As is typical, a couple of hundred people — primarily women — will gather to attend golf workshops, learn about upcoming events conducted by their state golf association and the benefits of membership, socialize a little bit, have brunch and raise money for a worthy cause.

And it will all happen at the usual site, the newly renamed Hilton Denver Inverness in Englewood — on Saturday, March 3.

Still, there will be changes from years past — some noticeable and others fairly subtle.

First, there’s a tweak of the name — from CWGA Annual Meeting to CGA Women’s Annual Meeting.

And the staff on hand running the show will be quite a bit larger than normal.

It’s all a byproduct of the CGA and CWGA joining forces and becoming one USGA-recognized Allied Golf Association, under the CGA banner. The unification process was in the works much of last year and officially went into effect a couple of months ago.

One upshot is that the two associations merged staffs — and board of directors — with most of them expected to be on hand at the Women’s Annual Meeting. Indeed, a CGA board meeting is scheduled at Inverness right after the conclusion of the women’s annual festivities.

“We’re excited about introducing people to the whole CGA,” said Laura Robinson, the former CWGA executive director who now serves as the managing director of membership and integration for the CGA and who continues to organize the Women’s Annual Meeting.

With the changes that have taken place with the CGA and CWGA since last year’s Annual Meeting, part of the agenda — during brunch — will be a panel discussion featuring CGA co-presidents Juliet Miner and Joe McCleary, moderated by CGA executive director Ed Mate.

Miner was the president of the CWGA in 2016 and ’17 before taking on the CGA co-presidency. And McCleary was the CGA’s president in 2016 and ’17 before becoming co-president with Miner this year.

“It’ll be possible for people to ask questions about the integration (of the two associations),” Robinson said. “We have done an enormous amount of communication with member clubs (over the last year-plus). The first of the month we have have sent emails to all the member clubs. I hope that all the communication that we’ve done has answered a lot of questions.”

Robinson said one of the benefits of the integration of the two associations is more resources for events like the Women’s Annual Meeting. That’s apparent in the case of the silent auction benefiting junior golf that’s traditionally been held in conjunction with the event. Now that auction includes close to 100 items, many of them rounds of golf (including foursomes at Ballyneal and Frost Creek, each valued at $1,000), golf accessories and memorabilia, plus a smattering of non-golf items. 

In a departure from the past, 21 of the items are up for auction for a couple of weeks leading up to the Women’s Annual Meeting — along with up until 11:45 a.m. on March 3, both online and in person. As of Friday, more than $4,100 had been bid online. Suffice it to say that it’s very likely more will be raised for junior golf through the auction than last year (just under $7,000). (CLICK HERE for the online auction.)

Four different hour-long workshops are scheduled as part of the Women’s Annual Meeting: Discover How You Play Your Best Golf (led by Elena King, a highly-regarded instructor at CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course); Rules of Golf: Oh, What a Relief It Is! (led by rules officials Karla Harding and Sandy Schnitzer); Tournament Management (led by Aaron Guereca from the CGA staff and Rory Luck from Golf Genius Software); and Handicapping (led by longtime CGA director of handicapping and course rating Gerry Brown).

Also on March 3, several awards will be given out. The women’s Club of the Year and the Volunteer of the Year will be announced at the meeting. And three players who earned awards for their 2017 play will be recognized: Jennifer Kupcho (President’s Award), Mary Weinstein (Player of the Year) and Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton (Senior Player of the Year for the eighth time in nine years). Kupcho (Wake Forest) and Weinstein (University of Denver) are in the midst of the spring portion of their college schedules.

And, in another first at the Women’s Annual Meeting, CGA bag tags will be distributed.

It’s only appropriate given the CGA tagline of “Celebrating the Future of Golf Together”.
 

With the annual get-together of members, association leaders and staff “” along with assorted other interested parties “” set for Saturday (March 4) at The Inverness Hotel & Conference Center in Englewood, more than 175 people are expected to attend.

Coming off its 100th-anniversary year in 2016, the CWGA will devote a little time to reflecting on its past, with Centennial Committee co-chairs Nancy Wilson and Phyllis Jensen presenting a scrapbook and compilation from the centennial year festivities to CWGA president Juliet Miner.

As for the present/recent past, the CWGA will recognize some of its best from 2016 with its annual awards. That includes Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster (Player of the Year for an unprecedented third straight season) and Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton (the Senior Player of the Year for the seventh time in eight years). Those honorees were previously announced, but a couple of others will be disclosed at the meeting: the Volunteer of the Year and the winner of a new award, CWGA Club of the Year, in recognition of all the work done at the club level in growing membership, raising money, etc.

