were Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel.

— The Tom Doak-designed CommonGround Golf Course, originally owned and operated by both the CGA and CWGA, opened in 2009, marking the last new 18-hole course to come on the scene in Colorado. A nine-hole Kids Course also opened, thanks in significant part to a $175,000 grant from the USGA. The Kids Course is largely used for junior golf development and community outreach. 

— In 2009 Steve Ziegler became the first player since Brandt Jobe in 1985 to sweep the CGA Match Play and Stroke Play titles in the same year.

— Coloradans John Elway and Tom Hart won the 2009 Trans-Miss Four-Ball title at Cherry Hills Country Club.

— Denver Country Club hosted the 2010 Trans-Miss Championship, won by Scott Pinckney, and the senior Trans Miss, won by Chip Lutz.

— After decades as a U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying site, Columbine Country Club lost that status after 2010.

— Wyndham Clark won the 2010 CGA Stroke Play at age 16, becoming the youngest winner of the event since Bob Byman in 1971. In the final round of the championship, Jim Knous shot a course-record 10-under-par 60 at Boulder Country Club to force a playoff, but Clark prevailed for the title.

— From 2010-13, Keith Humerickhouse claimed four consecutive CGA Mid-Amateur titles, becoming just the third person to win four straight CGA championships.

— In 2011, the Allied Golf Associations of Colorado became partners in the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools initiative, designed to introduce kids to golf through P.E. classes at school. The program has now reached more than 40,000 students.

— Green Gables Country Club, a storied course that dated back to the 1920s, closed in 2011. The course hosted six LPGA Tour events and one from the Senior PGA Tour.

— The CGA hosted the Junior America’s Cup at Hiwan Golf Club in 2011, when the Colorado team finished third, its best showing ever at the event (since matched in 2015).

— The CGA launched the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course in 2012. The Academy, named for University of Colorado Evans Scholar alums George and Geoff Solich, provides incentives to take caddies as it pays the base fee for the caddies, with the players having the option to tip. The caddies attend weekly leadership classes and do volunteer community-service work each summer. In Colorado, the Academy concept has spread to Fort Collins Country Club and Meridian Golf Club.

— Part-time Lakewood resident Hollis Stacy, winner of three U.S. Women’s Opens and six USGA championships in all, was inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.

— The philanthropic Colorado Golf Foundation was launched in 2012, with CU Evans Scholar alum George Solich providing a $2 million lead gift. The foundation provides funding for Colorado-based organizations and programs that use golf to build important life skills and character, with an emphasis on instilling hard work and self-reliance in young people.

— In 2012, Coloradan Christie Austin, while serving on the USGA Executive Committee, became the first woman to chair the USGA Rules of Golf Committee.

— Coloradan Derek Tolan, who competed in the U.S. Open as a 16-year-old in 2002, won the HealthOne Colorado Open twice in a four-year period starting in 2009.

— In September 2013, about 14 inches of rain in less than a week caused devastating flooding (left), leading to major damage at many Colorado golf courses, including CommonGround GC and Coal Creek GC.

— Colorado resident Mark Wiebe won the Senior British Open in 2013, marking the first major championship of his career.

— Melissa Martin of Grand Junction became the seventh player to win the CWGA Stroke Play at least three times, doing so in the course of five years (2009-13).

— In 2014, the Colorado Open was played for the 50th time.

— Also in 2014, Kent Moore completed a sweep of major CGA championships — and has won at least one in five different decades. His resume includes victories in the Junior Match Play (1973), Stroke Play (1986), Match Play (1989), Mid-Amateur (1995), Senior Match (2006) and Senior Stroke (2014).

— In December 2014, the Evans Scholarship for caddies surpassed the 10,000 mark in graduates, including 434 from CU.

— Paige Spiranac won the 100th CWGA Match Play Championship in 2015 in a stellar final in which she was 9 under par for 35 holes against University of Colorado golfer Brittany Fan. And Jennifer Kupcho put on an exhibition at the CWGA Stroke Play, winning by an amazing 21 shots in posting a 16-under-par total.

— For the eighth time in a nine-year period (2007-15), members of the Colorado PGA, or the Section itself, won a national PGA of America Award. The honorees during that stretch were Danny Harvanek and Ann Finke (Junior Golf Leaders); George Kahrhoff, Dale Smigelsky and Jim Hajek (Merchandisers of the Year); Clayton Cole (Bill Strausbaugh Award), Kyle Heyen (President’s Plaque Award), and the Colorado PGA Section as a whole (Herb Graffis Award).

