From a hilarious send-off serenade by co-worker Ryan Smith — a parody sung to the tune of Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” — to a part tribute/part roast by other fellow CGA staffers, to a heartfelt toast from boss Ed Mate, to a tremendous turnout for the festivities, Gerry Brown, Laura Robinson and Ann Bley were sent into retirement in high style Wednesday night at Pinehurst Country Club.

A broad cross-section of the Colorado golf community turned out to bid adieu to the three key retiring CGA staff members, recognizing jobs well done.

Seldom do three top staffers in one Colorado golf organization retire within months of one another. But not only is that the case late this year for the CGA, but the three have been employed by the CGA/CWGA for a combined total of 46 years.

About 175 people showed up for Wednesday’s festivities, in honor of Brown, the CGA’s director of course rating and handicapping; Robinson, the CGA’s managing director of membership and integration — and former CWGA executive director; and Bley, the association’s director of finance. Bley retired at the end of August after 17 years on the job, while Brown (26 years at the CGA) and Robinson (three years combined at the CWGA and the CGA) are following suit at the end of the year.

In addition to fellow staffers saluting the three in videos — and taking good-natured digs — even former CGA employees joined in on the fun. That included former CGA executive director Warren Simmons, who hired Brown back in 1992.

In turn, each of the retirees took a few minutes to fondly recall their days at the CGA/CWGA, share a laugh or two, and vow to spend their fair share of time on golf courses in retirement. That will include tee times and stays at The Broadmoor Resort — going-away gifts from the CGA.

To read more about the golf administration careers of the three, click on the following:

— Ann Bley 

— Gerry Brown 

— Laura Robinson 

Several photos from Wednesday’s festivities accompany this story.

CGA executive director Ed Mate had to chuckle at the fitting symmetry of it all.

When Gerry Brown was hired at the CGA in 1992, he was asked to do the wiring for the first computer network at the association offices, though he was brought on board mainly to help run tournaments.

Twenty-six years later, as Brown’s career at the CGA was winding down leading up to his impending retirement, he found himself in much the same situation.

“Just to show how as a lot of things change, they also stay the same, there’s a phone in our huddle room (in the CGA offices) that wasn’t wired properly,” Mate recalled recently. “I said, ‘Gerry, do you want to do one more wiring job for us?’ Sure enough, he got the ladder and pulled the cable and got it done. So he started out pulling cable and he ended up pulling cable for us. But that’s Gerry.

“If you’re on a survival quest, you want people on your team that are resourceful, and that’s Gerry. No matter what it was, if you had a problem in the office — the copier won’t work, my computer is acting weird, my phone is not doing what it’s supposed to — call Gerry. He’d be there in two seconds. And not only was he willing to do it, he wanted to do it. It was almost like he would thank you for the opportunity to help you. He’s just an amazing human being.”

Indeed, as the year comes to a close, it’s the end of an era for the CGA staff. Over the last quarter-century, no one besides Brown has been continuously employed by the CGA. That even includes Mate, the CGA’s executive director since 2000 who also worked with Brown in an earlier stint with the association, but spent four years on the Colorado PGA staff in the late 1990s and early in 2000.

Brown is one of three key CGA staffers who have or will retire in the final four months or so of this year. Ann Bley, longtime director of finance for the CGA, departed at the end of August (READ MORE). And former CWGA executive director and current CGA managing director of membership and integration Laura Robinson (READ MORE) will join Brown in retiring at year’s end. A retirement party honoring the three will be held Wednesday at Pinehurst Country Club.

Brown was initially hired by the CGA to help Jim Topliff, who had had a quadruple heart bypass, with tournaments and to work with the Golf Handicap and Information Network tournament pairing program (TPP) that was just being released. As Brown noted with a laugh in 2012, “Jim was strictly — as he liked to call himself — ‘the out-house guy’ and I was the ‘in-house guy.'” Brown also served as the de facto information technology manager. But he’ll retire after being director of course rating and handicapping — or some variation of that title — since 2001. He’s also the managing director of club and facility services. As Mate said, he’s been a very valuable “utility infielder” for the organization.

(Brown, second from right, is pictured above recently at TPC Colorado with CGA course raters Laurie Steenrod and Dick Simpson, and CGA staffer Aaron Guereca.)

So how does it feel leaving a place where he’s worked since 1992?

“It’s extremely difficult,” Brown said in a phone interview last month. “I feel like I’m leaving so much of my hide — all the blood, sweat and tears we’ve put in over the years. To see how smoothly this office has been operating — I can’t attribute it all to me — but there’s been a lot of consistency with having one person, with that longevity, in there. Comparing to other golf associations, you just don’t see that.

“To me, each day was a new day. I never got bored with coming to work. It was always so much fun to come in and see what was happening with courses and with GHIN. GHIN always had their problems with their software; I always chuckled, thinking that’s job security (for me). I enjoyed waking up each day and coming to work. Each day had its pluses and minuses — and there were a lot more pluses. There was instant gratification when you could do something for a golf professional. The golf professionals here in Colorado treated me very well — as an equal and an authority for handicapping, tournament formats, software support, course rating. Whatever question they asked, if I didn’t have the right answer, I certainly got it for them. I think there was a large amount of respect.”

Indeed, to demonstrate as much, on Oct. 15, exactly 26 years after he started at the CGA, the Colorado PGA presented Brown with a Distinguished Service Award at its fall meeting.

“That was a very nice gesture on their part,” Brown said. “I’ve had a number of them call and say farewell; that’s been heartwarming and gratifying. I’m going to miss that.”

Paul Lobato, PGA head professional at Meridian Golf Club, was among those who sang Brown’s praises.

“Gerry is a golf pro’s best friend,” he said.

“Words can’t describe” what Gerry meant to the CGA, added Mate, who worked alongside Brown for more than 20 years. “He’d become the face of the organization in so many ways. I saw (Cherry Hills Country Club head professional) John Ogden recently and he can’t say enough positive things about Gerry Brown. Whenever a club needed something relative to handicapping or course rating, they would call Gerry. When those calls come up, they tend to be urgent — ‘We have a situation where our computer won’t work or we’re trying to set up a tournament for this weekend.’ Gerry would basically be on call 24/7 and had such an incredible way about him and willingness to help.”

Brown, who will turn 68 next month, has long been highly regarded in his work, to the point that he served on the USGA Course Rating Committee from 2011-18, which he calls “the high-water mark in my career.” In that capacity, he’s assisted the USGA staff with calibration seminars around the U.S. and overseas. At calibration seminars, USGA representatives make sure course raters do their work to consistent standards. Raters evaluate the playing difficulty of a course for scratch golfers and bogey golfers from the various tee boxes, based on yardage, effective playing length and obstacles. The idea behind both course rating and handicapping is to make the game equitable for golfers of all ability levels.

In his course rating capacity, Brown has been sent to Scotland (to help instruct the Europe golf associations), the Dominican Republic and Japan.

In fact, Brown has made enough of an impression that he’ll likely continue to help the USGA on the course rating front — but on a volunteer basis, with some expenses paid.