But most of Saturday’s proceedings will be devoted to improvement looking ahead. That covers an array of items:

“” The CWGA will present a check for $10,000 to the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado, which is beginning its second season as a one-stop-shop for junior golf in the state. The JGAC is a combined effort of the CGA, the Colorado PGA and the CWGA.

“” Club officials will be involved in an orientation session regarding the new USGA Tournament Management Software (powered by Golf Genius), led by CWGA tournament manager Kate Moore and Golf Genius’ Rory Luck.

“” In breakout educational sessions held opposite of the USGA Tournament Management session, meetings will focus on the Rules of Golf (led by Jan Fincher, Karla Harding and Sandy Schnitzer), handicapping (led by Laurie Steenrod), and a President’s Roundtable (led by CWGA vice president Kathy Malpass).

“” From 7:30 to 11:15 a.m., a silent auction will be held, with the proceeds benefiting junior golf, most notably the programs that fall under the auspices of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado.

In addition, there will be updates on the impending and recent changes regarding the Rules of Golf (presented by CGA executive director Ed Mate, who sits on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee) and the JGAC.

Overall, in addition to education, training and networking, “the theme (of Saturday’s meeting) is collaboration and community,” CWGA executive director Laura Robinson said. “In order to grow golf effectively in Colorado, it’s important to work hard to collaborate with the various golf organizations and associations in the state, including the CGA, Colorado PGA, the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, the First Tee, etc. We want to be a strong remember of the community.”

The keynote speaker at Saturday’s business meeting will be Sammie Chergo, the new executive director of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Chergo was head coach when the University of Denver women’s golf team posted fifth- and sixth-place finishes in the women’s NCAA Championships, and she later also coached at Oregon State.

In addition, the CWGA is in the midst of modernizing its logo. The association has opened the idea up to members and 17 new logos have been submitted. The CWGA will get input on those logo submissions at the meeting.

Speaking of new looks, the CWGA launched its new website (coloradowomensgolf.org) about two months ago. The site includes many new resources and features for members and clubs, including how to find a club to join.

For the CWGA Annual Meeting agenda, CLICK HERE.

Let the celebration begin.

On Saturday, just two weeks before the official 100th birthday of the CWGA, the association will throw a wingding commemorating the occasion.

It will be part of a meeting — the CWGA annual meeting, to be precise — which is appropriate because it all started with a meeting, the one that took place on March 14, 1916 that formed the CWGA.

At Saturday’s event at the Inverness Hotel & Conference Center in Englewood, the association will kick off its centennial year with a celebration that will draw many of the most influential figures in the history of the CWGA.

Though association officials want to leave some suspense for Saturday’s festivities, among those expected to be on hand are a Colorado Sports Hall of Famer, seven Colorado Golf Hall of Famers, at least seven past presidents of the CWGA and numerous prominent past staffers. And though World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Bell of Colorado Springs won’t be able to attend due to a recent injury, the former USGA president sent a videotaped message.

“We see this as a very big event,” CWGA acting executive director Laura Robinson said this week. “It’s a great opportunity to celebrate our history, introduce our history to new members attending, and look forward to the next 100 years.”

Also expected to attend are leaders of other major golf organizations in the state, including president Joe McCleary from the CGA, president Leslie Core-Drevecky and executive director Eddie Ainsworth from the Colorado PGA, along with representatives of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation and the LPGA.

“This shows we not only have history, but we have a history of working with partners” within the Colorado golf community, Robinson said. “It’s special that we share this with them.”

In all, the CWGA expects about 230 people on Saturday, with about 120 clubs represented.

During the centennial celebration portion of the annual meeting, a 10-minute video history of the CWGA will be shown publicly for the first time. “It was humbling and touching,” Robinson said of previewing part of the video.

And three groups of outstanding people will be recognized: 10 exceptional volunteers, nine outstanding players who have won at least five major individual CWGA championships, and three especially valued friends of the association.

A “Volunteer of the Century” and “Golfer of the Century” will be singled out.

Also at the annual meeting, three items of CWGA centennial memorabilia will be available for purchase — a ball marker, bag tag and water bottle, all featuring the association’s centennial logo.

