While Lynn Zmistowski insists she never viewed herself as a volunteer in what she’s done for the game of golf, let it never be said that she was anything but dedicated to the task at hand when a duty was given to her.

Case in point: When she chaired the CWGA Course Rating Committee in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the USGA created a “Slope” rating system in which golf courses would be rated according to their relative difficulty for players of varying ability. The CWGA and CGA were tasked to rate all of Colorado’s golf courses in accordance with the new Slope system.

In order to get the job done right — and consistently — Zmistowski felt she personally had to participate in every course rating the CWGA conducted. So over the course of less than five years, she played every hole of every golf course in Colorado at the time, giving her a distinction not many people can claim. The state had about 120 golf courses at that time, so that was no small feat.

“For consistency, I made it my mission to go on all the ratings,” Zmistowski said this week. “It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. I’d play one week in Rangely, the next in Lamar. We had a great committee and always thought being on the committee was an honor. We loved being able to travel together and see the beautiful state of Colorado.

“I think you have to play the course to understand the course, and you have to understand the course to rate it. Colorado was a leader in the whole (Slope rating process). Most of the other states were looking to (the CWGA and CGA).”

It’s that dedication that earned Zmistowski a remarkable honor on Feb. 27 at the CWGA annual meeting — that of CWGA Volunteer of the Century.

With the CWGA leadership wanting some suspense for its centennial celebration at the annual meeting, Zmistowski didn’t find out she had received the award until the day of the event. She was competing in a couples club championship at her home course of Alta Mesa in Mesa, Ariz., that weekend, but had seen the program on the eve of the event. She noticed “Volunteer of the Century” by her name, “but I thought there must be a typo,” she said. But during the annual meeting, fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton texted Zmistowski the news.

“The shock was amazing,” said Zmistowski, who now splits her time between Colorado (Boulder specifically) and Arizona. “I said to my husband (Bill), ‘You’ll never believe this.’ It’s obviously an amazing honor. I never thought of myself as a volunteer. I viewed anything I did related to golf as a passion. It’s just a way to give back to the sport that has given me so much enjoyment.

“I never thought my name would come up under ‘volunteer.’ There are a lot of people who have been outstanding volunteers. I guess I just did it for more years. And I’ve enjoyed it.”

Zmistowski has been a golf volunteer for more than 40 years — ever since Joan Birkland called her in 1975 and asked her to join the CWGA’s Course Rating Committee. Birkland, a standout in both golf and tennis, is a longtime Colorado Sports Hall of Famer. For her part, Zmistowski is a member of the Colorado and Minnesota Golf Halls of Fame, and the Rochester (Minn.) Sports Hall of Fame.

Zmistowski’s volunteer duties have included 30 years on the CWGA Course Rating Committee, including five as chair; more than 25 years on the USGA handicap procedures committee, for which she received the Ike Grainger Award in 2009 (left); six years as the first captain of the Colorado Girls Junior Americas Cup team and working on the GJAC handbook. Zmistowski took her daughter, Kim, on all the Junior Americas Cup trips, and still remembers her doing cartwheels on the practice range.

As recently as last year, Zmistowski volunteered to answer handicap-related questions that the CWGA received. And for the last eight years or so, she’s served on the handicap procedures committee for the Arizona Women’s Golf Associaton and has been the handicap chair for Alta Mesa Golf Club and helps run a major women’s invitational at the course.

“I have all this knowledge and can be helpful to people,” Zmistowski explained. “I feel I can contribute.”

As CWGA Centennial Committee co-chair Nancy Wilson said of Zmistowski at the annual meeting, “It certainly shows her dedication to this organization and to the game of golf. … Lynn Z, as she is affectionately called, has performed each task that she accepted with focused dedication and is very deserving of the Volunteer of the Century award.”

But the Volunteer of the Century wasn’t the only honor Zmistowski was awarded at the CWGA annual meeting. She was also one of nine outstanding players in the history of the association, all of whom have won at least five major CWGA individual championships. Zmistowski, who earlier had claimed titles in two CWGA Match Plays and two Senior Stroke Plays, last year at age 70 earned the senior championship at the 100th CWGA Match Play. (Above, finalist Kathy Malpass congratulates the champion.) In all, Zmistowski has captured 15 individual state amateur titles in Minnesota, Colorado and Arizona.

Zmistowski was the only person to be included on both the CWGA’s “Notable Volunteers” of the century and the “Outstanding Players” of the century.

Overall, Lynn Z has many fond memories of her years in Colorado and volunteering for the CWGA. Here are a couple:

— On the first time she met former longtime CWGA executive director Robin Jervey, with a group at a Denver Nuggets game:

“I had laryngitis and could not say a word,” Zmistowski said. “Robin got the impression I was pretty quiet but once I got my voice back she said, ‘Lynn never shuts up.'”