“I think (the USGA) is going to want to keep me as someone to assist with training — and somebody who can travel,” he said. “There’s a lot of small countries and areas with only one or two golf courses so to have a formal course rating group in these areas does not always make sense. The USGA feels comfortable sending me to teach in areas like the Dominican Republican or the islands of the Caribbean. They don’t have any one group that will rate all of these courses. They’re talking about sending me and a team from Colorado to rate the courses as needed. Typically, they only do it every 10 years. … For a larger group like the Japan Golf Association, I’ll continue to do training (through) calibration seminars.”

Brown said he’ll also volunteer to rate courses in Colorado, though now Aaron Guereca, who’s become the CGA’s manager of club and facility services, will do the coordination and the setups. Brown has had Guereca, a former CWGA staffer, “on his shoulder” for 2 1/2 months in the late summer and fall to learn the ropes of the job.

Still, demonstrating his devotion to the CGA and the game, Brown said, “I’ve told Aaron I’m always just a phone call away. If I’m not doing anything, I don’t mind coming in and volunteering an hour or two of time to help him or show him how to do things.”

For a guy who was hired without any background in golf administration — he and his wife Cathey were in the publishing business with their offices located directly above those of the CGA and the CWGA in the early 1990s — Brown has certainly made a name for himself in the business.

“Just the fact that I got this job, given the way golf associations hire staff …,” said Brown, who considered himself a “self-taught computer geek.” “I was in my (early 40s) when I came here and had very little or any golf experience. I was just an avid golfer. But I brought a need to them. I helped them network the office for the very first time and got them onto a singular piece of software. I’ve still kind of hung on to my IT roots and assist with equipment and bits and pieces with the network here in the office.”

But it was in his primary job the last 17 years that Brown especially has made an impression.

“Course rating and handicapping is a very small niche in the golf industry,” he said. “There’s probably not more than five people in the entire United States that did course rating AND handicapping the way that I did. They go hand in hand in my opinion. One feeds the other. It’s been a natural and easy process for me.”

Combine that with Brown’s general helpfulness, and you have one valuable staffer.

“I’ve never met anybody that is as willing to help as Gerry Brown. That’s just his DNA,” Mate said. “I’m not kidding, if I called him and said I have a personal issue, he would drop everything he’s doing. You’d barely get the question out and he’d be there.

“One of my favorite stories about Gerry Brown: Early in my tenure as executive director, I had a tree in my back yard that I wanted to cut down. I had a little get-together at my house for the CGA staff — this was in wintertime around George Washington’s birthday, and I said, ‘We’re going to have a George Washington birthday party.’ People didn’t know why and I said we’re going to cut down a tree. Gerry, who just had shoulder surgery or was just about to, jumped in with both feet, was climbing the tree and doing all the work. I have video of the tree coming down and Gerry being halfway up it. That’s Gerry; he just wants to help people. I’ve never met somebody so willing. He and Dustin (Jensen, the former CGA managing director of operations) have that same quality. That showed every day. When people called, he was like, ‘What can I do to help?’

“On the other hand, he wasn’t a pushover. If a club called and said we don’t like our course rating, can you change it?, he’d say no, absolutely not, that’s not the way that works.”

Coincidentally, Brown’s first course rating came on Sept. 11, 2001 — at Spring Valley Golf Club in Elizabeth.

“I was standing there watching the television with the head professional, and we’re just jaws down to the floor” in seeing what had happened with the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pa. “The (rating) team drove up from Colorado Springs and had left before the disaster and had no idea what was going on.”

Seventeen years after that first course rating, Brown is considered a national expert in the field. Which means it certainly won’t be easy to replace him. But you can’t accuse Brown of not giving Mate fair warning about his retirement. Indeed, he first told Mate of his plans early in 2016. And early the next year he reminded Mate by saying, “two years”.

While the powers that be kicked around the idea that Brown’s duties might be better distributed among two people, the CGA’s unification with the CWGA at the beginning of 2018 helped partly solve the matter. That’s when Guereca was tagged to start working with Brown, learning tournament software, handicap issues, course rating, software support, etc.

As for Brown moving forward, the fourth-generation Colorado native and wife Cathey plan to do some traveling. Among the destinations on their bucket list is South America — Machu Picchu, the Galapagos Islands and perhaps a trip to the Amazon River Basin.

But barring the unforeseen, the Parker resident will continue to call Colorado home for the foreseeable future.

“I have no desire to leave these Rocky Mountains,” he said. “My heart is in Colorado.”
 

It’s been a quick-moving, eventful last three years in golf administration for Laura Robinson.

And, as of the end of this month, the ride will be over for a person who couldn’t have foreseen all the twists and turns along the way.

Robinson, a former CWGA executive director who’s currently the managing director of membership and integration for the CGA, plans on retiring at the end of the year, calling it a career after lengthy stints in the business world, as a college faculty member in an information technology studies program — and these recent years in leadership roles in Colorado golf.

“This has been the most rewarding three years of my career,” Robinson said in a recent phone conversation. “I had to pull knowledge from every aspect of all my experience together — from accounting and finance, employment law, human resources, marketing, customer service (and) operations in order the lead the CWGA, then to integrate the two associations (the CGA and the CWGA).

“I think I’ve been very, very lucky to have this as the capstone to my career. It’s been so much fun. I truly appreciate the support the CWGA board of directors gave me by first hiring me for the job, then keeping me in line and teaching me about golf administration and everything we were trying to do to build out women’s golf in Colorado.”

Robinson, a Colorado resident for the last 20 years, couldn’t have known what to expect when she volunteered in the summer of 2014 to help develop an I.T. stragegy for the CWGA. She then joined the association’s volunteer board of directors in 2015.

When the CWGA board decided to go in a new direction, leadership-wise, it turned to Robinson, who became the acting executive director at the beginning of 2016 and resigned her board position. And in May of that year, the “acting” part of her title was removed and Robinson became just the fourth E.D. the CWGA ever had, following Maggie Giesenhagen (1988-1991), Robin Jervey (1992-2014) and Ann Guiberson (2014-15).

During Robinson’s time as executive director, the CWGA celebrated its 100th anniversary throughout 2016, then the association joined forces with the CGA, becoming one organization at the beginning of this year. The unification, prompted by the USGA’s decision to partner with just one full-service Allied Golf Association in each state or region, was long in the works, with current CGA co-presidents Joe McCleary and Juliet Miner playing key roles in the process, along with Robinson and CGA executive director Ed Mate. (The four are pictured below.)

“This was an unexpected career move for me,” Robinson said regarding golf administration. “I was thrilled to be working for the CWGA for two years and learning about golf administration and running a small business. Merging with the CGA was a wonderful business move and I was really excited to be one of the leaders in that effort.

“It was very exciting formulating a plan make the CWGA and CGA a new organization to support the future of the game. It was so exciting to be part of all that — to lead an effort to integrate two companies so successfully, to identify a new logo, a new website (both of which will be unveiled early next year), a new way of operating, to expand our programs to men. It was just so exciting to be part of making sure the future of golf was strong in Colorado.”