A silent auction will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting, with proceeds benefiting LPGA*USGA Girls Golf. Among the more than 50 items that will be up for auction will be an autographed photo of Bronco DeMarcus Ware, a Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado hat autographed by former LPGA standout and current CBS on-course reporter Dottie Pepper (left), a puck from the Colorado Avalanche, and plenty of rounds of golf at Colorado courses.

In addition, the CWGA is inviting people to sign up for its Centennial Club, which will raise fund for the association’s centennial events. In addition to what will take place on Saturday, that will include a celebration during the CWGA Stroke Play at Denver Country Club in early August, and a centennial celebration tournament Sept. 21 at Hiwan Golf Club.

Though the centennial celebration and related activities are a big draw for Saturday’s annual meeting, there are also some things on the agenda that take place every year at this event. Most notably, there’s a business meeting and several breakout sessions planned, including on the Rules of Golf (Karla Harding, Jan Fincher, Sandy Schnitzer), an update on GHIN/Handicapping (Gerry Brown), Test Your Golf Knowledge and Play the Rules Game (Jennifer Lorimor), a Club Presidents Roundtable (Kathy Malpass), and Acupuncture for Golfers.

It would be another four years before ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave American women the right to vote, but on March 14, 1916, a group of eight women from five clubs made a pre-suffrage statement that still resonates a century later.

At a meeting that day, the CWGA was formed, with Mrs. Olyn Hemming being elected the first president. The group settled on this purpose for the association: “To promote and maintain the best interests of the game of golf; to hold golf tournaments; and to promote good fellowship among member clubs.”

Six months later, in September 1916 at Colorado Springs Golf Club (what is now Patty Jewett Golf Course), the CWGA held its first champonship, with 28 women competing in what is now known as the CWGA Match Play.

Plenty of water has gone under the bridge since then, bringing the CWGA to a major milestone in its history. This year, the association will celebrate its 100th anniversary, and the festivities will be spread out over the course of 2016.

“I hope the celebration of the winners, players, volunteers and leaders from the past 100 years will be inspiring,” said Laura Robinson, acting executive director of the CWGA.

Over the last two years, plans have been in the works for the centennial, with association board members Phyllis Jensen and Nancy Wilson co-chairing the Centennial Committee.

Most notably, three events are planned that will commemorate the CWGA’s first century:

— The CWGA’s annual meeting, set for Feb. 27 at The Inverness Hotel & Golf Club in Englewood, will feature a video history of the CWGA likely lasting 6-8 minutes. Among other things, it will include sections on tournaments, the rules and the Girls Junior Americas Cup. Several current and recent volunteer leaders of the CWGA have been interviewed, along with Jan Ford, who chaired the CWGA’s 75th-anniversary celebration, and Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Lynn Zmistowski. Organizers are also hoping to have World Golf Hall of Famer and former USGA president Judy Bell of Colorado Springs contribute the introduction and summary for the video. Also planned are unique time-lapse shots from a camera placed at a CWGA championship last year.

Three groups of people — to be announced — will receive centennial honors at the annual meeting: 10 CWGA volunteers who have gone “above and beyond” over the years; nine players who have won at least five major CWGA individual championships (Match Play, Stroke Play, Senior Match, and Senior Stroke); and three exceptional friends of the CWGA.

And beginning at the annual meeting, and for the remainder of the year, three items of CWGA centennial memorabilia will be available for purchase — a ball marker, bag tag and water bottle. Each will feature the association’s centennial logo. In addition, the CWGA will be awarding a special medallion to selected honorees in the course of 2016.

— The CWGA Stroke Play Championship, set for Aug. 2-4 at Denver Country Club, will include centennial-related festivities, though the details are still being finalized. Jensen said the centennial video will likely be shown again.

Denver Country Club is certainly a historic venue from the CWGA’s perspective, having hosted the CWGA Match Play in the association’s 25th anniversary year and the CWGA Stroke Play in the 50th, 75th (and now the 100th) anniversary years. The first CWGA championship held at the club was the 1917 Match Play.

— And on Sept. 21 at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, the CWGA will host a centennial celebration tournament to which some of the most dedicated volunteers and top champions will be invited. A luncheon will follow.

The idea is a take-off of the “medallion mixers” the CWGA used to hold for current and former association board members. “It’ll be called ‘Winners and Workers’,” Wilson noted.

“That will be a neat event,” Jensen added. “And if you can’t play golf, you can come to the luncheon and see people you may not have seen in a while.”