That’s certainly been the case with Colorado golf since Schwartz was awarded a P.J. Boatwright internship in 2004, working for the CGA’s Youth Programs Department. And after one year away from the golf business, she joined the CWGA staff, where she’s been a fixture for more than eight years.

But that run will end this week — Friday, to be precise — when Schwartz will leave the CWGA to become an association account manager for Interactive Management Incorporated. IMI — whose CEO, Gary Leeper, is executive director of the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association — performs executive, management and administrative functions for trade and professional associations.

“I saw it as a great way to advance my career and get some different experience,” said Schwartz, director of member programs for the CWGA, who’s also done similar work in the last year for the CGA. “Also, it’s closer to home (she lives in Firestone and will work in Westminster). That was a huge reason after just getting married last year. Life changes, and it will definitely make things a lot easier on my family to be closer to home. It’ll allow me to spend more time with my family.”

Schwartz becomes the third member of the full-time CWGA staff to depart this year, following executive director Robin Jervey and tournament and junior golf operations manager Kelley Mawhinney. New CWGA executive director Ann Guiberson, who formally came on staff April 1, said on Saturday that the association is “trying to reorganize the staff and what we do now, and see what we can do to bring in some additional staff. We’re right at the beginning of looking into that.”

Schwartz has played an integral role the last several years in the CWGA’s push to get more women into the game through social golf events. This year, the association has partnered with a variety of courses and the PGA Tour Superstore in scheduling more than three-dozen such events: CLICK HERE. Schwartz helped solidify those partnerships and the CWGA’s social golf efforts in general.

“We’ll definitely miss Kim and her great innovation and enthusiasm for women’s golf and the CWGA,” Guiberson said.

Jervey, who hired Schwartz during her 22-year run as the CWGA’s executive director, likewise believes the association is losing a very valuable asset.

“She is a very creative and talented young woman and will be sorely missed,” Jervey said in a text. “The departures of Kelley and now Kim for personal reasons creates a huge void on the staff. It will take some time to identify, hire and develop the technical skills needed.”

Schwartz played college golf at the University of Wyoming and she majored in marketing and minored in public relations and communications. So what’s she’s done at the CWGA — and what she will do at IMI — are right in her wheel-house.

“I’m extremely proud of getting the (Women’s Golf) Experiences off the ground and getting momentum and building partnerships with these other social golf events,” she said. “I feel like I’m most proud that I’ve made golf accessible for women. I’ve increased membership for the CWGA because of that. My efforts have made a big impact. I’ve helped women enjoy something positive in their lives.”

(Schwartz is pictured above, at right, during last weekend’s Women’s Golf Experience in Westminster.)

Before becoming director of member programs for the CWGA, Schwartz served as director of rules and competitions for the association, then as assistant executive director.

“The golf community is a family in itself, but I don’t see those relationships going away,” she said. “I feel like I can have relationships with the golf community even if I’m not working in it. I’m definitely going to miss all the relationships and the memories. But it’s one of those things where sometimes you need to change.”
 

The group ran the gamut in terms of age (young women to senior citizens) and golf ability (USGA handicap indexes ranging from 13 to 64, and most with no handicaps at all).

But young or old, good players or not, the 44 women who gathered Saturday at the Greg Mastriona Courses at Hyland Hills in Westminster had at least a couple of things in common. They like golf and are looking to improve their games, and they love to have a good time while they’re at it.

Saturday’s outing marked the start of the fifth year of the Women’s Golf Experiences, events hosted by the CWGA that combine small-group instruction with some fun social interaction with other women interested in the game.

“I do like events like this,” said Monica Halley, who participated in some of the popular “Ladies Night Out” social golf events at Hyland Hills last year. “I’m not a brand-new golfer, but I’m somewhat new. I don’t keep score yet. But this kind of gives me a way to come out and be with other women where I don’t feel intimidated. I feel like I fit in and can learn. They teach you a lot of new skills.

“My husband golfs and my youngest son is going to school at (CU-Colorado Springs) to be a golf pro. I’ve been around it but haven’t gone out too much myself. So this gives me a good opportunity to go out. And I was just thinking about joining a women’s group here in the summer on Tuesday and Thursday morning.”

That is music to the ears of organizers of events such as these. With the National Golf Foundation reporting that the number of female golfers in the U.S. dropped from 7 million in 2005 to 5 million in 2012, making potential new women’s golfers — and golfers in general — feel welcome and wanting to play more is a high priority.