And, given that this process has played out over more than three years, how does she think the integration has worked out?

“The two organizations were combined to make both of us stronger,” Robinson said. “We could share the resources the CGA had. They had more resources than the CWGA. And the CGA could benefit from all of the programs that are developed for women and high handicappers that could be rolled out for men. We were literally building the future of a golf association in Colorado to serve a wider variety of people than either organization had served before. It was really exciting to be part of that.”

Mate has worked closely with Robinson in recent years, both before and after the unification, and he certainly appreciates what Robinson has done to make the merger relatively seamless.

“Laura was just the right person at the right time in so many ways because of her business background, her ability to organize, prioritize and really kind of tease out the right questions through the integration,” Mate said. “She maintained the really good continuity with the leadership of the CWGA through this transition. She was just indispensible.

“Her business background has been such a great addition, a skill set we’ve been able to really capitalize on because she was able to develop a strategic plan by working with a team during the busiest time of the year. As we’re preparing for next year, we have by far the best blueprint to guide us for the next several years. She led us through a process of prioritization and analysis of membership. She almost did a Masters degree project that was an excercise in strategic planning. It will have huge benefits moving forward. She’s leaving us in great position. What a great legacy that that will live on for a while.

“Beyond that, she’s been very fun to work with, very passionate about the game of golf.”

The staff of the CWGA didn’t simply move into the same offices as the CGA. The volunteer boards of the two organizations were joined together — with McCleary and Miner agreeing to serve a year as co-presidents to further ease the transition period — and the CWGA staff has become integral in CGA work moving forward. That includes Kate Moore, Matthew Walker, Aaron Guereca and Debbie Kolb — in addition to Robinson.

“We had a great team in the (CWGA) office, and I’m so glad for the CGA that every one of them has decided to stay,” Robinson said. “I feel like I’ve made friends for life through this whole experience.”

And Robinson’s run over these recent years also gave her an ever-increasing appreciation of the work volunteers do — and have done — for the associtions.

“Due to this experience, I truly learned about volunteerism,” she said. “The CWGA has almost a hundred dedicated volunteers, passionate about golf, passionate about giving back to the game they love. Without the volunteers, we couldn’t have had the successful tournaments and Golf Experiences that we had. Thank you to each and every one of the volunteers for being part of the success.”

During the last year as part of the CGA staff, Robinson (at left with Miner) has taken on a multi-faceted role in the effort to make the association as good as it can be serving its newly combined membership.

“I led the team to integrate the two organizations,” she said. “It was a lot more than simply moving in together. We had to identify new roles and responsibilities. We kicked off a plan to develop a new brand and identity through a new logo and color scheme, which will be shared with the public at the (Denver) Golf Expo in February. We have a new website that is currently under development to take advantage of the new brand identity — presenting one consolidated view of the CGA to all golfers in the state.

“I was behind the effort to create a strategic plan for the newly formed CGA. It wasn’t merely taking two organizations and band-aiding them together. We really wanted to take advantage that we were a new organization focused on new programs, new demographics and a new way of operating. So a strategic plan that I developed helped support that effort. We still have a few tasks left in the integration, (including) merging all of our documents and the combined website. Though we started moving in (to the CGA offices) in late October of 2017, it truly has taken over a year to complete the integration of the two organizations.”

As the CGA forges on, Robinson and her husband Paul will continue to split time between Colorado and Florida — and will remain members at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen. The plan for the foreseeable future includes “playing lots of golf, ski and travel,” she said.

And, there will be time to reflect on these eventful last few years in golf administration.

“Every day was memorable,” she said. “Every day was a learning experience, meeting new people, developing new programs, cementing our relationship in the golf community. One of the highlights was when the CWGA (received a distinguished service award from) the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. I think that cemented our history and our place in history in the golf community. Another high moment was when I chaired my very first annual meeting for almost 175 women from clubs all over the state. That was incredibly rewarding to see the level of passion, energy and participation from public clubs, private clubs, nine-hole leagues, 18-hole leagues, championship golfers and high handicappers alike.”
   

Kathy Malpass was in her element on Saturday, which paid dividends for participants and organizers alike in the first CGA Women’s Golf Experience of the year.

You see, the Women’s Golf Experience centers around offering group golf instruction to women as part of socially-oriented half-day events held around the state. And teaching and golf just happen to both be fortes of Malpass, a retired professor who taught sport industry operations at Metropolitan State University of Denver, and a former college golf head coach and assistant coach. And it also doesn’t hurt that she serves on the CGA’s Executive Committee and played a key role in the creation of the Women’s Golf Experience events, which debuted in 2010, when Malpass was Membership Chair at the CWGA.

So Malpass was a natural in her role on Saturday, which was to lead the putting portion of the Experience at Overland Park Golf Course.

“The great thing about these are, the women feel more comfortable in this kind of a setting with other women,” observed Malpass, a two-time CWGA Senior Player of the Year and a 10-time qualifier for USGA championships. “Obviously we want them to have a positive, fun experience with others in their comfort zone. A lot of these gals probably play with a partner or husband who’s already a player, and they’re telling them all these things to do. There’s too much for the head to realize. You can’t have that many swing thoughts when you’re out there playing. So it’s kind of nice to be with other like golfers (at the Experience) and to walk away with a fun, educational experience.

“I think these have been very successful.”

The events have been so successful, in fact, that by the end of this year, 34 Women’s Golf Experiences will have been held since 2010. And this year, a record seven such events are planned, including nine-hole Plays Day at the par-3 courses at Indian Tree and Harvard Gulch.

Besides 3 1/2 hours of group golf instruction from LPGA and PGA professionals — 45 minutes each of full swing, chipping, putting and rules, with a brief break in between — there’s lunch, prizes, goodie bags and plenty of socializing.

On Saturday, despite some threatening weather to start the day, 64 women attended the inaugural Women’s Golf Experience of 2018. It was also the first one conducted since the CWGA and the CGA integrated into one organization at the beginning of this year.

CGA executive director Ed Mate was among those on hand Saturday. He co-hosted the “In the Fairway” radio show with Jerry Walters early in the day at Overland, then observed and took part in some of the Women’s Golf Experience activities. It was Mate’s first time attending one of the Experience events.

Besides being impressed by the turnout on a day that started out less than ideal weather-wise, Mate said the CGA can learn things from such events.

“It just shows how good the Colorado Women’s Golf Association is at these types of engagement that we (the CGA) as an organization have not done,” he said. “These golfers (attending the Experience) are not going to play in the state championship, but they love golf. And it just shows me, ‘What if we did something like this for all of golfers, not just for women, what could we do?’ I can guarantee you there are men that would love to come to something like this.

“That’s the beauty of integration (is seeing) what are the best practices of both organizations. What are the things that need to be customized for that audience? What is the CGA doing that would work well for women and vice-versa?”

Indeed, Experience-like events that include men might be something that develops in the future. Laura Robinson, the former CWGA executive director who now serves as managing director of membership and integration for the CGA, said that that might be a good idea.

“I think there is an opportunity to open this up to everyone — make it co-ed” in addition to continuing to hold women-only events, Robinson said. “I think what I would do is have a mixed event rather than just men only. We’d get more people there that way, I think.”

