It was quite a diverse and accomplished group of inductees and award winners that were celebrated Sunday night at the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s 46th annual induction dinner, held at Sanctuary golf course in Sedalia:

— Inducted was a person (Jim Bunch) who has served at some of the highest levels of volunteer golf administration, including on the USGA Executive Committee and as chairman of the Western Golf Association, the USGA Rules of Golf Committee and of the Evans Scholars Foundation that awards full tuition and housing college scholarships to high-achieving caddies with limited financial means.

Helping salute Bunch on Sunday — via video — were USGA CEO Mike Davis and WGA president and CEO John Kaczkowski.

“Jim always gave back (to the game) more than he received,” Davis noted.

Bunch’s foundation in golf was laid when he caddied in the Chicago area beginning as a 12-year-old. “I got more education in the caddie yard than I did in the rest of my life,” he said.

— Also inducted was a PGA Master Professional (Danny Harvanek) whose instruction work with junior golfers earned him the PGA of America’s national Junior Golf Leader award and who planted the seeds that led to the highly successful Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program.

Noted Harvanek, who was the first PGA head professional at Bear Creek Golf Club, earned the Colorado PGA Golf Professional of the Year honor three times, received an award from the CGA for outstanding contributions to amateur golf, and authored eight golf books: It’s been “a Walter Mitty life.”

(The two inductees are pictured above, with Harvanek at left.)

— Honored for distinguished service was an organization (the CWGA) which drew accolades for more than a century of work in women’s golf and which continues to be a cornerstone of the game in Colorado after joining forces with the CGA at the beginning of the year.

“In the past, we worked hard to become the best damn women’s golf association around — and we did it,” said Juliet Miner, the final president of the CWGA, and now co-president of the CGA with Joe McCleary.

— Likewise honored was the the first class of “Future Famers” — teenagers who have shown all the makings of stellar careers in Colorado golf: Davis Bryant of Aurora and Hailey Schalk of Erie. Schalk will defend her 3A girls state high school title starting Monday in Pueblo.

Noting the name of the award presented to Bryant and Schalk, longtime CGHOF master of ceremonies Tom Green quipped, “No pressure there.”

— Also receiving an award (Golf Person of the Year) was a PGA golf professional (Mark Pfingston of the Golf Club at Bear Dance) who last year earned the PGA of America’s top honor for merchandising at a public facility.

— And there was the man CGHOF president Scott Radcliffe called “kind of a background guy” (Rich Billings), who has provided the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame all manner of support over the last several decades. Billings received a lifetime achievement honor.

“It’s a tremendous organization,” Billings said of the Hall of Fame. “And I feel tremendous kinship with the board.”

A crowd of about 180 attended Sunday’s banquet, including many CGHOF inductees, among them 1958 PGA Championship winner Dow Finsterwald and the Century of Golf Gala’s Colorado Golf Professional of the Century, Vic Kline.

For an earlier story about some of the accomplishments of Sunday’s honorees, CLICK HERE.

The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame will return to Sanctuary on Aug. 22 to host its annual golf tournament. For more information on that event, email CGHOF executive director Jennifer Lyons at jennifer@cghof.org

Below are some additional photos from Sunday’s fesitivites: From top: Miner and former CWGA executive director Laura Robinson; Pfingston; and Billings. 

It’s the year-ending holiday season, which means different things to different people.

One of the things that comes with this time of year here at coloradogolf.org and coloradowomensgolf.org is a reflection on the past 12 months and compilation of the top stories of the year in Colorado golf. We’ve been doing it annually since 2009, and we’re not about to stop now.

There’s no lack of worthwhile candidates, so in recent years we’ve broken up the list into a two-part series. We go in reverse order, for the sake of preserving some suspense, and add an honorable-mention list that will be included with Part II, which will be published in the coming days.

Today, we’ll cover Nos. 25-13, so without further ado …:

25. Year 2 for Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado: The JGAC, which made quite a splash upon debuting in 2016, continued a significant upward trajectory in 2017. The Alliance — a joint effort of the CGA, Colorado PGA and CWGA — further expanded its reach by creating more tournaments, including several in western Colorado, and adding services. Junior players of all abilities can benefit from JGAC-related programs, including anything from the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy to Colorado PGA Golf in Schools to the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program to Drive Chip & Putt and PGA Junior League competitions.

24. Three Victories by DU Women’s Team: The University of Denver women’s golf team has compiled quite a record from late last season to early this one. In late April, the Pioneers won their 14th straight conference championship, an eye-opening run even if their conference isn’t particularly strong in women’s golf. Then this fall, DU won two tournaments in 11 days — both in Colorado, at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Wolcott and the Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate in Highlands Ranch. For the record, that made for three wins in the course of five tournaments spanning two seasons. Denver, ranked among the top 25 women’s teams in the nation to complete the fall (along with the University of Colorado), was given a boost in the offseason when 2017 CWGA Player of the Year Mary Weinstein transferred in from the Regis University.

23. Eaton’s March Toward CWGA Record: This year, Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton reached 24 CWGA championship victories by sweeping the Senior Match Play and Senior Stroke Play titles. That leaves her just one shy of Carol Flenniken’s career-record total of 25. After her third sweep of the Senior Match and Senior Stroke in the same year, Eaton earned the CWGA Senior Player of the Year honor for the eighth time. She’s also been the overall CWGA Player of the Year four times since 2004.

22. Variety is Spice of Life for Moore: Another Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, Kent Moore, added to a rather remarkable feat that likely will never be matched. With his victory in the Super-Senior Match Play, Moore (pictured above) now has claimed titles in eight different CGA individual championships. Over the last 44 years, he’s won the 1973 Junior Match Play, the 1986 Amateur, the 1989 Match Play, the 1995 Mid-Amateur, the 2006 Senior Match Play, the 2014 Senior Stroke Play, the 2016 Super-Senior Stroke Play and the 2017 Super-Senior Match Play. READ MORE

21. Longmont’s Nygren Inaugural Putting Champ: Longmont’s Cole Nygren, a pro for just a couple of months, earned a nice paycheck ($15,000) and plenty of publicity with his Halloween victory in the All Pro Championship at the inaugural Major Series of Putting in Las Vegas. The most eye-catching part of the win was the fact that it came against a field that featured PGA Tour veterans Brad Faxon, John Cook, Tommy Armour III and Colt Knost. Nygren, who placed fourth in the CGA Amateur in August to conclude his amateur career, beat Knost, the 2007 U.S. Amateur champion, 3 and 2 in the match-play finale. READ MORE