“The CWGA is helping courses take advantage of this opportunity that women want social golf,” said Kim Schwartz, the association’s director of member programs. “Women are social, so they want opportunities to go play and have fun. As the CWGA, we represent all of women (golfers) across the state. We’re not just a championship organization. If we can offer opportunities by partnering with different golf courses, that’s huge to have (programs) for women to enjoy golf.”

Over the last several years, the CWGA has placed an ever-increasing emphasis on building the base of women’s golfers through social golf activities.

At the Women’s Golf Experience events, participants receive roughly 45 minutes of small-group instruction at each of four stations — full swing, chipping, putting, and rules, then have lunch afterward. Goodie bags are distributed and drawings are held for prizes. PGA/LPGA professionals provide the instruction. Among those leading the way Saturday was 2011 HealthOne Colorado Open champion Ben Portie, now the women’s golf head coach at Metro State, along with PGA professionals Val Heim and Joe Chavez of Hyland Hills, Jeff Carter from the Broadlands and Brian Lindstrom from Highland Meadows.

Saturday was the first of three Women’s Golf Experience events scheduled for 2014, with the others being May 10 at Overland Park in Denver and May 17 at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Denver broadcast personality Denise Plante is expected to be a special guest at the Overland Park Experience.

But the Experience events just scratch the surface of social golf outings the CWGA organizes or participates in. This year alone, there are more than three-dozen such events, with Hyland Hills, CommonGround, Buffalo Run and the City of Denver courses among those hosting outings. For a list of events, CLICK HERE. Many include social get-togethers in addition to golf.

Saturday marked the first local Women’s Golf Experience that new CWGA executive director Ann Guiberson has witnessed firsthand, and she came away impressed.

“This is a terrific event today,” she said. “We’ve got a good mix of CWGA members and new golfers and advanced golfers, and everyone is supporting each other and having a good time.

“I talked to a few people today who said they weren’t sure if they were going to come out, but they decided to come. Once you get here, everyone is talking to everybody else and sharing experiences and helping each other. It’s a great program.

“Kim (Schwartz) has done a fantastic job putting this program together the last couple of years. Based on what I’ve seen today, it’s something we will definitely continue and maybe even take around the rest of the state.”

Among the sites that have hosted Women’s Golf Experience events in past years are Grand Junction, Colorado Springs and Loveland, in addition to the Denver metro area.

Included among the first-time participants on Saturday was Shona Eliason, president of the Women’s 9-Hole League at the Broadlands in Broomfield. She attended along with one of her regular playing partners.

“It’s one of those benefits that we get that we don’t usually take advantage of,” Eliason said of the Experience, which is discounted for CWGA members.

Eliason, a 20-handicap, enjoyed the rules instruction, along with the fact that most of the various teaching stations featured two instructors for each rotating group of 10 or 11 players.

“I like that they have different instructors at each station because sometimes if you just go with one or two instructors (total) and you do a half-day clinic, it’s not quite as interesting,” Eliason said. “I also liked that they had two people at each one. It changed it up.”

The idea is that the Experience engages the participants to the point that they’re drawn into the game long-term.

“We have two instructors at most of the stations to give somewhat personalized instruction, so everyone of every ability can get something out of it,” Schwartz said. “That’s what the goal is today. That’s why we’re drawing that broad range (of golfers). But by far, most of the participants are newer golfers or new to golf. I think why this is popular in the spring is because it’s kind of jump-starting their games.”

Drawing more women into the sport will take time, but events like the Women’s Golf Experience are part of the step-by-step process.

“We can’t just build women’s golf by ourselves,” Schwartz said. “We have to work with everyone else in the community.”
 

Next year, the fruits of those efforts will begin to become apparent.

Nine months after announcing the launch of the “Mind Your Game” program — which is designed to help keep golfers who have survived cancer in the game that they love — the CWGA reported that its member clubs, with some outside help, raised $12,030 in support of the new initiative.

That amount eclipses either of the single-year totals CWGA member clubs contributed in 2011 and 2012 for Mind Your Game’s predecessor, “Three Putt for the Cure”, which benefited breast cancer research efforts. Three Putt for the Cure raised roughly $16,400 over a two-year period.

