If ever golf is high on the radar screen of both people who play the game and those who are just casual sports fans, it’s this time of year. The Masters, which concluded on Sunday, draws the highest TV ratings of the year for golf tournaments. And golfers tend to crank up their games in the early spring.

Which brings us back to Colorado Golf Alliance Day at the Capitol in Denver. This year’s event, scheduled for Wednesday morning (April 12), marks the second year for the gathering, which is designed to let those in the Colorado golf industry make state lawmakers aware of — or reinforce — the many benefits of the game.

“It worked out well when we had it last year in April,” said Jennifer Cassell, who for the last two years has served as a lobbyist for the five organizations that make up the Allied Golf Associations of Colorado (the CGA, CWGA, Colorado PGA, the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Mile High Chapter of the Club Managers Association of America). “There’s a lot of excitement and enthusiasm (immediately) after the Masters, so there was a lot of interest.”

Events like the one planned for Wednesday at the Colorado state capitol are becoming more and more prevalent. National Golf Day will be held on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., for the 10th time on April 26, led by the “We Are Golf” coalition of top golf organizations. And some state groups organize gatherings similar to the one in Colorado. Other interest groups do the same thing.

“The main objective is visibility,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said in a recent email, “and sharing the word that golf (among other things):
 
1. is an important part of the state’s economy;
2. protects open space and wildlife habitats;
3. uses water in a prudent way;
4. provides a forum for social interaction for a lifetime;
5. keeps people active for life and;
6. can serve as a tool for youth development and rehabilitation.”

Cassell said that last year’s event at the state capitol drew almost 20 legislators, who talked with the representatives of the golf organizations and gathered information. Of particular interest were water use and environmental stewardship. Some lawmakers tried their hands on a small putting green that was set up, or examined tools of the trade used by course superintendents.

“Some stay five or 10 minutes, some longer,” Cassell said. “We’ve also invited and encouraged the governor and lieutenant governor and staffs to come. Obviously, every year we want to get more (lawmakers) there, and I think there will be.”

The golf representatives will have breakfast and network for 90 minutes, then will be introduced on the floor of the state house shortly after 9 a.m.

“Each legislator has a different opinion (about golf),” Cassell said. “I think (lawmakers) have a good understanding of the impact golf has in our state.”

An independent study, commissioned by the Allied Golf Associations of Colorado, found that the Colorado golf industry contributed more than $560 million in direct revenue to the state’s economy in 2002. Including indirect economic activity, the total impact in Colorado was $1.2 billion.

Nationally, according to We Are Golf, golf contributes $68.8 billion to the American economy.

But beyond that, when golf industry leaders build relationships with lawmakers and give them their perspective on various issues, it can pay dividends down the road. That can be especially crucial when proposals related to water use, pesticide application, or other matters especially integral to golf come up in a legislative session.

“One of the goals is to get better engaged and build better relationships with legislators,” Cassell noted.
 

The 2015 session of the Colorado Legislature convened this week, and the state’s golf community plans to be more than merely interested observers.

With several issues very relevant to the game of golf definitely or possibly coming up during this year’s four-month session, the Allied Golf Associations of Colorado will have a representative looking out for their interests at the Statehouse in Denver.

Jennifer Cassell (pictured), a lobbyist who also recently has worked part-time on the CWGA staff, was retained by the Allied Golf Associations in the fall, and she could very well continue in an advocacy role on an ongoing basis.

“We want to be out ahead of issues and be in a position to react” in a timely manner to bills that affect Colorado golf in the State Legislature, CGA executive director Ed Mate said. “This way, we’ll have an oar in the water at the state capitol.”

The main impetus to have representation at the Legislature starting now is that the Pesticide Applicators’ Act has a sunset provision, meaning that in this session lawmakers will review it and vote on renewing the act, possibly with some changes from previous incarnations.

The Colorado golf industry is hoping that the Legislature will follow the recommendation issued in October by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), which wants the act to continue for another nine years, until 2024, while requiring some applicators to receive additional training prior to pesticide use. A bill will likely come forward in the State Legislature sometime between mid-January and early February, Cassell said.

“I’ll obviously have an eye on the pesticide bill,” she said this week. “When I hear it’s in committee, I’ll ask (representatives of) the golf associations — possibly the golf course superintendents and maybe Ed Mate and Eddie Ainsworth (executive director of the Colorado PGA) — to come and testify.”

Other issues of particular interest to the Colorado golf industry that could come up in a given session are bills related to water usage, certain contract employment legislation, and tourism.

“There are generally 700 or so bills that are introduced and debated each session,” said Cassell (pictured at left at the Statehouse). “I’ll be both actively lobbying and keeping track” of key issues for the Allied Golf Associations. “We want to raise awareness of golf industry issues and be more involved in the legislative process. All sorts of things happen at the state capitol that can have a real impact.”

The push for retaining a legislative advocate at this point came from the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association, which sees the responsible application of pesticides by professionals as being crucial to course maintenance. And with some environmental groups expected to advocate for change in the Pesticide Applicators’ Act, the golf community wanted its voice heard as well.

“It has the potential to have a very large impact on golf,” Mate said of the act. “Without the prudent application of chemicals, golf is in big trouble.”