20. Major Changes for Colorado Cup Matches: The Colorado Cup Matches, a Ryder Cup-style competition between CGA/CWGA amateurs and Colorado PGA professionals, have been held annually since 1971. But there were many significant changes implemented in 2017, which will be the last time the matches are conducted until 2019. With no college golfers playing for the amateur team for the first time, the Colorado PGA (left) prevailed 26-14 in the event, which now features open, senior and women players competing for a single Cup. That result came a year after the pros were swept by the ams. READ MORE

19. More National Recognition for Colorado PGA: Mark Pfingston, the PGA head professional at The Golf Club at Bear Dance, this year was named the PGA of America’s national Merchandiser of the Year for public facilities. With Pfingston’s accomplishment, Colorado PGA members continued their roll of the last decade-plus in receiving national recogntion for their work. In the last 11 years (2007 through ’17), CPGA members — or the Section as a whole — have earned nine national awards from the PGA of America. READ MORE

18. Chalk Up Another Honor for Keffer: In the last decade, Geoff Keffer has become one of the most awarded players from the Colorado PGA in the Section’s history. This year, the Lakewood resident received the Section’s Dow Finsterwald Player of the Year Award for the fourth straight season and for the fifth time in six years. To put that into perspective, only one player has been the Colorado PGA’s Finsterwald Player of the Year more times than Keffer, with two others matching his total. And all of the other three members of the five-timers club have all been inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Bob Hold owns the record for most CPGA Finsterwald Player of the Year Awards, with seven earned between 1966 and ’74, including six straight starting in ’66. Other five-time Players of the Year, in addition to Keffer, are Vic Kline (1975 to 1981) and Ron Vlosich (1986 to ’91). READ MORE

17. Back to North Dakota for CGA’s Jensen: Dustin Jensen, the CGA’s highly regarded and well-liked managing director of operations, recently accepted a job as associate dean of student engagement at his alma mater, the University of Jamestown in his hometown of Jamestown, North Dakota. Jensen was a key administrator in Colorado golf, particularly playing a pivotal role in the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado getting up and running during its initial years. READ MORE

16. Age No Problem for Schalk: Hailey Schalk (left) of Erie was only 15 years old during the 2017 golf season, but that didn’t keep her from becoming the girls Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s Player of the Year. In 2017, Schalk was the first Coloradan to win a title at the prestigious AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior. And in May, she was the first freshman since 2002 to win a girls state high school individual championship in Colorado. In addition, she captured the titles at both of the JGAC majors in which she competed. She also placed 14th individually while playing for Colorado at the Girls Junior America’s Cup. She and Davis Bryant were recently named “Future Famers” by the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

15. Seniors Rule at CPGA Professional Championship: The Colorado PGA Professional Championship is the top tournament of the year for the Section. But this year’s event, held at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott, turned into a showcase for the 50-and-over set as 50-year-old John Ogden prevailed in a playoff over 64-year-old Rick Cole, who was ever so close to becoming the oldest winner of this event — by far. As it was, Ogden earned the $8,000 first prize, then promptly donated half of that total to the Colorado PGA REACH Foundation. READ MORE


14. Timely 59 for Sam Saunders: Former Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders picked a good time for his career round. Saunders, grandson of the late Arnold Palmer, opened the Web.com Tour Championship with a 12-under-par 59 in Atlantic Beach, Fla., where he moved from Fort Collins last year. It was just the seventh round under 60 in the history of the Web.com circuit. More importantly, it led to a second-place finish in the Web Tour Championship, which secured Saunders’ fully-exempt PGA Tour card for 2017-18 after he had lost that status late in the summer.


13. Bunch, Harvanek Voted into Colorado Golf Hall of Fame: Two Coloradans whose service in golf has made an indelible impact were voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Jim Bunch of Denver and Danny Harvanek of Littleton will make up the 46th class of the Hall of Fame and will be inducted on May 20 at Sanctuary golf course in Sedalia. Bunch has served in high-powered volunteer roles at the USGA and with the Western Golf Association, including as the chairman of the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, of the WGA and of the Evans Scholars Foundation that awards full tuition and housing college scholarships to high-achieving caddies with limited financial means. Harvanek, a longtime PGA Master Professional in Colorado, has long been touted for his highly-effective instruction work with junior golfers, which helped lay the groundwork for the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program. READ MORE
   

Two Coloradans whose service in golf has made an indelible impact were voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

Jim Bunch of Denver and Danny Harvanek of Littleton will make up the 46th class of the Hall of Fame and will be inducted on May 20 at Sanctuary golf course in Sedalia.

Bunch has served in high-powered volunteer roles at the USGA and with the Western Golf Association, including as the chairman of the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, of the WGA and of the Evans Scholars Foundation that awards full tuition and housing college scholarships to high-achieving caddies with limited financial means.

“Considering who’s been inducted (into the Hall of Fame), it’s a great honor,” Bunch said on Wednesday. “It’s quite a surprise — and still sinking in. It wasn’t something I was expecting.”

Harvanek, a longtime PGA Master Professional in Colorado, has long been touted for his highly-effective instruction work with junior golfers, which helped lay the groundwork for the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program.

“To be recognized by the collective body of golf in Colorado is pretty humbling,” Havanek said. “It’s hard to put into words.”

Bunch and Harvanek will become the 140th and 141st inductees into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, an organization which honored its first class in 1973, when Babe Zaharias, Dave Hill and Babe Lind were inducted.

In addition to Bunch and Harvanek being voted into the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, several people/organizations were selected to receive CGHOF awards at the banquet in May: the CWGA (Distinguished Service Award), Mark Pfingston (Golf Person of the Year), Rich Billings (Lifetime Achievement Award), and Davis Bryant and Hailey Schalk (Future Famers). See details about those honorees below.

Bunch was a member of the USGA’s Executive Committee, one of the most powerful ruling bodies in golf, from 2003-10. At various times during that span, he chaired the USGA’s Rules of Golf, Finance, Grants and Bob Jones Award Committees. During his time chairing the Rules of Golf Committee, Bunch spent more than 150 nights on the road on USGA-related business — often largely at his own expense.