As it is, the Women’s Golf Experience events typically draw 25-75 participants. Though many of the women are relatively new to the game, there are certainly plenty who have experience. And attendees range from the young to the retired.

There’s also quite a mix of women who are participating in the Experience for the first time, and those who back for more. For instance on Saturday, roughly 30 percent of the attendees had come to an Experience before.

Several members of the CGA’s volunteer board of directors — who played similar roles on the CWGA board — attended Saturday’s Experience. That included Malpass, Sandy Schnitzer, Phyllis Jensen and Amy Turner. Schnitzer was running the Rules portion of the Experience, and she, Malpass and Jensen have helped out at these events many times over the years. But it was Turner’s first time to attend one.

“I wish I had gone to one sooner, to one of the first ones years ago,” said Turner, a CGA Executive Committee member. “The tips from the pros — multiple pros — that’s great. If I were to come here by myself, I would probably walk away a bunch of phone numbers of women I could potentially pull together into a foursome — people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

“There’s a lot to gain today — and a lot to gain coming out of today. I was very impressed by how robust the program is — all sides of the game plus the rules — and then the social aspect at the end. You can trade numbers and get to know each other better.”

Robinson was in Turner’s shoes a couple of years ago, when she came to her first Experience. And she likewise appreciates how events like this can help grow the game incrementally.

“This is an opportunity for the women to learn some golf and learn how the rules can help them,” Robinson said. “When you put all that together, it really makes for a great experience and it makes it a great way for us to break down the barriers and make golf a more enjoyable sport.”

The folks at City of Denver Golf typically partner with the CGA (and formerly the CWGA) to host at least one of the Women’s Experiences each year, and such was the case Saturday at Overland. The instructors included Denver’s director of golf Scott Rethlake, along with others from Denver and elsewhere: Devon Puleo, Malpass, Kelly Hodge, Nick Johnson, Geoff Strasser, Kirk Mease, Maggie Hartman, Joe Pinson, Susie Helmerich and Steve Kurtz. The idea is to have a good ratio of instructors to participants so that everyone leaves feeling they received some attention and useful tips.

“The student has to get involved and in this kind of setting they have that opportunity because we have enough teachers to get the ratio down and players can practice and get immediate feedback,” Malpass said.

The remaining Women’s Golf Experience events for 2018 are:

— May 19 at Saddleback GC

— June 2 at CommonGround GC

— June 9 at Cheyenne Shadows at Fort Carson

— June 23 at The Bridges at Montrose

— July 14 Play Day at Indian Tree GC

— July 29 Play Day at Harvard Gulch GC

For more information on Women’s Golf Experience events, CLICK HERE or call 303-366-4653.

“I’m a comer, I’m a doer, I’m a participant.”

That was Juliet Miner’s matter-of-fact reaction after answering in the affirmative when recently asked if she had attended each G4 Summit since the event’s inception in 2014.

Indeed, when it comes to volunteering in Colorado golf, Miner does far more than her fair share. And she’s not just a passive volunteer. She plays key roles, and doesn’t hesitate when tough decisions have to be made and big-picture planning is needed.

In that regard, she’s been in the right position at the right time. For the past two years, Miner served as president of the CWGA, and this year she’s a co-president of the CGA along with Joe McCleary.

And during her tenure as president/co-president, she, along with other association leaders, has been where the buck stops as the CWGA switched executive directors, conducted a series of celebrations as part of its 100th anniversary, and as the CWGA joined with the CGA to become a single Allied Golf Association serving both men and women in Colorado.

It’s little wonder why Miner was named Volunteer of the Year for 2017 at the recent CGA Women’s Annual Meeting.

“It’s been unbelievable working with her,” said McCleary, who was sole president of the CGA for two years before he and Miner agreed to be co-presidents. “She’s a thinker, she’s a doer. I think everything came together at the right time because we have an excellent working relationship.”

Asked about all that’s happened in her time as president/co-president, Miner won’t deny that it was more than she expected, but she didn’t shy away from doing what needed to be done.

“I’m from the Midwest (she grew up in Iowa) and we’re big on duty,” she said in a recent interview. “I was surprised that it was as much of a challenge as it was. Fortunately for me, I thrive on challenges, so I just set to it and got it done.

“If we all do our part, it makes it easier for all of us. If we all gave a bottle of water, people wouldn’t be thirsty. If we all gave food, nobody would be hungry. If we all volunteered, people would be helped. It just takes a big effort from a lot of people. If everybody did their part, it would be easy.”

And Miner is quick to point out she’s gotten plenty of help during her time in a leadership role.

“I have a sense of great pride for the accomplishments that I’ve been able to make through all the wonderful friendships and collaborations with everyone — the men, the women, commitee chairs, golfers, members,” Miner said. “I’ve gotten feedback from everyone I’ve come into contact with and if I didn’t know the answer (regarding a particular issue), I’ve asked for help from people. I’d have to say Laura Robinson and Kathryn Davis (former CWGA executive director and president, respectively) were my pillars of support, along with Joanie Ott, who was my predecessor” as CWGA president.

Robinson, currently the managing director of membership and integration at the CGA, served with Miner on the CWGA board of directors before becoming executive director in 2016, heading the staff that carried out the wishes of the CWGA board.

“It’s been very special with Juliet,” Robinson said. “We really do complement each other. Juliet sees the big picture so clearly. Her job is to set the vision and strategy and my job is to execute. We were fortunate that we had complementary sets of skills. We actually had a lot of fun. I’m going to miss her (when she steps down as co-president at the end of the year) as far being as my boss.”

With the executive director change, the CWGA’s 100th anniversary celebrations and the integration with the CGA, “She made all that happen,” Robinson added. “Juliet has a lot of courage to make change happen. She saw the need for change a couple of years ago and knew that kind of change would be better for women’s golf.”

Miner, a criminal defense attorney since 1984 and a Colorado resident since ’83, was helped in her current role by experience she gained in the 1990s. That was when she served as the president of the club at Perry Park Country Club in Larkspur.

“Not the ladies group — the club (overall),” she noted. “It was a similar situation (as now). They got me on the board and the vice president resigned, so I was president for two years, which was unprecedented. I went through the death of a club manager (and other significant issues). This is nothing new to me.”

Like McCleary and other association presidents in the past, Miner volunteers considerable time to the role. It’s not unusual for her to spend 20 hours a month on her volunteer duties during busy times of the year. And in 2017, she racked up 4,000 miles of driving while serving the CWGA. She averages four meetings a month, along with a like number of phone calls. Overall, this is her seventh year on the board of the CWGA/CGA. She’s a past captain of the Colorado Girls Junior America’s Cup team and she continues to serve on the CGA Course Rating Committee and on the board of trustees for the Colorado Open Golf Foundation. Still, she notes that there are other women’s golf volunteers in the state who devote even more time to the cause.

(And despite her job as a lawyer and her volunteer duties, Miner still plays more than 100 rounds of golf per year. “I try to play golf every day that I can,” she said. “I’m no spring chicken and I’ve only got probably 20 years left (to play regularly). I want to play every day that I can in the 20 years that I have left.”)