— Doug Rohrbaugh won three straight Colorado PGA Professional Championships from 2013-15, tying a record previously established, then matched, by Ron Vlosich and Ken Krieger, respectively. Rohrbaugh also captured the 2013 HealthOne Colorado Senior Open title.

— The CGA and Colorado PGA announced they’re joining forces to bolster junior golf in the state. A Junior Tour, which will include four junior major championships, is scheduled to debut in 2016. 

— The CGA is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2015, culminating with a Century of Golf Gala in mid-November at The Broadmoor. Jack Nicklaus, who won his first and last USGA championships in Colorado (the 1959 U.S. Amateur and the 1993 U.S. Senior Open), is a guest of honor. Also among those who will be recognized are six People of the Century: Judy Bell (Woman of the Century), Hale Irwin (Male Player of the Century), Charles “Vic” Kline (Golf Professional of the Century), Dennis Lyon (Superintendent of the Century, Barbara McIntire (Female Player of the Century) and Will Nicholson Jr. (Man of the Century).

The choice of Pete Bevacqua as keynote speaker for the second annual G4 Summit wasn’t just serendipitous, but in some ways it seemed ideal given the nature of the gathering.

After all, this was an event designed so that Colorado’s top golf organizations could join forces to combat issues that keep golf from realizing its full potential in the state.

And who better to talk about what can be achieved by teaming up than someone who has held major leadership positions at both the PGA of America and the USGA? Bevacqua has seen the game from both sides — as well as from having been a caddie, a caddiemaster and a golf shop attendant.

Especially given his background, he realizes that organizations staking out territory often is counterproductive, especially when they share the overarching goal of growing the game of golf.

Bevacqua (left) has noted the possibilities when groups such as the PGA of America, the USGA, the PGA and LPGA Tours, and Augusta National collectively attack an issue.

“We all come at it from slightly different angles, but the similarities so vastly outweigh the differences, so what we can do is profound,” he said Tuesday in a speech at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. “And I think collaboration is at an all-time high.”

While Bevacqua, now the CEO of the PGA of America, was speaking about the national golf organizations, his words fit just as well on a local level in Colorado.

At the Broadmoor, representatives from the CGA, CWGA, Colorado PGA, the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents and the Mile High Chapter of the Club Managers Association came together in an effort to help make the game in Colorado take a step or two in the right direction.

And certainly something must have struck a chord for those in the golf industry as about 300 people — up from a little more than 125 last year — attended the second G4 Summit.

“The collaboration is better than it’s ever been,” noted Eddie Ainsworth, executive director of the Colorado PGA. “We’re in control of our future, and I’m excited about it.”

Asked his reaction to how the day played out, CGA executive director Ed Mate said, “I would just say ‘home run’. You plan a day like today — it’s a team effort; it was truly the G4. Really what it shows is when you work together you get better results. … It’s going to be a tough act to follow, frankly, for future years. It was an A-plus.”

The main speakers covered a wide variety of topics, all very important to golf’s future. Hunki Yun, who as director of strategic projects with the USGA helps oversee pace-of-play issues for the organization, detailed that problem and ways to combat it. “The more (data) you have about what’s happening, the better,” he said. “It’s crucial to have control over the system.”

Sandy Cross (left), senior director of diversity and inclusion at the PGA of America, discussed the importance of understanding generational attributes in trying to attract young, middle-aged and older players — as well as both women and men — to the game. “It has dramatic implications for what (golf) is trying to accomplish,” she said. “Marketing must evolve. We have to adapt.”

And some ingrained ideas are simply outmoded, Cross said, citing for example the idea of selecting tee boxes based on gender rather than ability. “That’s deeply flawed. It’s denigrating and not welcoming.”

And Bevacqua not only spoke about the PGA’s strategic plan, but in steps the organization has taken recently to grow the game and become more inclusive. He cited Suzy Whaley becoming the first national female officer of the PGA of America, working with the LPGA to create the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the national PGA being more open to ideas emanating from the PGA Sections, and PGA programs such as Get Golf Ready, PGA Junior League and the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship.

“It was a great day of education and exchanging information and best practices,” said CWGA executive director Ann Guiberson, who was attending her first G4 Summit after being hired early last spring. “It was very informative, with some top speakers. And I think the mix of speakers appealed to a wide audience.”

Given that nationwide, the National Golf Foundation reports that only about 21 percent of all golfers are women, the CWGA was especially interested in getting Cross’ perspective on growing the game among females. To that end, the CWGA leadership met with Cross to exchange information, ask questions and “get some more ideas as to what we can do to grow women’s golf in Colorado,” Guiberson said.