Two years after leaving the USGA Executive Committee, Bunch became the first chairman of the WGA from Colorado during a time when Western Golf was awarding more Evans Scholarships than ever before. Then in 2014, he moved on to be chairman of the board of trustees for the Evans Scholars Foundation. In both cases, it was a labor of love for Bunch, who caddied as a 12-year-old in the Chicago area. The WGA administers the Evans Scholarship for caddies, including the chapter at the University of Colorado, and oversees the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship, which benefits the Evans Scholarship. Bunch first joined the WGA board of directors in 1992, and still serves as an Evans Scholars Foundation trustee. (Bunch is pictured in a WGA photo alongside TV broadcaster Dottie Pepper.)

“The Evans Scholars program is one of the great things golf has done,” said Bunch, a Denver resident since 1970. “It changes lives for families. When you’re touching lives, I can’t think of anything more worthwhile as a golfer.

“As for the USGA, it has international scope, so to be involved with such an organization is an honor. And as chair of the Rules Committee, I had the privilege of walking with the final groups at national and international championships.

“When you’re dealing with non-profits, you might think about what you’re putting into it (as a volunteer), but you never think what you get out of it. And you get a lot more out of it than you put it. And the people you meet working for these organizations, they’re very good people and many become friends.”

Bunch, who will soon turn 75, is a member at Denver Country Club and The Club at Cordillera in Colorado, as well as at The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews and Prestwick in Scotland.

Like Bunch, Harvanek has been a longtime fixture in Colorado. After growing up in western Kansas where he took up the game at age 15 and won a state high school title as a senior, Harvanek moved to the Centennial State in 1979 to take a job on Warren Smith’s staff at Cherry Hills Country Club. Then in 1984, he became the first PGA head professional at Bear Creek Golf Club, remaining in that position through ’92.

Three consecutive years beginning in 1990, Harvanek received the Colorado PGA’s top honor as Golf Professional of the Year. In 1990, he was also given an award from the CGA for outstanding contributions to amateur golf.

But it was as an instructor — particularly working with junior golfers (pictured) — that Harvanek particularly made an impact in the new millennium. Using a concise, simple way of communicating while teaching paid off for him. After being the Colorado PGA’s Teacher of the Year in 2003 and the Junior Golf Leader in 2006, Harvanek earned a very prestigious PGA of America award in 2007 as the national Junior Golf Leader.

In the early 2000s, Harvanek wrote eight golf books, many particularly effective in teaching the game to youngsters.

“I’ve always had strong passion for kids and the growth and development of children,” said Harvanek, the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s 2008 Golf Person of the Year. “I want them to have a positive energy in their life to pursue their hopes and dreams.”

While working as an instructor at Broken Tee Golf Course and The Golf Club at Bear Dance, Harvanek developed a program for exposing kids to golf through their P.E. classes at school. When he approached Denver Public Schools officials with the idea, the result was 22 schools signing up in just two days.

Over a period of about 10 years working at schools in the Denver metro area, Harvanek said he personally taught over 13,000 kids. “It started growing legs,” he noted. “I created a model so I could pass it on.”

That and similar seedlings planted by others in the Colorado golf community led to the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools Program, which has reached roughly 70,000 students over the last seven years.

“Because of Danny’s leadership in our Section, many of us have had a roadmap to follow in our own junior programming,” instructor Ann Finke, another national PGA Junior Golf Leader award winner, noted in supporting Harvanek’s induction into the Hall of Fame.

“Danny Harvanek has done more for junior golf in Colorado than anyone I know,” added Clayton Cole, like Finke a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

Harvanek, 68, now resides in Littleton.

As for the CGHOF award winners:

— The CWGA will be given the Distinguished Service Award for its long history of serving female golfers in Colorado and promoting the game. The CWGA, a non-profit which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, long has been viewed as one of the most highly regarded women’s golf associations in the region. Currently, it’s in the process of joining forces with the CGA in an effort to better serve all golfers in the Centennial State. The unified association, which will move forward with volunteer and staff leadership from both the CGA and CWGA, will be known as the Colorado Golf Association. Current presidents Joe McCleary from the CGA and Juliet Miner from the CWGA will serve as co-presidents in 2018.

The CWGA currently features a membership of almost 17,000 from approximately 250 member clubs.

— Mark Pfingston, the PGA head professional at The Golf Club at Bear Dance in Larkspur, was named Golf Person of the Year after earning the PGA of America’s national 2017 Merchandiser of the Year Award for public facilities. Pfingston. the head pro at Bear Dance since 2006 after previously being an assistant for three years at the club where the Colorado PGA is based, is scheduled to receive the national award next week in Austin, Texas at the PGA of America’s annual meeting. Pfingston was the Colorado PGA’s Public Merchandiser of the Year in 2005, ’15 and ‘16.

This marks the sixth time a Colorado PGA professional has received a PGA of America national honor for merchandising — and the fourth time since 2012. Overall, CPGA members or the Section itself have received national PGA of America awards nine times in the last 11 years.

— Rich Billings, who has a long history of supporting the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Billings once served on the CGHOF board of directors and has heartily backed the Hall of Fame’s endeavors over the years, both in spirit and financially.

— And Davis Bryant of Aurora and Hailey Schalk of Erie earned “Future Famer” honors, given to Colorado players under 20 who have had particularly outstanding years. Bryant and Schalk recently were named the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s 2017 Players of the Year.

Bryant won three of the four boys JGAC major championships in 2017 — every one in which he competed. The 17-year-old future Colorado State University golfer also captured the 5A boys state high school title. On a larger scale, Bryant finished ninth individually while playing for Colorado at the Junior America’s Cup and 14th at the national Boys Junior PGA Championship. He also advanced to the match play round of 64 at his second U.S. Junior Amateur.

Schalk became the first Coloradan to claim a girls or boys title at the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior. The 15-year-old won both of the JGAC majors in which she participated. With her victory in the 3A girls state high school tournament, she became the first freshman to win a girls state prep title since 2002. Schalk also finished 14th individually while competing for Colorado at the Girls Junior America’s Cup. 

The U.S., Canada, The Bahamas, Brazil, Scotland, England, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China, Thailand and Australia.

And if he’s forgotten a nation or two, that’s understandable. Things can become a bit of a blur when racking up frequent-flyer miles at roughly a six-figure-per-year pace.