Pivotal in the bigger picture of golf in Colorado was the integration with the CGA, which was long in the making. As part of efforts to streamline its relationship with state and regional golf associations, the USGA announced that starting at the beginning of 2018, it would partner with just one full-service Allied Golf Association in each state or region. That directive led to the unification of the associations, which was finalized in the case of the CGA and the CWGA late last summer. The board of directors of the two associations formed into one leadership team, with McCleary and Miner becoming co-presidents. And the staff of the associations merged, based out of the existing CGA offices in Greenwood Village.

Integration of separate golf associations in some other states/regions didn’t go as smoothly. But a foundation that Miner and McCleary laid in the fall of 2015 — before they were presidents — paid dividends in that regard.

The USGA had held a town hall meeting in K.C. regarding its Allied Golf Association plan. On the flight back to Denver, Miner had boarded first, and when McCleary later walked down the aisle, he sat in an available seat in the same row. The two chatted on the flight — mainly about personal things rather than the USGA plan — and hit it off well.

“I firmly belive if you know someone personally, you can do business with them,” Miner said. “That’s the beauty of golf. If you can play a round of golf with someone, you can do business with them. You know what their ethics are, you know what their goals are, what their challenges are. That’s the way to do business.”

Said McCleary: “I didn’t really know her until we went to Kansas City. Our friendship — which is what I’ll call it because I think it’s applicable — really started to develop on the plane flight back.”

From there, as presidents of the CGA and CWGA, McCleary and Miner met regularly for breakfast or lunch, and called each other whenever needed.

“We constantly met and refined the goals of both organizations in the unification (process) so we could combine them to make a better organization,” Miner said. “We’ve always had the same vision — to be the best Allied Golf Association there is and to continue to do the groundbreaking efforts both the CGA and the CWGA have made.

“Although we have a written transition agreement (for the unification of the CGA and CWGA), I would say this is a handshake deal. He promised me and I promised him that we would both get what our members wanted. Although we confirmed it in writing, it was a handshake deal. When I say a handshake deal, that’s a good thing. We trusted each other to understand what each other wanted and needed. We were working toward a common goal.”

McCleary has pointed out at recent public golf functions that he and Miner share the same initials, including the middle name — JFM. McCleary is Joe Franklin McCleary and Miner is Juliet Frances Miner. If that wasn’t a good omen for the two getting along, what is?

“It’s been one of those connection points,” McCleary said. “A lot of time it’s chemistry that gets things done and there was a certain amount of chemistry in getting everything finished (with the unification). That just made it easier for me. I’ve always had a good working relationship with the women from the time I was at Saddle Rock (Golf Course), and this took it to the next level.”

After Miner and McCleary had put so much effort into the integration process, their terms as president were supposed to expire at the end of 2017. But to them — and many others — it didn’t make sense to possibly lose that momentum. So they agreed to stay on in a leadership role for 2018 and presented a united front by sharing the CGA president’s role.

“That sent the right message to everybody involved,” McCleary noted.

Given this unexpected third year as a president, Miner jokingly says she’s the reluctant president — similar to the names of films such as the Relucant Astronaut and the Reluctant Debutante.

“No, I never hesitated (in adding a year to her term),” she said. “It was a show of unity and unification and (McCleary and my) personalities just melded because we have the same work ethic. He’s more detail-oriented, I’m more overview-oriented but together we’re pretty fantastic. I think we were able to present a united front that was best for both organizations and the united organization.”

The unification process was smooth to the point that the CGA nominated the CWGA for the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s Distinguished Service Award, which will be formally presented on May 20 at Sanctuary.

At the recent CGA Women’s Annual Meeting, where Miner received the Volunteer of the Year Award, she was happy to have her husband, Butch Pike, on hand.

“I got to share the award with my husband,” she said, noting that he has driven her to many golf functions over the years. “I think it’s important to say nobody can volunteer without the support of the families because the families are the ones that give up the time with you. It was really fun to have my husband there so he could see what it’s all about because he’d managed to avoid it up until then.”
 

The transition from what was long known as the CWGA Annual Meeting to what is now named the CGA Women’s Annual Meeting appeared seamless on Saturday at the Hilton Denver Inverness.

To be sure, there were some questions from attendees about how specific things will work now that the CGA and CWGA are one unified organization.

But, generally speaking, longtime CGA executive director Ed Mate seemed to sum up the mood of the day when he noted, “We’re just better together. It’s that simple.”

Saturday’s Women’s Annual Meeting featured many of the mainstays from years past — there were golf worshops, a silent auction to benefit the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado, awards presentations, brunch and plenty of socializing among the 175 attendees, which represented about 90 clubs from around the state.

But the one thing that veered from the normal was a panel discussion featuring CGA co-presidents Juliet Miner and Joe McCleary, with Mate asking questions. (Pictured above are, from left, McCleary, Mate and Miner.) One of those queries was about the integration of the CGA and the CWGA, which became official as of Jan. 1. It’s part of a nationwide effort by the USGA to streamline its relationship with state and regional golf associations by partnering with just one full-service Allied Golf Association in each state or region. 

Subsequently, the board of directors of the two associations have formed into one leadership team — in fact it held a quarterly meeting just after the Women’s Annual Meeting. McCleary, the CGA president for the past two years, and Miner, who  served as the CWGA president for a similar time, are co-presidents of the CGA for 2018. And the staff of the associations have also merged, based out of the current CGA offices in Greenwood Village.

“We love to do course rating, we love to run tournaments, we love to run USGA qualifiers, we love to work with (members),” Miner told the audience at the Women’s Annual Meeting. “It was only obvious to our membership that this (unification) was a good thing because now we’re bigger, better, stronger, richer — and we have lots of staff. If you talk to our staff, each and every one of them loves the synergy of being in that office together. … This is not just to make the best of something that the USGA decided was a good idea for golf, but to make it the best for golf in Colorado, and to be a beacon for golf in the United States of America.”

McCleary feels similary after going through a unification process that lasted more than two years.

“From the beginning I said, ‘Let’s do what’s best for golf and golfers in the state of Colorado,” he told the attendees. “We needed to come together as one organization representing both men and women (in order) to lay the groundwork for the future. Things are changing. It’s incredibly important to do what we’ve done. I think it’s paid dividends and it will pay significant dividends in the future.”

Laura Robinson, former CWGA executive director and current managing director of membership and integration for the CGA, organized Saturday’s meeting and liked the way the panel discussion went.

“I hope the women here who heard Joe, Juliet and Ed talk gained a sense of confidence that this (integration) is really good for women’s golf,” Robinson said.

One way that the inification paid off tangibly was evident on Saturday. Last year, the silent auction at the CWGA Annual Meeting raised slightly under $7,000 for junior golf. This year, more than double that total — $15,365 to be exact — was raised for the cause (left). With increased resources being brought to bear with the merged organizations, close to 100 items were available for auction, and a nearly two-week-long online element was added this year, yielding $7,570 of the $15,365 total.