— On meeting Birkland as the two squared off in the 1971 CWGA Match Play at Denver Country Club, where Zmistowski would go on to earn the title:

“After we teed off and were walking down the first fairway, Joanie said to me, ‘Well, Lynn, who are you and where did you come from?’ We proceeded to play the next 17 holes chatting so much that on the 17th green I said to Joanie, ‘How does our match stand?’ and Joanie said, ‘You’re 1 down.’ We have been very close friends ever since.”

Zmistowski, who considers Willis Case in Denver her home course in Colorado, calls the late Katie Fiorella, a fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer and a longtime fixture at Willis Case, her best friend. Fiorella served on the CWGA Course Rating Committee for more than two decades.

“Katie loved every last thing there was to love in Colorado, and she passed that love to me,” Zmistowski said.

(Above, Zmistowski is pictured with Birkland, center, and Fiorella.)

Sometimes it takes a rookie to topple an undefeated champion.

At least apparently it did on Tuesday at Red Rocks Country Club in Morrison.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton had won the CWGA Senior Stroke Play all four previous times she’d competed, with the last two victories coming by margins of 16 and 10 shots, respectively. She had claimed the CWGA Senior Player of the Year award for five straight years before opting to “retire” from CWGA championships in 2013. But the three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur quarterfinalist decided to return to CWGA competition this week, making her a good bet to hoist the Senior Stroke Play trophy again.

But Jill Gaschler of Denver, a newly minted senior player at 50 years old, had another storyline in mind. The player from Willis Case Golf Course went head-to-head with Colorado Golf Hall of Famers such as Eaton, defending champion Christie Austin, Janet Moore and Lynn Zmistowski, and emerged victorious from the stellar field.

Gaschler (pictured above and at left), playing in the same group as Eaton, Austin and Deb Hughes on Tuesday, kept them all at bay in capturing the title in the 33rd Senior Stroke Play. The senior rookie shot a 6-over-par 78 in Tuesday’s final round at Red Rocks CC and prevailed by two shots with an 8-over 152 total for two days.

“She’s a great player,” Gaschler said of Eaton. “I have great respect for her. I enjoyed playing with her today, I really did. I’m sorry that she didn’t win, but I’m glad I did.”

Eaton, now a full-time resident of Arizona, carded her second consecutive 77 and was runner-up at 154. Austin was in contention for her third Senior Stroke Play title until a triple bogey derailed her on the 11th hole Tuesday. There, she hit a shot out of bounds and another into the water, but drained a 30-foot putt from behind the green, giving her a score of 7 with — technically — 0 putts. Austin (bottom photo), who shared the lead with Gaschler after round 1, placed third at 158 after an 84 on Tuesday. And Moore posted the best second-round score, a 75, to share fourth place with Zmistowski at 163.

Eaton (left) has won 14 or 15 individual state senior titles — in Colorado, Arizona and California combined, including stroke play and match play — since turning 50 in 2009. So prevailing against her is no easy feat.

But a combination of Eaton not being in peak form and Gaschler making few costly errors did the trick for the golfer from Willis Case. Gaschler never made anything worse than a bogey in the two rounds, while recording six birdies, including two on par-3s on Tuesday.

“You know, Jill played very steady today,” Eaton said. “She really didn’t make any big mistakes. She made a few bogeys.

“I was starting to catch up and I made a really stupid double bogey on 8. I was just very flat today. I just couldn’t get anything going. That putt (on No. 18, where she drained a 25-foot par) was probably the only putt I made (of significant length) the last two days. My putting was pathetic today and I didn’t hit my fairway woods very well. But Jill played very steady and she putted very well.”

And Gaschler was in control almost all the way during Tuesday’s final round. Indeed, after she made pars on the first two holes, her lead was never less than two shots the rest of the way.

Gaschler has won club championships at Willis Case and at Foothills, but Tuesday marked her first CWGA championship.

“It feels great,” she said. “It was my first time in this tournament and my first time winning anything CWGA-wise.”

In that sense, Gaschler’s mindset coming into the championship probably helped her cause.

“I really didn’t have much expectations,” she said. “I just wanted to play and have fun.I was trying to be relaxed and play golf. So that (victory) was a real surprise.”

Gaschler comes from a long line of strong women players from Willis Case, including Colorado Golf Hall of Famers Katie Fiorella and Zmistowski. In fact, when Gaschler started developing as a golfer after taking up the game in her 20s, she played a considerable amount with another Hall of Famer, Carol (Sorenson) Flenniken. Flenniken is one of the top female amateurs in state history, having won a dozen CWGA Match/Stroke Play championships after claiming titles in the 1960 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 1964 British Ladies Amateur.