Cassell’s background makes her a good fit to advocate for the golf industry. She played college golf at the University of Kansas in the early 2000s and has spent time working in a golf shop and mowing greens and tees. She’s a volunteer assistant coach for the women’s golf program at the University of Denver, where she earned a Masters degree. And after serving on the CWGA board of directors, Cassell joined the association’s staff last year as programs associate when the CWGA became short-staffed.

As a lobbyist, Cassell works for the firm Tomlinson & Associates, advocating on behalf of agriculture issues, economic development, insurance and higher education. This is her fourth state legislative session serving as a lobbyist, and she’s done work at the state capitol in Kansas and Colorado for over a decade, including for Gov. Hickenlooper.
 

While Ott would no doubt like to lower her handicap index from its current 23, she takes some pride in being that “average golfer”, especially given that she’s just about to embark on a two-year term as president of the CWGA.

“I bring that perspective,” Ott said in a recent phone interview. “My background is in education — as a teacher and an administrator. I bring the lifelong learning element to the table.”

That goes not just for her professional background, but for her history in golf. Ott, 66, began playing the game when she was 12, becoming a regular — along with her two sisters — at Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis.

“I was really lucky that I had parents who really loved the game,” she said. “Golf was important to my family when I was growing up.”

The amount of golf Ott played waxed and waned over the years, largely depending on her career. But when she retired from the Aurora Public Schools in 2001 — though she did contract work for another decade, largely recruiting teachers — Ott joined Heather Ridge, a course on which she now lives.

But suffice it to say her fondness for the game never left her, which is one reason she now finds herself in the top volunteer leadership position for the CWGA. Ott officially will succeed Kathryn Davis as president on Jan. 1.

“Joanie is a very soft-spoken individual, but very well respected,” CWGA executive director Robin Jervey said. “She’s not a boisterous type of individual, but when he speaks, I always listen because she has something (important) to say.

“She’s really good at working with people and she’s mentored a lot of volunteers over the years. She has a great personality in working with others, and she’ll be a great person to work with the leadership of the CWGA.”

Ott discussed her vision for the CWGA for the coming two years with COgolf.org. (A feature story on new CGA president Phil Lane was posted on COgolf.org last week. To read it, CLICK HERE.) 

“I’m looking forward to the next two years,” Ott said. “We’ve got a lot of challenges ahead, and I’m looking forward to working with the (CWGA) board and the membership.”

While Ott will be moving up to the president’s seat in 2014, there will be one newcomer to the CWGA’s Board of Directors, Jennifer Cassell of Denver’s City Park Golf Course. Meanwhile, leaving the board after years of volunteer service are Davis, Karla Harding and Sue Romek. Cynthia Evans stepped down from the board earlier this year. To see brief biographies on all of the members of the CWGA Board of Directors, CLICK HERE.

Among the top priorities Ott set forth heading into her term are:

— Increasing CWGA membership.

As has been the case with many golf associations since the economic downturn started five-plus years ago, the CWGA experienced a membership drop in recent years, though it leveled out in 2013. Ott would like to see a jump in membership.

“I want the face of the CWGA to be the face of everyone (regardless of golf ability level),” Ott said. “Sometimes I think we’re known as an organization that does tournaments for golfers. We do do that, but we’re also interested in connecting with women who may not have a handicap or may not be interested in tournament golf.”

Ott said the CWGA has made some inroads with events such as the CWGA Experience — golf outings that combine small-group instruction with some fun social interaction with other women interested in the game — and other similar golf outings. But she’d like to make more progress in promoting women’s golf.

— Getting more girls involved in the game. The number of girls — and women — playing golf has dipped significantly since 2005, at a greater rate than among males. Female golfers dropped almost 29 percent from 2005 to 2012, while the number of golfers overall have decreased 16 percent, according to the National Golf Foundation.

“We need to work at getting more girls interested in the game, and that’s a challenge,” Ott said. “It’s one of our goals.”

One recent step in the right direction was the Girls Golf Fair that took place at CommonGround Golf Course in May. The CWGA, Colorado PGA and other golf organizations put together the event, which was attended by 81 girls.

— Speaking of CommonGround, given that it’s the home to many community-outreach and growth-of-the-game programs, getting it back to full strength is one of the foremost issues at hand for the CWGA and CGA. CommonGround, which opened in 2009, is owned and operated by the two golf associations.

September’s flooding did significant damage at CommonGround, which is operating as a nine-hole facility — in addition to the nine-hole Kids Course — while the eight affected holes are restored.

“What CommonGround is going through after the flood is very challenging financially for the CWGA and CGA,” Ott said. “That’s a tough ticket. It’ll be difficult to work our way through that, but I’m sure we’re up to the task.”

Ott began working with the CWGA as a volunteer six years ago, when she joined the Course Rating and Handicap Committee. She became chairperson of that committee two years later and has served on the Board of Directors for the last four years overall, including the last two alternating as secretary and vice-president.

Professionally, the University of Colorado graduate was a teacher and administrator in the Aurora Public Schools, and an administrator at Arapahoe High School in Centennial. After retiring as the director of instruction for the Aurora Public Schools in 2001, she spent a decade doing contract work, primarily focused on the recruitment of teachers.

“I’ve found in my career that one of my strengths is I’m able to empower others,” Ott said. “To be frank, I’m a pretty good leader. That’s one of my strong points.”