All in all, Miner saw this year’s Annual Meeting as a valuable tool in more ways than one.

“I think the meeting went as successfully as it has been for the last number of years,” she said. “The difference is that we had all of the (pre-existing) CGA board here, which is comprised of mostly men. They’re all here and they’re seeing what we do. They get to see our product — which before they’d only heard about — up close.”

Saddle Rock WGA Named Women’s Club of the Year: For the second straight year, a Women’s Club of the Year was recognized at the Annual Meeting, and this year the honor went to members of the Saddle Rock Women’s Golf Association (left).

The award is presented to a club that has demonstrated a commitment to golf or their community through innovative programs such as fundraising, programs or competitions.

Saddle Rock WGA stood out in part thanks to a tweak of the traditional member-guest tournament format that led to additional fundraising for a good cause. The club played a “Cha-Cha-Cha for Charity” and members were able to invite multiple guests, which increased participation significantly. That resulted in a donation of more than $1,100 to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Additionally, to support the teaching and development of junior golf programs in the community, money was raised for the Paul McMullen Scholarship Fund. Also, Saddle Rock has long provided volunteers for the annual Grandview High School girls golf invitational, running shuttles, registration, check-in and scoring.

The Saddle Rock WGA has celebrated 20 years as an association, with 10 of its original members still actively participating in league play.

Other nominees for the Women’s Club of the Year were:

— Aurora Hills 9-Hole Women’s Golf Association
— Kissing Camels Ladies Golf Association
— Pinery Ladies Golf Association
— Red Sky Ranch
— Riverdale Women’s Golf Association

Last year’s co-Clubs of the Year were from Patty Jewett and Fitzsimons.

Miner Honored as Volunteer of the Year: Juliet Miner has overseen much in her two  years as president of the CWGA and now as co-president of the CGA. There was the hiring of a new CWGA executive director. There was the CWGA celebrating the centennial of its founding. There was the CWGA joining forces with the CGA in establishing a single USGA-affiliated golf association in Colorado.

On Saturday, for all Miner has done for the CWGA, she was named the Volunteer of the Year. (She’s pictured speaking to attendees.)

(FYI: A feature story on Miner and her accomplishments will be published later this month on the coloradogolf.org and coloradowomensgolf.org websites.)

Players of the Year for 2017: The CWGA Players of the Year — and the winner of a related award — were announced last fall, but the three honorees were publicly recognized on Saturday.

Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, the CWGA’s Player of the Year the previous three seasons, was given the President’s Award, the CWGA’s highest honor. Mary Weinsten of Highlands Ranch earned the Player of the Year honor. And Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton won the Senior Player of the Year Award for the eighth time in nine years. Eaton, now an Arizona resident, was likewise named the Arizona Women’s Golf Association Senior POY in 2017, earning that honor for the sixth time.

Kupcho and Weinstein are in the midst of their college seasons — Kupcho at Wake Forest and Weinstein at the University of Denver — and were unable to attend Saturday’s festivities. But Eaton (left) traveled from Arizona for the event.

For information on the 2017 accomplishments of the three players, CLICK HERE.

In Short: A $7,000 check — from money raised at the 2017 CWGA Annual Meeting, was presented Saturday to Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Alan Abrams, president of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado. … Besides CGA co-presidents Juliet Miner and Joe McCleary and executive director Ed Mate, among those in attendance Saturday were the CGA volunteer board of directors, Colorado PGA executive director Eddie Ainsworth and Colorado Golf Hall of Fame president Scott Radcliffe and executive director Jennifer Lyons. The CWGA is receiving a Distinguished Service Award from the Golf Hall of Fame in May. … Among the announcements to attendees on Saturday was a reminder that the Girls Junior America’s Cup, a tournament featuring many of the top female junior golfers from the western U.S., along with Canada and Mexico, will be played in Colorado for the first time in 18 years. The event is set for July 25-27 at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen. … Recognized Saturday for its fundraising was the Raccoon Creek Ladies 9-Hole Group, whose 2017 tournament to benefit the Evans Scholarship for caddies led to a $1,200 donation. … Among the former CWGA board members — and current CGA board members — who have accepted chairperson duties for CGA committees are Laurie Steenrod (Course Rating Committee) and Phyllis Jensen (Tournament Site Selection Committee). … Miner said CGA Women’s Annual Meetings will continue into the future “as long as you (attendees) keep coming.”
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There was a time when there was less of a pressing need for golf to have a formal presence at the Colorado state capitol.

After all, with Les Fowler serving as either a state representative or a state senator for 22 years (1967-88), he could always be counted on to carry the torch for the game if the situation arose at the capitol. Not only was Fowler one of the top amateur players in Colorado, a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and later the president of the CGA, but he was universally respected by his lawmaking colleagues.

But while the game of golf still has plenty of friends among Colorado lawmakers, nowadays it’s wise to have a higher-profile presence at the state capitol. That’s why, for more than two years, the Allied Golf Associations of Colorado (the CGA, CWGA, Colorado PGA, the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Mile High Chapter of the Club Managers Association of America) have commissioned a lobbyist to represent them at the capitol.

It’s also why on Wednesday, the Colorado Golf Alliance Day at the Capitol was held for the second straight year. It’s a chance for golf industry leaders in the state to chat with lawmakers and make them aware of the benefits golf brings to the community.

At least 20 state representatives or senators — along with dozens of others, including Gov. Hickenlooper’s chief of staff — stopped by the west foyer of the capitol on Wednesday morning to chat with golf leaders and collect information. (Among the lawmakers at the event were Rep. Alec Garnett, top, in glasses, and Rep. Daneya Esgar, left, with bag.) Later, the golf folks were introduced on the floor of the House of Representatives (pictured below). 

For those in the golf industry, Golf Day at the Capitol is a very worthwhile endeavor — and in year 2 even moreso than year 1.

“I think our numbers were way up for senators and representatives this year,” said Gary Leeper, executive director of the RMGCSA. “Last year was our first year, and we had a lot of aides and interns who just came by to grab breakfast — and they looked and took some things back. This year, I bet there were twice as many representatives and senators that came down and talked to us — and spent a lot of time actually. It was entirely different. I think we’re at least getting some traction in them knowing we’re there. A lot of them recognized us from last year, so that was good as well.”

Added Laura Robinson, executive director of the CWGA: “Compared to last year, there was a higher buzz, a higher level of energy.”

Like at National Golf Day, which will be held for the 10th time on April 26 on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., part of the idea is to demonstrate that golf pays many dividends — in terms of economic impact, the environment and philanthropically-speaking. For example, the Golf Day at the Capitol event included an “industry scoreboard” which noted the direct impact ($560 million annually) and indirect ($1.2 billion per year) of golf in Colorado; the wildlife habitat that golf courses create; that 88 percent of water used on golf courses is non-potable; that conservation efforts are a very high priority in the industry; and that an initiative such as the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program has reached more than 40,000 students over the past five-plus years.