In addition to the presentations, there was a panel discussion in which Bevacqua, Yun, Cross and J.D. Dockstader, chief business development officer of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, addressed a wide variety of golf industry-related topics (photo at bottom).

While many major hurdles remain for golf, they don’t seem quite as insurmountable when the golf industry throws its collective weight behind trying to implement solutions.

“Combined, we can make golf all it can be,” noted CGA president Phil Lane, who served as an unofficial host at his home club at the Broadmoor.

All in all, what came to fruition Tuesday gave the organizers a sense of satisfaction in taking a noteworthy step forward.

“This is something Ed Mate and I have been passionately working on (along with the CWGA, superintendents and club managers) for several years now,” Ainsworth said. “We are singularly focused on moving the needle together.”

Notable: The CGA provided a sneak preview of its new logo to those in attendance at the G4 Summit. The full-scale public unveiling will be coming shortly. … The Colorado PGA reported the Golf in Schools Program, a joint effort of the Allied Golf Associations in Colorado, has now reached 30,000 kids through P.E. classes over the last five years. … To date, 29 Colorado golf facilities have signed up for PGA Junior League Golf, where the idea is to bring a Little League atmosphere to junior golf competition for boys and girls of all skill levels. … Local qualifiers for the 2015 Drive Chip & Putt Championship will take place in June and July, with a sub-regional planned for CommonGround Golf Course on Aug. 30. The competition is open to boys and girls age 7-15. For a list of the Colorado qualifying sites, CLICK HERE.

The topics Nicklaus addressed covered the spectrum, as they often do at public appearances for arguably the greatest player the game has ever known. But the subject that clearly piqued Nicklaus’ interest the most was a big-picture item that has been at the top of the agenda for golf administrators and others who care greatly about the sport: growing the game of golf in the future.

The winner of 18 major championships — plus two U.S. Amateurs — spent 2 1/2 minutes addressing a single question about the topic. Amid the hoopla of the U.S. Amateur that week, Nicklaus’ thoughts on the subject received little attention at the time, but they’re worth revisiting.

The issue has taken on a much higher priority given how golf participation has dropped somewhat in recent years. The National Golf Foundation reports that the number of golfers in the U.S. decreased from 30 million in 2005 to 25.7 million in 2011 after consistently rising for decades.

“It’s about time we not be so stodgy, saying the game is OK,” Nicklaus said during his August visit to Colorado. “Well, it’s not OK. It’s like everything else — you’ve got to work at it if you want to be successful.”

Some of Nicklaus’ thoughts on what’s going on with golf — and how to potentially address the issues — aren’t novel, but it’s obvious he has taken time to think about the subject in more than a cursory manner.

Perhaps part of that is due to something Nicklaus pointed out earlier in the interview session at CommonGround: none of his grandchildren plays much golf; they all play other sports. And these are grandkids of the man most people consider the top golfer of all time.

The NGF notes that the number of junior golfers in the U.S. has dropped dramatically — from 3.8 million in 2005 to 2.4 million in 2011. And female golfers have decreased from 7 million in 2005 to 5.1 million in 2011.

“Another statistic that blows my mind is, if you don’t start golf by the age of 8 — if you start after that — 89 percent of them leave the game,” Nicklaus noted. “I think that’s because … the team sports that are played in the park systems. Starting at 4-5 years old, kids are playing football, basketball, soccer, baseball. They’re playing all these sports, and by the time a kid is 8 years old, he’s picked two or three sports.

“It didn’t used to be that way. I played all sports, but we didn’t have anything organized until we were maybe 11 or 12 years old. But today they do. So I think it’s become abundantly clear that golf needs to get (more) into the park systems.”

Nicklaus suggests that kids start with clubs and balls with which no one is going to get hurt, then having artificial, movable greens that can be used on athletic fields when they’re vacant.

“You need to get (it) into a team sport and get kids together and draft them like all the other sports do,” he said. “I think the kids are going to have a blast (with that). And what it will mean is a bunch of kids will take up the game of golf. It’s not that they’re playing ‘golf’ golf, but when you’re playing flag football you’re not playing ‘football’ football; when you’re playing basketball with a 6-foot hoop you’re not playing basketball; when you’re playing T-ball you’re not playing baseball. But you graduate into those sports. We need a way to graduate.

“Tennis has done a wonderful job with playing the half courts and the little nets and bringing the young kids in. Golf needs to do those same things. They need to think out of the box and they need ways to introduce the game to kids.

“Kids and women, when they play the game, they need to have some success. The game has always been too difficult. They need to have bigger holes and easier ways to play so that they can learn to play, so that they can say, ‘how do we graduate into the game? But we have fun what we’re doing now (in the meantime).'”