But now, his command of the Rules of Golf will bring him back home in a sense — to a place where he laid his foundation in the golf business. You see, for a decade before being hired by the LPGA, Lis worked for the CGA, spending the last seven years of that stint as the association’s director of rules and competitions.

And now, after being named by the LPGA late last year to serve as its liaison on the powerful USGA Rules of Golf Committee, Lis will attend his first committee meeting in about three weeks as part of the USGA Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. And though the business at hand will be very important — with the Rules modernization and simplification project going full throttle — it will be a “family” reunion of sorts. After all, three of the roughly dozen committee members worked at the CGA together a decade ago — Ed Mate (who remains the CGA’s executive director), Thomas Pagel (currently the USGA’s senior director of Rules of Golf and Amateur Status) and Lis (a manager of rules and competition for the LPGA Tour).

“On a personal level, I take great pride in that,” Mate said last month. “For a long time, Colorado has had strong representation with the USGA. And it’s nice because you can be candid with friends.”

Indeed, among the other Coloradans in recent decades who have served on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee are Will Nicholson Jr., M.J. Mastalir, Jim Bunch, Robin Jervey and Christie Austin. Nicholson, Mastalir, Bunch and Austin have all chaired the committee, with Austin being the first woman to have done so.

Both Mate and Lis serve as “advisory members” of the committee, with Mate representing state and regional golf associations and Lis the LPGA.

“It’s a unique and unbeliebable opportunity,” Lis said in a phone interview last month. “I remember when Ed, Thomas and I would talk Rules at a mediocre level (while with the CGA). Now, I’ll be sitting there with those guys and some of the best Rules minds in the world. Hopefully I’ll have an opportunity to provide a little insight and help out.

“I’m excited to do it. I’m sure there will be a little nerves about when to speak up. But I’m there as an LPGA liaison. Hopefully I can help them from the tour’s perspective.”

Lis and Mate, both relative newcomers to the Rules of Golf Committee (Mate joined in the fall of 2015), have come on board at a key time as the USGA and R&A are in the midst of a special project designed to simplify and clarify the Rules of Golf. The new Local Rule that eliminates the penalty when a ball is accidentally moved on the putting green is a working example of the simplification.

For Lis, filling a role on the USGA Rules Committee is a good fit, given his current role with the LPGA, his former role with the CGA, and his long association with the USGA.

What does it say about the CGA to have three current or former staffers now serving on one of the golf world’s top rule-making bodies?

“It goes back to Ed Mate and what a great leader he’s been,” Lis said. “You look at the entire staff and where people have gone. He did a great job challenging us. It was the same with Thomas (Pagel).

“It’s an honor. All of Colorado in general has had good representation on the committee with M.J., Christie, Will and Jim Bunch.”

These days, Lis said he works about 25 LPGA Tour-related events each year, putting him on the road about 29 weeks with the preparation involved. (He’s pictured above, in green, alongside Stacy Lewis at the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club in Parker.) Last year, one of the events he worked was in Brazil for the women’s Olympic tournament, which (along with the men’s competition) marked the return of Olympic golf after a 112-year hiatus.

“It was much better than it was billed,” Lis said of the Summer Games. “I didn’t see one mosquito. It was cool to be a small part of history. I was fortunate to walk with Shanshan Feng (of China), the bronze medal winner. And I had the distinction of (giving out) the first pace of play penalty in the Olympics — to a Brazilian player, unfortunately. But I managed to get out of there alive.”

All told, Lis doesn’t mind all the travel he does for work.

“I really enjoy going to all the places,” said Lis, who is based in the Milwaukee area along with his girlfriend, Kelley Mawhinney, a former CWGA tournament and junior golf operations manager. “Fifteen hours (traveling overseas) is a long trip, but it’s a pretty special opportunity.

“I love what I do. I love the interaction with players, volunteers and staff. I feel the exact same at the LPGA as I did with the CGA. We’re all brothers and sisters. It doesn’t feel like a job, but kind of a traveling circus.”
  

By the time the USGA and R&A released their 2016 edition of the Rules of Golf on Oct. 26, CGA executive director Ed Mate had already returned from meetings in Far Hills, N.J., that began to set the stage for the next edition.

Basically, it’s an ever-evolving process, and the personnel working behind the scenes on such matters come and go.

Mate (left), who’s headed up the staff of the CGA since 2000, is one of the newcomers to the Rules of Golf decision-making process.

In fact, with his recent appointment to the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, he becomes the first CGA staff member to ever serve on the committee. He’s one of five advisory members on the 13-member committee as he’s filling the slot reserved for a representative of the state and regional golf associations. Former CWGA executive director Robin Jervey served in that same position several years ago.

Being the first CGA staffer on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee “is not a compliment to me, but to the CGA,” Mate said. “We have a good reputation” with the USGA.

Indeed, two living Coloradans have been presidents of the USGA, Will Nicholson Jr., and Judy Bell. And in the last quarter-century, several other residents of the Centennial State have served on the powerful USGA Executive Committee, including M.J. Mastalir, Jim Bunch and Christie Austin.

Nicholson has been a fixture on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee since 1974 and is among those currently serving alongside Mate. Other Coloradans who have been on the committee in the relatively recent past are Mastalir, Bunch and Austin, all of whom have chaired the committee, and Jervey. Austin was the first female chair of the Rules of Golf Commitee, which works with the R&A in establishing and interpreting rules standards worldwide.

For Mate, having a hand in the process is a dream come true.

“I’m very excited to be on the committee,” he said. “I can tell you how welcome I felt and how sincere (others on the committee) were in welcoming my input. I didn’t know what to expect, but I have every opportunity to contribute.”

The invitation to serve on the committee came from a person with whom Mate is very familiar, Thomas Pagel. Pagel has been the USGA’s senior director of Rules of Golf & Amateur Status since 2011. He worked on the CGA staff from 2003-08 and was the assistant executive director of the association for two years until being named executive director of the Utah Golf Association in 2008.

Pagel asked Mate during this year’s U.S. Women’s Open if he’d like to join the USGA Rules of Golf Committee. And, after checking with the CGA board, Mate couldn’t say yes quickly enough.

“It’s pretty much a no-brainer for me,” he said. “I’m a self-proclaimed Rules geek. I’ve always been interested in the Rules since I got involved in the game. So to be part of process is amazing.”