But in addition to all that, the Golf Day at the Capitol help put faces on the Colorado golf industry for lawmakers. And if issues of special importance to golf come before those lawmakers in the future — issues related to water use, pesticide application, general environmental stewardship or whatever the case may be — that could prove very important.

“It’s a reminder of how important it is to be seen (by lawmakers),” said CGA executive director Ed Mate. “There were a lot of compliments about the job Jennifer (Cassell, the golf alliance’s lobbyist) is doing, so I think we’re well-represented here. It’s part of that presence you need to have here before something blows up that you’re really concerned about. I think it’s important that we be here every year.

“It seems like there were a lot more state legislators and senators that came by today. It’s an easy subject to break the ice with with golf. But this shows (the Golf Day at the Capitol) is going to become an expectation. Once a year doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s a lot better than none.”

Robinson seconds that.

“(The lawmakers) were getting to know the golf industry on a personal level,” she said. “They were able to ask us questions and we answered, but they got to meet us — and that was valuable.

“It’s also valuable that we get to debunk a lot of the myths that some people have about the golf industry. They think that we use water (excessively), we waste resources, we pollute through chemicals, that we are inaccessible. I hope what we shared today through all the literature and the posters was that we are actually a good member of the community. If we even educated two or three people today, it was successful.”
 

Heggie used to play more golf than she does these days. She calls the Riverdale Golf Courses her home facility, but three hip surgeries in the last six years have curtailed her number of rounds. But because she loves being around the game and the people, and being involved with the Rules of Golf, the result has been an increase in the time she donates for CWGA events.

“I don’t play as much golf, so my time is more available,” Heggie noted recently.

In part because of that devotion — and her dedication to making the experience of participating in CWGA events as pleasant as possible — Heggie was recently awarded the CWGA Volunteer of the Year Award.

“Vivian is the most dedicated, passionate, enthusiastic and nutsy person,” CWGA executive director Laura Robinson said with a smile. “She stayed out at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open qualifier for more than 10 hours in the rain and cold. We kept trying to rescue her. She is there when we ask her to be — helping the golfers and making sure everyone has a great experience.

“She’s as enthusiastic about the Rules as she is knowledgeable.”

Last year, Heggie devoted a dozen days to CWGA volunteer work, mainly as a rules official working CWGA championships and USGA qualifiers. That was the most by anyone in 2016. (Heggie is pictured above in a yellow shirt-collar with Sandy Schnitzer, who chairs the CWGA Rules Committee.)

What draws Heggie to play such an active role?

“Staying in touch with golf as much as anything,” she said. “It’s a delightful time — peaceful and quiet. I love being on the golf course. I don’t play as much anymore, but I want to stay in touch with people I know.”

Heggie has served on the CWGA Rules Committee since 2003. Over the years since, she said she’s worked events at more than 50 courses around the state.

“Our winner (Heggie) personifies dedication to the game of golf and dedication to making sure the players are well looked after and that they have a memorable experience,” CWGA president Juliet Miner said at the CWGA Annual Meeting last month. “It takes more than knowledge of the Rules to be a good rules official. It takes tact and the appropriate way to deliver a difficult message at times. Of course, it always helps if you have a delightful English accent (like Heggie). It takes perseverance and patience, and great respect for the players.”

Heggie is a native of England, but as a young woman she was traveling in the U.S. with the plan on proceeding to New Zealand. But she never made it that far. She ended up getting married and settling in Colorado in 1965. Since then, she’s lived in Aspen, Glenwood Springs and Durango before putting down roots in Thornton, her current residence.

Back in her native England, Heggie was a fine player as a girl. In fact, by the time she was 16, she owned roughly a 4 handicap. But when she started beating the boys, she largely gave up the game, not picking it up again and playing regularly until about age 40. Subsequently, for many years, Heggie was a regular competing in the CWGA Brassie and Mashie best-ball championships.

In recent years, Heggie’s hip issues have limited her to about a half-dozen rounds per year. But her interest in the Rules of Golf have filled the void regarding the game.

“The Rules have always fascinated me,” she said when asked what prompted her to start volunteering for the CWGA. “If you really pay attention to the Rules, they can help you rather than hinder you. I thought it would be a good fit for me. And I had friends on the Rules Commitee.”

Heggie has a unique perspective on the role of a rules official.

“I’ve always felt being a rules person is a cross between a mailman and a roadside assistant,” she said. “You’re not stopped by weather and you’re out there to help people. ‘Can I help you and what can I do to make it easier for you?’ I go out there with that attitude.”

Being “fascinated” by the Rules, Heggie is among the rules officials who have followed the USGA’s current Rules modernization process with considerable interest. On March 1, the USGA and R&A announced many proposed Rules changes, but they will accept public input on them through Aug. 31, and later will decide which changes will be implemented and which will be shelved.

“I look forward to change always,” Heggie said. “When I first saw (the proposed changes), I printed it all out (to study more thoroughly). I was basically in favor of most of the things, and there were a few I felt very strongly are absurd. I think dropping a ball from 2 inches is absurd; you might as well place it. But I like the rule about the ball being accidentally moved on the putting green (and no penalty resulting). And I like reducing the maximum length of a ball search to three minutes. But there are just some things in there that don’t make sense to me. I don’t think all of them will go into effect necessarily.

“I haven’t yet commented to the USGA, but I plan to,” Heggie added.

Meanwhile, Heggie is gearing up for another big season of volunteering in CWGA events. She plans on working 11 or 12 tournament days, in addition to helping at a rules seminar and one of the CWGA Experience events.

“When you volunteer, you don’t expect accolades for it,” she said. “It’s one thing I enjoy doing.”
 

Mark Passey had a long career before working full-time in the golf industry, but even way back when, he seemed destined to devote much of his life to the game.

Noting that he caddied periodically for Frank Beard on the PGA Tour in the 1960s, Passey said he learned he didn’t want to tote bags for a living. “But being inside the ropes is special,” Passey added in a recent phone interview. “I thought, ‘I’d love to work at the USGA sometime.’ The fact that it happened is a miracle.”

Indeed, after spending 19 years working for Smith’s Food & Drug in Utah, Passey was hired as the executive director of the Utah Golf Association in the mid-1980s. And for the last 27 1/2 years, he’s been a director of regional affairs for the USGA, with his region always including Colorado. But, as of the end of June, that will change as Passey — who recently turned 70 — is planning to retire.

The Highlands Ranch resident will work his 22nd U.S. Open — this one at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, which will conclude June 18 or 19 — then tie up loose ends for the remainder of that month before bidding adieu to his days as a USGA employee.

“I won’t like it,” Passey said when asked what his emotions will be as he leaves. “It’s very bittersweet. I’m not leaving because I don’t like (what I’m doing anymore). It’s just the right time. I’m 70 and I want time to be home with my family.

“But I’m going to miss my collegauges and the work. I’ve been blessed to do this job. It’s a real privilege. But I’ve thought about it for a long time. And I like to look forward, not back. There’s a lot of fun still left in life. I have an interest in a lot of things. I look at it as a new chapter.”

Besides retirement giving Passey more time to spend with wife Charlene and on (non-golf-related) travel and various others interests, he notes it makes sense from a work standpoint.