Nicklaus notes that the PGA of America, the USGA and The First Tee have developed many programs that are on the right track, but there’s plenty more work to be done. (In Colorado, the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program — in which the CGA and CWGA are also major players — the “Get Golf Ready” campaign and several junior developmental programs the CGA and CWGA support address some of the issues Nicklaus mentioned.)

Nicklaus believes things will eventually turn around for golf, but not without diligently working on the problem and continually fostering new ideas.
 

The most prestigious tournament in women’s golf came to the state, another Coloradan was selected for induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, a PGA Tour playoff event was scheduled for Colorado in a few years, and a major growth-of-the-game initiative gained traction.

And that just scratches the surface of what transpired in 2011. So with the year quickly coming to a close, here’s one golf writer’s ranking of the top stories in Colorado golf over the last 12 months. (Note: Because we’ve previously chronicled the biggest moments for local tour players in 2011 — CLICK HERE — we left them off this list).

1. U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor. Though the tournament was plagued by turbulent weather much of the week, the Broadmoor Golf Club attracted 130,485 spectators for the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open. That means the only two Women’s Opens to exceed 120,000 occurred in Colorado, with Cherry Hills Country Club drawing more than 131,000 in 2005.

The Broadmoor continued Colorado’s recent tradition of being very hospitable to foreign-born players in major USGA championships. In the first three-hole aggregate playoff in U.S. Women’s Open history, South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu (pictured celebrating) defeated countrywoman Hee Kyung Seo to claim the title.

Previously, Argentina’s Eduardo Romero won the 2008 U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor, South Korea’s Birdie Kim claimed the 2005 Women’s Open at Cherry Hills, and Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam prevailed in the 1995 Women’s Open at the Broadmoor.

2. Stacy Lands Spot in World Golf Hall of Fame. Only four people with major Colorado connections are already in the World Golf Hall of Fame, but Hale Irwin, Judy Bell, Paul Runyan and Babe Zaharias will soon have company.

Hollis Stacy, a part-time resident of Lakewood since 1995, will be inducted through the veterans category on May 7 in St. Augustine, Fla. Stacy won four major championships and six USGA titles during her career, with the most notable victories coming in three U.S. Women’s Opens.

3. BMW Championship Set for Cherry Hills. Cherry Hills Country Club was already in line to host the 2012 U.S. Amateur — with CommonGround Golf Course serving as the second course for the stroke-play portion of the event — but now the storied Cherry Hills Village layout has two major tournaments on the agenda in the foreseeable future.

In April, the announcement came that the BMW Championship, one of the PGA Tour playoff events, will be contested at Cherry Hills Sept. 4-7, 2014. That will be the first time the state has hosted a PGA Tour event since The International ended its run in 2006.

4. Golf in Schools Gears Up.  With the number of golfers in the country dropping, it’s important to lay the grass-roots foundation for growth in the future. That was the impetus behind the Colorado Section PGA Golf in Schools Program, a major initiative of the Colorado PGA, CGA, CWGA, the Colorado Open Golf Foundation and other Allied Golf Associations.

The program, which puts golf professionals in physical education classes to provide instruction, has a goal of bringing golf to 9,000 students in 60 schools by 2015, and it’s ahead of pace after Year 1.

5. Closing of Green Gables Country Club. Green Gables had operated continuously for more than 80 years and had hosted six events on the LPGA Tour and one on the Senior Tour, but that didn’t stop the end from coming in late October. The financially-troubled club closed its doors after being purchased by a group of investors which plans to develop the property in west Denver.

The situation was stark proof that in tough economic times like these, no one in the business is immune.

6. National Leadership Roles for Coloradans. There’s certainly no lack of Colorado residents who held national leadership posts in 2011, or will do so in 2012.

Among those who headed up national golf organizations this year were CWGA executive director Robin Jervey (president of the International Association of Golf Administrators) and Rick Phelps (president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects).

Meanwhile, Denver’s Jim Bunch will become chairman of the Western Golf Association on Jan. 1, and Christie Austin of Cherry Hills Village will take over as treasurer of the USGA Executive Committee on Feb. 4.

7. Nicholson Bound for Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. It isn’t every year that a person with a golf background gets elected to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. In fact, it’s more the exception than the rule.

However, Denver resident Will Nicholson Jr., recently received the support necessary to gain a spot in the Hall effective in April of 2012. Nicholson is a former USGA president and a former chairman of both the Competition and Rules Committees at Augusta National, home of the Masters.