The USGA Rules of Golf Committee, along with its R&A counterpart and their executive committees, are currently attempting to streamline the Rules as much as is practical.

“The stated objective is to find a way to simplify the Rules,” Pagel said on Oct. 26. “That’s our primary focus moving forward. … Are there wholesale ways to help simplify it?”

The USGA Rules of Golf Committee typically includes advisory reprepsentatives from the PGA of America, the Mexican Golf Federation, the PGA and LPGA Tours, and from state and regional golf associations. They and the rest of the committee normally meet three times per year.

To read about the changes made for the 2016 edition of the Rules of Golf, CLICK HERE.
 

It’s the time of year for figuring out the perfect gift for that certain someone, and for spreading good cheer to kith and kin.

Here at COgolf.org, where we have an obvious affinity for a certain game, the gifts we divvy out not surprisingly follow a given theme.

So without further ado, after perusing our naughty and nice lists, here are our holiday gifts, golf-style:

To: BMW Championship. Gift: Extending that run of being named PGA Tour Tournament of the Year to three straight years with a memorable 2014 edition at Cherry Hills Country Club. (For information about BMW Championship holiday ticket packs, CLICK HERE.)

To: Cherry Hills Country Club. Gift: For the first PGA Tour event in Colorado in eight years, a champion along the lines of Arnold Palmer (1960 U.S. Open), Jack Nicklaus (1993 U.S. Senior Open) or Phil Mickelson (1990 U.S. Amateur).

To: Colorado Courses Still Recovering from September Flooding. Gift: Great spring weather and golfers eager to see facilities such as CommonGround and Mariana Butte back at full strength.

To: Winners of BMW Championship Pro-Am contest. (Info: CLICK HERE) Gift: A great time for you next September at Cherry Hills, and plenty of support for the Evans Caddie Scholarship and the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy in the meantime.

To: U.S. Solheim Cup Players and Coaches. Gift: Selective amnesia after what happened in mid-August at Colorado Golf Club.

To: Kim Eaton. Gift: After retiring from CWGA championship play after 21 wins, different-looking trophies to put on your mantle.

To: Kaye Kessler, who this year celebrated his 90th birthday and his 50th year of covering the Masters. Gift: That your ever-present smile will keep you spry as ever well into your 100s.

To: Keith Humerickhouse (left). Gift: For the winner of four straight CGA Mid-Amateur Championships, an even handful of Mid-Am titles.

To: Denver resident Jim Bunch. Gift: A “bunch” of thanks from the golf community for your years on the USGA Executive Committee and for your just-ending two years as chairman of the Western Golf Association.

To: Longtime Coloradans Mark Hubbard and Derek Tolan. Gift: A one-year stint on the Web.com Tour en route to The Big Show.

To: David Duval of Cherry Hills Village. Gift: That 2014 be the year when you regain your golf mojo.

To: CGA, CWGA and Colorado PGA. Gift: To see the fruits of all your grow-the-game labors in recent years.

To: Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson. Gift: To feel right at home in your new home state of Colorado.

To: The Broadmoor. Gift: That your hopes of luring a major men’s championship get some bona fide attention from the powers that be in the game.

To: Former University of Colorado golfer Emily Talley. Gift: That you can parlay your two “Big Break” appearances on the Golf Channel into a spot on the LPGA Tour.

To: Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround. Gift: That other programs like yourself spring forth around the country.

To: The Colorado Open Championships. Gift: Another year featuring a clean sweep of titles by Colorado golfers.

To: Craig Stadler of Evergreen. Gift: That you don’t have to wait almost nine years to get your next Champions Tour victory, unlike the last time around.

To: Mark Wiebe of Aurora, winner of the 2013 Senior British Open. Gift: That that Christmas drink taste all the sweeter coming out of a certain claret jug.

To: The new Colorado Golf Foundation. Gift: That what was started this year pays dividends for decades to come in Colorado golf.

To: Harry Johnson, winner of both the CGA Senior Stroke Play and Senior Match Play in 2013. Gift: That age 64 treats you as well as age 63 did.

To: Doug Rohrbaugh, winner of the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open, Colorado Senior PGA Professional Championship and Colorado PGA Professional Championship in 2013. Gift: Nothing we could give you could top what you’ve already received this year.
 

As chairman of the Western Golf Association — one of the top golf organizations in the country — Denver resident Jim Bunch has many important responsibilities and attends many significant events.

But, in his mind, there’s nothing quite so satisfying as the meeting Bunch will participate in Wednesday (Jan. 30) at Lakewood Country Club.

On that date, about 100 people from the golf industry in the state will collectively interview finalists for Evans Caddie Scholarships to the University of Colorado. And seeing that the scholarship is the raison d’etre — the reason for existence — for the WGA, such meetings are high-water marks for the association, which administers the scholarship.

With full tuition and housing grants — each worth upwards of $60,000 if renewed for four years — on the line, the stakes are high. And the candidates’ stories of accomplishment and/or overcoming adversity are often inspiring.

“It’s the best day of the year without any question — and not just for the Evans Scholars but for me,” said Bunch (pictured above with an Evans Scholar at last year’s BMW Championship). “It’s very rewarding and makes you so glad you’re helping out. It’s a one-of-a-kind event; there’s not another organization that I know that does it like that. I look forward to it.”

Bunch, whose two-year chairmanship of the WGA will run through the end of this year, said he typically attends a handful of Evans Scholars selection committee meetings each year, and he’s a regular at the one in Colorado. Nationwide, the WGA conducts about 15 selection committee meetings, which leads to the naming of the new E.S. recipients at 19 universities and the 14 scholarship houses.

As chairman — the top volunteer leadership position at the WGA — since the beginning of 2012, Bunch is keenly aware of the importance of the scholarship, and what it means to the kids with financial need who receive it.

With nearly 10,000 alumni of the Evans Scholarship — which dates back to 1930 — it’s changed the lives of many young men and women who worked as caddies as youngsters. And with more than 800 students currently on the Evans Scholarship — including roughly 40 at CU — and given the skyrocketing cost of tuition, the pressure to increase the amount of money raised for the scholarship is constant. (Annual tuition and housing costs for the Evans Scholarship run about $12 million.)