“A lot of big projects the USGA are working on are on 1-yard line: (major modernization of the) Rules of Golf, state and regional golf association changes (with the USGA streamlining relationships with SRGAs as part of the USGA’s new membership engagement model), and the worldwide handicap system. They’re all happening at once, so the timing was right.”

The CGA and CWGA have had a close relationship with Passey over his 27-plus years with the USGA as Colorado is one of nine states currently included in the Central Region, for which Passey is the USGA regional affairs director. Other states in the region are Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri — and Passey has traveled to each at least annually. But that relationship is closer for the Colorado associations because Passey has been based in the state since 2006, when he and Charlene moved from Utah, his home for about 50 years of his life.

“Mark came into the golf industry after having had a previous career — and that’s unusual now,” said Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA. “Today’s generation of golf administrators are (mainly) P.J. Boatwright Interns right out of college and they go into it right from the beginning. But Mark was a grocer, got involved (with the Utah Golf Association) as a volunteer, which led to this. … So for 27 years, he’s been pinching himself that he’s been so lucky. He appreciates more than most what the real world is. He’s made the most of those 27 years.

“But the thing about Mark — and I wrote a letter to him and tried to sum it up — he’s really unique in his appreciation for the history for the game. He has great perspective on the game. He has a great loyalty to the USGA, but not blind loyalty; he’s critical at times when he disagrees, but he’s thoughtful. He doesn’t jump to the most popular, trending opinion on things. I have great respect for him and we’ve been very fortunate he’s been here in Colorado because we’ve gotten to see more of him than many of the other states he’s responsible for. We’re going to miss him for sure.”

Mate has known Passey since 1989. Laura Robinson has worked with him for a much shorter time — she became executive director of the CWGA in late 2015 — but she likewise appreciates the work he’s done. (At left, last summer Passey presented Robinson with a plaque from the USGA commemorating the CWGA centennial and honoring the association for its longtime service to the game.)

“Mark has done an incredible job for golf in Colorado,” Robinson said. “We’re going to miss him a lot and I hope he misses us equally.

“He’s helped roll out new programs, he’s a resource for both the CGA and CWGA to go to, he’s our point of contact with the USGA (and) he gives us a heads-up what’s happening. He’s just passionate about golf.”

State and regional golf associations like the CGA and the CWGA run many USGA qualifiers, are sanctioned caretakers of USGA course rating and handicap systems, serve as a clearing house for the USGA Rules of Golf, and share the USGA’s emphasis on outreach and developmental programs, particularly at the junior level. In the last decade, the USGA has provided generous grants to a couple of programs at the CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course — $175,000 for the Kids Course and $10,000 for the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy. The national association also funds Boatwright Internships which benefit the CGA and CWGA. In many ways, the CGA and CWGA have long served as unofficial franchises of the USGA.

Passey, who was the Utah Golf Association’s executive director from mid-’80s until the USGA hired him in 1989, was inducted into the Utah Golf Hall of Fame two years ago. He’s one of six regional affairs directors who serve as liaisons between the USGA and SRGAs and as facilitators for USGA programs at a local level, sharing best practices and helping make sure those programs run successfully. Passey also attends Rules of Golf workshops and the USGA annual meeting, among many other events.

Although the Texas Golf Association is no longer part of Passey’s regional territory, it originally was. And he takes some pride in his role in helping the TGA improve and grow dramatically as an organization to the point that it’s now one of the largest state and regional golf associatons in the country.

More generally, Passey is also proud of how the USGA has “really raised the bar” in recent decades regarding improving USGA qualifying tournaments — largely run by state and regional golf associations — and implementation of USGA programs “where the rubber meets the road,” as he once said.

In addition to his role regarding regional affairs per se, Passey is highly regarded for his work at USGA championships. Over the years, he’s worked roughly 140 of them — with the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Pinehurst and the U.S. Open at Erin Hills this spring marking the last of his run as a USGA employee. That 140 includes quite a few in Colorado, including two U.S. Amateurs that Cherry Hills Country Club has hosted. In fact, his first USGA championship as an employee was the ’90 U.S. Am won by Phil Mickelson, marking Mickelson’s only USGA title to date. (Passey is pictured at left, in white, at the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.)

At those championships, he’s had a variety of different roles, including scoring and Rules of Golf-related work, player registration, staff person in charge or an assistant. But his work overseeing the large scoreboards at many events has often drawn the most attention.

“Mark is probably most known for his incredible skills doing scoreboards — and not just the calligraphy part but the mathematical part,” Mate said. “He’s really a savant. He can spell the name of every player in the game of golf. Every year at the U.S. Open he’ll sit there at check-in and he has this great curiosity and he knows the etymology of names.

“He has this acronym for scoreboards called ART. A scoreboard is accurate, readable and timely — and they’re all important. I don’t care how pretty it is; if it’s not accurate it’s no good; if it’s so pretty you can’t read it, it’s no good; and if it goes up 10 minutes after the tournament is over, what good is it? It needs to be timely. That’s going to be his legacy, I think.

“That’s a skill that’s no longer really being used. Everybody says there’s TV, mobile devices and real-time scoring — and that’s true. But there’s no way, even with technology, you can have one display that has every piece of information on it more efficiently than a hand-done scoreboard. You can get every data point you need. And the phone is more cumbersome. It’s all there but it’s harder to get to.

“(Also), his ability to add up a scorecard in his head is just incredible. Everything is (based off of) 4s, so it’s plus and minus (from) 4s. But he’s so beyond that. If he sees a 3 and a 5 he knows that’s 8 so he doesn’t even see those. The most amazing thing to watch is when he does a scoreboard for the U.S. Amateur — which is 312 players at two sites. He’s not sitting down all day. Everything he’s doing is by hand and it’s amazing.”

In fact, Passey is so adept with scoreboard paper and scoreboard pens that he’s created some golf-related artwork with them that are good enough that two or three of his pieces are displayed in the USGA Museum and he’s given many others away to people who originally requested to buy them. In retirement, Passey said he may do some fine-art versions of golf course landscapes.

Other things that Passey thinks are possibilities in retirement for him are doing some golf course architectural consulting, possibly contributing to a book, and traveling to places he hasn’t been before.

“I’ve traveled everywhere in the U.S., to the point that I can (drive around many) cities without a map,” he said. “But I haven’t been to Europe. … I’m fascinated by the world.

“One thing I’m trying really hard not to do is plan every day. At every championship that I’ve worked, you’re up at about 4:30 a.m. and you don’t get back until about 10 p.m. I’ve done a lot of that for a long time.”

But Passey is not quite done yet — even at significant championships held in Colorado. In fact, he plans on serving as a rules official at the men’s Pac-12 Conference Championships that Boulder Country Club is hosting April 28-30.

And even after retiring, Passey said he and Charlene will continue to live in Colorado.

“I’ve been fortunate to go to such great places,” said Passey, who has two grown daughters in Utah and Pennsylvania, along with grandchildren. “I’ve gone everywhere in America. I asked myself, ‘where would you rather live (than Colorado)?’ I can’t think of anywhere.”