“I’m fortunate to play out of Willis Case,” Gaschler said. “There are a lot of good players there. We have a lot of strength. And I played a lot with Carol Flenniken when I started golfing, and that was real good for me too. That was a big part of it in me becoming better.”

For the scores from all eight flights of the Senior Stroke Play, CLICK HERE.

Anyone who knew Katie Fiorella won’t soon forget her, but some of her friends and acquaintances are making doubly sure her name is immortalized.

Fiorella, a Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee who was as well known for her love of Willis Case Golf Course in Denver as she was for her considerable golfing ability, already has a four-hole kids course at Willis Case named for her (Katie’s Course).

And now Fiorella will have a prominent spot on the regulation course as well, as a stone bench honoring her has been built behind the 18th green, on a high point with expansive views of the Front Range. “Katie’s Bench” will be formally dedicated in a ceremony on June 9 at 4 p.m.

“There was such a strong love between Katie and Willis Case that it’s appropriate to have a memorial bench there,” said fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Lynn Zmistowski, who estimates she played thousands of rounds of golf with Fiorella over several decades. “Her heart was so much in that course. You think about Katie and how she’s looking down from heaven with a smile. We knew how much she loved Willis Case, and this shows our love for her. It’s really special.”

Fiorella was a fixture at Willis Case in northwest Denver for the better part of six decades until passing away at age 80 in 2008. She won the women’s club championship at the course an amazing 22 times. In May 1956, she accomplished an extremely rare feat by making two holes-in-one in a single day at Willis Case, acing the 158-yard 10th hole in a morning round, then the 158-yard fourth hole in the afternoon. For that, she received some national attention as the Associated Press ran a short story that was printed in several prominent newspapers. (Fiorella would go on to make six holes-in-one in her lifetime.)

But Fiorella’s golfing ability certainly extended well beyond Willis Case. She was a five-time runner-up in the CWGA Match Play Championship, then dominated the senior ranks in the mid-1980s, winning the CWGA Senior Stroke Play in 1984, ’85 and ’87. She also captured the CWGA Brassie team title seven times, including six with Zmistowski.

In addition to her accomplishments as a competitor one of Fiorella’s favorite memories was being invited to play a round with professional tour players Patty Berg and Gloria Armstrong in 1958. Another was having a photo taken with Jack Nicklaus when the Golden Bear was in Vail.

“It’s important to honor someone who gave so much to the state and was such an outstanding golfer,” said Laura Fischer, president of the Willis Case Women’s Golf Association, which raised the money to pay for Katie’s Bench.

But as much as Fiorella made a mark with her outstanding play, it was her personality that made her beloved by many in the Colorado golf community.

“Everyone who ever played with Katie knew she was always so encouraging,” Zmistowski said. “Even when things weren’t going well for your golf game, she always had something good to say. She’d always say, ‘Keep plugging.’ She pulled for the other person, even though it sometimes worked to her detriment (in tournaments).”

In fact, that “keep plugging” phrase is one of four inscriptions on the recently completed Katie’s Bench. Others note that she was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1989, that this resting place is indeed called “Katie’s Bench” and that it’s in memory of Katie Fiorella 1928-2008.

Zmistowski tells a story which gives some indication of how much Fiorella was loved at Willis Case. For most of her time at the course, Fiorella walked the layout using a manual push cart. But as Fiorella was getting up in age, Zmistowski had the idea of getting her a Kangaroo electric cart. She asked many of Katie’s other friends if they could each kick in $10 or so, and within about 10 days Zmistowski had collected $1,500.

They gave Fiorella the Kangaroo cart for her 66th birthday, threw her a party and had more than $600 left over. That money went to Fiorella, who used it for her green fees at Willis Case.

After Fiorella passed away, Zmistowski and the Willis Case Women’s Golf Association spearheaded the effort to build a memorial bench for Katie at the course, but the idea took a couple of years to become a reality. Since Fiorella always talked about how the 17th hole needed a permanent bench, the original thought was to put it there. Since City of Denver officials weren’t keen on that location, Fiorella’s sister, Agnes Brady, suggested the picturesque spot behind the 18th green. After all, Fiorella never seemed to tire of the view of the mountains from the higher spots on the course.

Because city officials wanted a uniform type of bench for memorials, it was finally decided that Colorado red sandstone that came from a Lyons-based company would be used for Katie’s Bench. The Willis Case Women’s Golf Association raised money for the project by selling metallic ball markers and through donations.

With Zmistowki’s architect husband, Bill, helping considerably with the project, the superintendent at Willis Case, Bobby Murtaugh, installed the bench and the surrounding base and flagstone, putting it all together in the off-season.

“It took time and patience, but it ended up being perfect,” Lynn Zmistowski said. “It was worth the wait.”