In that respect, the Illinois-based WGA shares the responsibility in Colorado with the CGA and the CWGA, which both consider the Evans Scholarship one of their flagship programs. Through CGA and CWGA bag-tag sales and Par Club contributions, Colorado donors fully fund the year-to-year scholarship costs at the CU Evans Scholars house.

In recent years, because the WGA and its co-sponsors have been able to raise more money — supplemented substantially by the WGA-run BMW Championship PGA Tour playoff event — more scholarships have been offered. In fact, Bunch said about 240 new scholarships are expected to be awarded, an increase of about 30 from several years ago.

“We’ve had remarkably good results; all the news has been positive,” said Bunch (pictured at left). “We’ve been very successful at fundraising, and because the fundraising is better we’re able to offer more scholarships.”

And recipients typically make the most of the Evans Scholarship. The norm for grade-point average for Scholars is 3.25, and 92 percent graduate. Scholarships are awarded based on four criteria: excellent caddie record for a minimum of two years, strong academic achievement, financial need, and outstanding character and integrity.

In several respects, recent years have been particularly encouraging for the WGA, and subsequently for the Evans Scholarship, which is one of the largest privately-funded scholarships in the nation:

— The BMW Championship, the penultimate event of the PGA Tour playoffs, produces roughly 15 percent of the WGA’s annual revenue, and the 2012 tournament near Indianapolis was one to remember. The ever-popular Rory McIlroy won, and the top 10 finishers also included Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk. The BMW subsequently was named 2012 Tournament of the Year by the PGA Tour.

“We had an extremely successful BMW Championship,” Bunch said. “The leaderboard was A-plus, and the crowds and TV ratings were sensational. Our contract with BMW is up for renewal and we’ve had some positive momentum on that.

“We make enough at the BMW to cover all our overhead and administration, so the rest all goes to the scholarship. If people give $100, $250, $1,000 or $10,000, every cent goes toward tuition and room. And that’s very unique in the non-profit world.”

The 2014 BMW Championship, of course, will be played in Colorado at Cherry Hills Country Club, where CU Evans Scholar alum George Solich will serve as general chairman.

“It’s going to be fun to be following all that,” Bunch said of the tournament. “I won’t be chairman at that point, but I’ll certainly be in attendance.

“(Tournament organizers at Cherry Hills) are working very, very hard and they’re way ahead of other venues in terms of planning. It will be a great success financially and in other respects. I know people at the PGA Tour and from the TV networks are excited about it.”

— The Evans Scholarship is in the midst of expanding its reach. A 15th scholarship house will be added, possibly as soon as 2015, in the Pacific Northwest — at one of four universities: Oregon, Oregon State, Washington or Washington State. In addition, the plan is to start paying for some Evans Scholarships at yet another major university which will be announced at a later date.

— The Match Play Challenge, in which participants match donations of $2,500 and more to the Evans Scholarship, has been a big hit over the last couple of years, producing $10 million of additional money for the program.

— In its June 2012 annual report, the WGA said it received a record $16.4 million in contributions overall.

Bunch is the first to credit the leadership and the staff at the WGA for the success of the association.

“I’m honored to be playing the role I am, and it’s been a real delight to see a terrific leader like our (president and CEO) John Kaczkowski,” Bunch noted. “He’s done a sensational job, and I feel really good about him. And the staff does a remarkable job at every level. On all fronts, the organization is really doing well, which is fun for me. And I see it continuing in 2013 and beyond. From a personal standpoint, it’s very rewarding.”

Even after Bunch steps down from the chairmanship at the end of the year, the former USGA Executive Committee member will still play a major role with the WGA. Starting next year, he’ll be chairman of the board of trustees for the Evans Scholars Foundation.
 

Those of us who play golf in the state seem particularly fortunate. With that in mind, here are some of the many reasons Colorado golfers should be appreciative this Thanksgiving week:

— Weeks Like This: We may not be able to play golf every week of the year in Colorado — and yes, there are times during the dead of winter when we might long for a chance to break out the sticks — but it’s hard for a golfer to complain about a Thanksgiving week with temperatures in the 60s or 70s on several days.

And it’s rare when an entire month goes by without any playable days in Colorado. For an area that gets a full taste of all four seasons, it’s a bonus to be able to get out on the course pretty much year-round, should we get the inkling.

— Great Courses, Great Settings: Anyone who has played Arrowhead (pictured above), the Broadmoor, Perry Park or any number of other stunning Colorado courses can attest how jaw-droppingly beautiful the golf settings in our state can be.

And seldom does one of those national “greatest” or “best of” list of courses come out that doesn’t include several Colorado entries.

— Major Events Year-In and Year-Out: There’s no doubt that the departure of The International PGA Tour event after a 21-year run was a big blow for Colorado golf fans, but we’ve had a great run of national and international events just about every year since to help fill the void.

There was the 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links, where Rickie Fowler was a big draw, at Murphy Creek in Aurora, then the 2008 U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor, the 2009 Palmer Cup at Cherry Hills, the 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club, the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor, and the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and CommonGround. And upcoming are the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club, and the 2014 BMW Championship, a PGA Tour playoff event at Cherry Hills.

— Business on the Upswing: Although it was probably almost exclusively due to the nice weather this year, it was still good news to find public courses reporting that rounds jumped considerably in the first eight months of the year.

Now it would be nice to see the game of golf grow due to the many initiatives that have been implemented in recent years.

— Giving Nature of Coloradans: There are plenty of good people in Colorado who get paid to nurture the game of golf, but the ones who particularly deserve praise are the many volunteers who give graciously of their time for the good of the game.

Whether it be rules officials for tournaments, course raters, general administrators, financial contributors, or folks who make valuable golf initiatives go, the game would suffer greatly without the many people who volunteer.

— National Leadership: Coloradans Jim Bunch and Christie Austin have been stalwarts in national leadership positions in recent years, and as such they’ve significantly benefited both the game in our state and on a much larger scale.

Bunch, who formerly served on the powerful USGA Executive Committee, currently is the chairman of the Western Golf Association, which administers the Evans Caddie Scholarship and conducts the BMW Championship on the PGA Tour. And Austin is finishing up her sixth year on the USGA Executive Committee, from which she will “retire” in early February.

— A History to Savor: Just looking at a list of all-time greats who have won significant tournaments in Colorado brings back all sorts of indelible memories for the state’s golf fans.