8. Steve Irwin Qualifies for U.S. Open. Arvada resident Steve Irwin is no stranger to the U.S. Open — after all, his father Hale won the Open three times — but the younger Irwin had never competed in the event before this year.

That changed when the former CGA Player of the Year successfully beat the odds by making it through the Local and Sectional qualifying tournaments. And to add icing to the cake, Hale was part of Steve’s gallery at the Open.

9. Jensen’s Departure. By all accounts, longtime CGA director of youth programs Dustin Jensen had a knack for making a significant impact on many young golfers in Colorado over the years. If there was any doubt about that, watching Jensen interact with the youngsters at tournaments was proof enough. Many a junior player learned valuable lessons — both about golf and life — through the time they spent with Jensen.

After a decade of working for the CGA, Jensen left the association late in the summer to become the associate director of alumni relations and the booster club at his alma mater, Jamestown College in Jamestown, North Dakota.

10. Death of Dave Hill. Colorado lost one of the most successful and storied players in state golf history in the fall when Dave Hill died after battling emphysema.

Hill won a record four Colorado Opens and also claimed the second title of his PGA Tour career at the 1961 Denver Open. To show Hill’s stature in Colorado golf history, he was in the first class to be inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, in 1973.

11. Lefty’s Fast Sunday Start Nets Colorado Open Title. Westminster resident Ben Portie ran off six straight birdies to start the final round and won the HealthOne Colorado Open and the biggest paycheck of his career ($23,000). The victory came seven days after Portie claimed the South Dakota Open title.

Portie was one of several left-handers to win significant Colorado tournaments in 2011. Keith Humerickhouse claimed his second consecutive CGA Mid-Amateur title, while John Ahern prevailed in the CGA Junior Match Play.

12. CGA Hosts Junior America’s Cup. Due to safety concerns about holding the Junior America’s Cup in Mexico, the prestigious tournament was moved to Colorado — Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, specifically — just 4 ½ months ahead of time.

The event, which features 17 four-person teams of top-level junior golfers from the western U.S., western Canada and Mexico, was held in Colorado for just the third time.

The team representing the CGA posted its best recorded finish ever, placing third, behind only perennial powers Northern and Southern California.

13. Brown’s August to Remember. Coloradan Zahkai Brown went out on a high note in what is likely to be his final summer as an amateur. In August, Brown was medalist in U.S. Amateur qualifying, won the CGA Stroke Play by rallying from six strokes down going into the final round, then made it to match play in the national Amateur.

The 75th CGA Stroke Play Championship was particularly memorable as third-round leader David Schroeder took a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 15th hole at CommonGround and Brown shot a final-round 66 to change the complexion of the tournament.

14. Clark’s 64-64 in High School Finale. Wyndham Clark was certainly the favorite going into his final high school tournament, but the way he went about winning his second 4A state title was still eye-opening. The Valor Christian senior shot 64-64 — likely the best two-day total in state high school history — at Pelican Lakes to win by a whopping eight strokes.

Clark has signed to play his college golf at Oklahoma State, winner of 10 national team titles.

15. Eaton a USGA Quarterfinalist.  For the second time in three years, Kim Eaton of Greeley made it to the quarterfinals of the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. This time, she lost in the final eight to Terri Frohnmayer of Salem, Ore., who went on to win the national title.

16. Famous Caddie at Colorado Women’s Open. A couple of very famous people in the sports world — neither of them competitors in the open tournament — made headlines in the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open. First, Jody Conradt, the second-winningest coach in the history of Division I women’s college basketball, made a hole-in-one in the pro-am competition.

Then 2010 PGA Champion Martin Kaymer showed up to caddie in the tournament for his girlfriend, Allison Micheletti. Kaymer, then the No. 3-ranked golfer in the world, went largely unnoticed at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.

17. Sixty-Somethings Make Their Mark. Age appeared to be no object to several competitors in 2011. At 63 years old, Jerry Kidney tied the competitive course record at Valley Country Club en route to winning the CGA Senior Stroke Play — and the super-senior title in the same event.

Meanwhile, John Olive, just short of his 66th birthday, claimed medalist honors in USGA Senior Amateur qualifying. And Harry Johnson, just shy of his 63rd birthday, nearly won the CGA Mid-Amateur, an event for players 25 and older. He finished a stroke behind Keith Humerickhouse, who birdied the final hole for the victory.

18. Urman’s Cherry Creek Team Wins State. Dani Urman, who battled back from bone cancer to qualify for the girls state high school tournament, helped her Cherry Creek team win the 5A state title in May.

Urman had both of her scores (90-79) count toward the team total, and the then-sophomore finished 16th individually.