“I had no idea how the program would be received because it’s different than Three Putt for the Cure,” said Kim Schwartz, the CWGA’s member programs and marketing manager. “I think the impact it will have going forward will be huge because we’re tying the cause to supporting golf and keeping people in the game, which is great. To raise $12,000 is way more money than I thought we’d raise this year.

“When people see this program at work, that will certainly help.”

Though Mind Your Game did hold one weekend group retreat — in Vail — for cancer survivors in 2013 (pictured above), that event didn’t include a golf component. That will change in 2014 as golf will be included in the two planned Mind Your Game weekend retreats, according to Julie Bach, founder of the program.

“Now that we have the money for it (thanks to the $12,030 that was raised), we can” include the golf in retreats, Bach said.

Mind Your Game will provide golf-related activities in addition to yoga, custom meditation, spa sessions and mindfulness lessons for cancer survivors — female or male, regardless of cancer type. The golf aspect of Mind Your Game will include group golf lessons focusing on various parts of the game, as well as practice on and off the course.

Dates for the two retreats haven’t been set, but Bach said that one of them will be held at the Sonnenalp Golf Club west of Vail, with the other site to be determined.

In addition, requests for private three-hour sessions for those who can’t make the retreats can often be accommodated.

After Bach came up with the idea of Mind Your Game and approached the CWGA about partnering in the program, it was rolled out at the CWGA annual meeting on Feb. 23.

Six golf clubs raised funds for Mind Your Game in 2013. Most were women’s clubs, but the men at Red Rocks Country Club joined the women in the fundraising effort there.

Pinehurst Country Club and the Sanger Foundation brought in the largest total of the year, $5,000. Red Rocks CC was a close second, with $4,400.

Other contributors were Raven Golf Club at Three Peaks in Silverthorne ($1,455), CommonGround Golf Course ($550), Foothills Golf Course ($400) and Aurora Hills Golf Course ($225).

“I was thankful for how much was raised,” Bach said. “If we can increase awareness, we can reach more people.” Bach said her “true target” is to eventually raise $100,000.

Bach said getting more clubs involved — including men’s clubs — and possibly doing functions such as raffles and silent auctions could considerably boost the money raised, and thus allow more cancer survivors to participate in subsidized Mind Your Games programs.

For more information, go to MindYourGame.org.

“We weren’t expecting anything. There was no advance warning,” noted Edie Bell, the CWGA’s manager of course rating and handicap administration.

But a pleasant surprise awaited Bell, CWGA finance and club services manager Ginger Washco and CWGA tournament and junior golf operations manager Kelley Mawhinney, who were attending the meeting.

Three awards were presented for best GHIN (Golf Handicap and Information Network) service — for large, medium, and small associations — and the CWGA earned the 2013 national honor for “Best GHIN Service for a Medium Association.” The New Jersey State Golf Association won in the large-association category, while the Kansas Women’s Golf Association claimed the small-association honor.

While the award was a nice feather in the cap for the CWGA, perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. After all, this is the second time in the last five years that the association has earned the national honor, and the third time since 1995. That’s saying something, considering GHIN.com lists 79 state and regional golf associations. In the CWGA’s medium-size category, there are 22 golf associations.

(Bell, Washco and Mawhinney are pictured above, with the award.)

“I think it’s a great credit to the staff,” CWGA executive director Robin Jervey said, referring to Bell, Washco, Mawhinney and Kim Schwartz, the association’s membership programs and marketing manager. “We work hard to provide good customer service. I’m very proud of them. This is the third time we’ve won this award during my time with the CWGA, so it’s nice to see we’re continuing the good work.”

The honor is given based on the results of surveys GHIN mails to all clubs using GHIN services. Judging by the replies, state and regional golf associations (men’s or women’s) around the country are rated based on the GHIN service and support they provide to their members and clubs.

In all, 37 CWGA member clubs responded to the survey, according to the USGA’s Fran Nee, assistant director of GHIN Association Services.

“We don’t get a lot of (immediate) feedback, other than the occasional, ‘Thanks for helping,'” Bell said. “We feel good that this acknowledges that our customers are getting the GHIN support they need from the staff at the CWGA.”

Among the things the GHIN service offers customers are a handicap program, a tournament pairing program, an eRevision newsletter, a GHIN mobile app, and much more. The CWGA — and CGA — offer support on many levels, including through conducting multiple handicap seminars each year.

The CWGA previously won the national GHIN service award in 1995 and 2009.