There’s Arnold Palmer (1960 U.S. Open), Jack Nicklaus (1959 U.S. Amateur and 1993 U.S. Senior Open), Phil Mickelson (1990 U.S. Amateur, 1993 and ’97 Internationals, and the 1990 CU-Fox Acres Invitational), Annika Sorenstam (1995 U.S. Women’s Open), Greg Norman (1989 International), Juli Inkster (1982 U.S. Women’s Amateur), Vijay Singh (1998 International), Ernie Els (2000 International), Davis Love (1990 and 2003 International), Hubert Green (1985 PGA Championship) and Jay Sigel (1983 U.S. Mid-Amateur).

— Recovery of Dennis Lyon: The retired longtime manager of golf for the city of Aurora suffered life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a truck last December while walking his dog near Murphy Creek Golf Course.

Thankfully, the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer and 2011 winner of the national USGA Green Section Award made a major recovery in 2012 and is largely back to his old self.

— Two Colorado Golf Expos: There’s something about the Denver Golf Expo — and the Southern Colorado Golf Expo, which will return in 2013 — that helps put local golfers in the mood for the coming season.

The timing is certainly ideal, with the Denver show in early February and the Southern Colorado Expo a month later. Coming as the state emerges from the dead of winter, there’s nothing like a multi-day golf show to get golfers back in the mindset.

— Productive Local Golf Associations: Members of the CGA and CWGA who also are members of out-of-state golf associations often rave about how well the Colorado organizations perform in comparison.

And the Colorado PGA and its professionals obviously stack up very well among their peers as they’ve earned seven national PGA of America awards in the last six years.

— Affordable Golf: People who play golf in a lot of other states appreciate the quality of courses and relatively inexpensive green fees we have available in Colorado. For $30 or so, golfers can play some very nice layouts, and bump it up to $50 and most public facilities are accessible. That combination of quality and affordability can be rare.

— Caddying Alive and Well: Although carts have eroded the utilization of caddies, there are still roughly 20 clubs in the state that have caddie programs.

And thanks to the CGA/CWGA’s new Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course, there are new opportunities. By paying the base caddie fees, the program gives extra incentive for taking a caddie at CommonGround.

Which brings us to the Evans Caddie Scholarship at the University of Colorado. The Solich Academy no doubt will create additional candidates for the scholarship, which provides full tuition and housing at CU to qualified caddies who demonstrate financial need and meet other requirements.

Nationwide, there are 835 Evans Scholars currently in school at 19 universities.

And the reasons to give thanks go on and on.
 

But that will change in the early part of next year.

Jim Bunch of Denver started serving on the prestigious and powerful USGA Executive Committee in 2003, but he retired from that 15-person board in early 2010. (Bunch subsequently became chairman of the Western Golf Association at the beginning of this year.) And Christie Austin of Cherry Hills Village, who joined Executive Committee in 2007, will step down at the Feb. 2 USGA annual meeting in San Diego.

The USGA, which annually alters personnel on its Executive Committee, recently announced the Nominating Committee’s impending changes to the board. Austin (pictured above at right with former USGA president Judy Bell) is one of four Executive Committee members who will retire from the volunteer post at the 2013 annual meeting.

“The average time serving on the Executive Committee is three or four years,” Austin noted last week in a phone interview. “They want fresh ideas, and it’s a good process; it’s wise to (regularly) get fresh people on the board. And for me to serve six years is well beyond average. I thought last year would be my swan song. But I would say it’s time. I was fortunate and proud to serve six years.”

To say that it’s been quite an experience for Austin would be a big understatement. After all, very, very few people get the opportunity to serve at the highest level of golf administration. The USGA not only conducts 13 national championships — including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Amateur — but along with the R&A it governs the game worldwide. The organizations jointly administer the Rules of Golf, equipment standards, amateur status and the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The USGA also gives out large amounts of money through “for the good of the game” grants.

And the Executive Committee spearheads all of those efforts, and plenty of others.

“It’s been so great,” Austin said of her USGA leadership experience the last six years. “I have met people and done things and been places I never would have thought possible. The opportunities were immense and I’ve made lifelong friends. But I think their timing — serving 3-4-5 years — is about right. You serve with joy in your heart, but you sacrifice a lot. You need to get back to family and career.”

In 2007, Austin was just the fifth female to become a member of the USGA Executive Committee. This year, she became the first woman to chair the powerful USGA Rules of Golf Committee. And last year, she was the first woman to officiate a Walker Cup match held in Europe.

Overall in her six years on the Executive Committee, Austin chaired six USGA committees: Grants (2008-10), Rules (2012), Amateur Status (2010-11), the U.S. Amateur Public Links (2009-11), Audit (the last several years) and GHIN (2008). And this year, she was an officer for the first time, serving as USGA treasurer.

One of her more memorable experiences came in 2009 when she became chair of the Amateur Public Links Committee, which had been an all-male board.

“The year I took over I got an email saying, ‘You’re officially one of the guys.'” Austin remembers with a laugh.

While chairing the Grants Committee, Austin helped the CGA/CWGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course get a $175,000 USGA grant that helped the associations build the nine-hole Kids Course at CommonGround.

In the same vein, Austin serves on the national board for The First Tee — work that she will continue.

“I have a passion for junior golf; that’s near and dear to me,” said Austin, who also serves on the boards for the CWGA and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

Austin also chaired the Amateur Status Committee when the USGA and R&A jointly established amateur status rules that went into effect Jan. 1 of this year.

Likewise, Austin found her work as chair of the Rules of Golf Committee “very rewarding”, though it lasted only this year. It’s certain that the USGA’s decision on anchoring putters — scheduled to be made by year’s end — will be highly scrutinized.

As a rules official in her own right, Austin has had plenty of unique experiences. This year, she became one of the first women to officiate at a British Open, and she’s done similar duty at every Masters and U.S. Open from 2007 through 2012.

The USGA’s president is chosen from the Executive Committee members, and the one female president in the association’s 118-year history — Bell — was a resident of Colorado Springs.

“One person goes up the ladder (to become president), so it’s a rare occurrence to be pushed forward,” Austin said. “I’m not disappointed. I served a great purpose for women in golf and for golf in general and I’m real proud of my accomplishments. I served with pleasure and honor and thoroughly enjoyed my time on the committee.”

So what does the immediate future hold for the University of Colorado graduate?

“I haven’t really contemplated the long term,” Austin said. “I want to take a breath and spend some more time (with her family, including daughter Julie, 17, son Michael, 24, and husband Bob). I went from a busy career (as executive vice president of Marsico Capital Management) to the Executive Committee, so I haven’t had any retirement time. Maybe I’ll play more competitive golf, take a few vacations … We’ll see what happens.”

Golf-wise, Austin is an accomplished player. She’s won more than 10 CWGA championships, many of them two-person team titles with Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Janet Moore. And Austin paired up with another Hall of Famer, Kim Eaton, to claim the 2010 Women’s Trans National Golf Association Senior Four-Ball Championship.

Individually, Austin won the CWGA Senior Stroke Play Championship and the senior division of the CWGA Match Play, both in 2007, leading to her being named CWGA Senior Player of the Year that season. In addition, she’s qualified for 11 USGA championships.
 

He caddied in the Chicago area beginning at age 12, and worked in various capacities at Windy City golf clubs for the next decade. He attended Marquette (undergraduate) and Northwestern (law school) — two universities with Evans Scholarship houses. And Bunch “hashed” (working food-service jobs for meals) alongside Evans Scholars during his university days.

And for almost the last 20 years, Bunch has held a variety of volunteer leadership positions for the Western Golf Association, which administers the Evans Scholarship for caddies.

“Caddying is in my DNA,” Bunch said. “I’ve had a close relationship with caddying  and the Evans Scholarship since I was 12 years old.”

And now, Bunch (pictured in USGA photo) is taking his love of the program to another level. The Denver resident and former USGA Executive Committee officer will become chairman of the WGA as of Jan. 1. Bunch, who likely will serve two one-year terms in the volunteer post, believes he’ll be the first WGA chairman from Colorado. He’s lived in the Centennial State since 1970.

“I’m passionate about this (Evans Scholar program) and am glad to help in any way I can,” Bunch said recently while on his way to Chicago for a year-end WGA meeting. “The (Evans Scholar) kids are so amazing. Their stories (about overcoming adversity) break your heart. It feels great to give back to the program. This is an extraordinary honor personally and in all other ways.”

The Evans Scholarship, which has sent deserving caddies to college since 1930,  is a cause near and dear to the heart of many golfers across the nation, including Colorado. The Eisenhower-Evans Scholarship at the University of Colorado is one of the flagship programs of the CGA and CWGA, who partner with the WGA in sponsoring the Scholars at CU. Through CGA and CWGA bag-tag sales, and Par Club contributions, Colorado donors fully fund the year-to-year scholarship cost at the CU Eisenhower-Evans house.

There is more to the WGA than the Evans Scholarship. The association also hosts three prestigious golf championships — the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship, along with the Western Amateur and the Western Junior. But the scholarship is certainly at the heart of the organization.

To show how much the Evans Scholarship and the WGA mean to Bunch, one of the reasons he gave up one of the most powerful positions in golf was to devote more time to the WGA. Bunch, a former practicing lawyer who now works for a private-equity firm, served on the 15-member USGA Executive Committee from 2003 to 2010. At one time or another, he was chairman of the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, Finance Committee, Grants Committee and Bob Jones Award Committee, as well as secretary of the Executive Committee.

“I wasn’t particularly active (with the WGA during the USGA years), and the WGA asked if once I was off the Executive Committee if I’d like to play a larger role,” said the 69-year-old Bunch, who has been vice chairman of the WGA the last two years. “One of the reasons I left the USGA was to support the WGA. The USGA was a great time and a wonderful experience, but this is good for the soul.”

Over the last 81 years, more than 10,000 caddies have been awarded Evans Scholarships, and at any given time more than 800 young men and women are on scholarship. Most attend one of the 14 universities where scholarship houses are located, and a 15th in the Pacific Northwest is planned. The program’s annual operating budget is approximately $12 million.

Scholarships are awarded based on four criteria: excellent caddie record for a minimum of two years, strong academic achievement, financial need, and outstanding character and integrity. Nationwide, 90 percent of incoming Evans Scholars go on to graduate.

The Evans Scholarship is one of the largest privately-funded scholarships in the nation. It was established by Charles “Chick” Evans, a former caddie who won a U.S. Open and two U.S. Amateurs. At CU, the scholarship has its roots in the early 1960s and it’s formally called the Eisenhower-Evans Scholarship because the CGA-founded Eisenhower Scholarship for junior golfers merged with the Evans Scholarship in the late 1960s.

Bunch, WGA president and CEO John Kaczkowski, and the association’s volunteer leadership and staff certainly face some major challenges going forward. Among the most significant ones are raising ever-increasing amounts of charitable contributions as college tuition costs skyrocket, and fostering caddie programs at a time when courses and clubs often rely heavily on revenue from cart rentals.

As for promoting caddying, Bunch simply asks golfers unfamiliar with taking a caddie to give it a try.

“Golfers who have never used a caddie, then do it, they find it’s the best way to play the game,” Bunch said. “When they have a caddie, they get it. And they’re helping kids in the process.”

As for meeting increasing scholarship costs, Bunch said the WGA has done a good job of finding new sources of charitable revenue. And Bunch may be able to help take that up another notch.

“I know a lot of people all over the golf world (in large part because of his days on the USGA Executive Committee),” he said. “I hope to bring those contacts to bear.”

In fact, Bunch not only is aiming to provide Evans Scholarships to roughly the number of kids the program does now, but he hopes to gradually increase that total.

Though Bunch thought at the time that his parents made too much money for him to qualify for the Evans Scholarship five decades ago, he now wonders if he might have been mistaken as he had a blue-collar upbringing in inner-city Chicago and the surrounding area. In any case, he certainly filled most of the qualifications asked of Scholar applicants.

Bunch began caddying at age 12 at the Glen View Club — “when the Labor Department showed up, the (underage) 12- and 13-year-olds would go hide in the woods,” he said with a laugh — then he took up occupational residence at Evanston Golf Club beginning at age 14. Over the next eight years there, besides caddying, he worked in the golf shop, fixed club, tended bar — you name it — to help put himself through college.

It’s a time Bunch looks back upon fondly — especially his days as a caddie.

“It’s a wonderful job, caddying,” he said. “You learn a lot about human nature in those 4-4 1/2 hours you’re out on the course. And it’s good for the community to have caddie programs.”