Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the second monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles will be published on ColoradoGolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 1925-34. For a list of all installments to date, CLICK HERE. 

The decade beginning in 1925 featured some of the highest highs and lowest lows in Colorado golf history — just as it did for the nation as a whole.

The most obvious reason was the dawning of the Great Depression. The country went from the Roaring Twenties to one of the worst economic collapses the U.S. has ever seen, starting with the stock market crash in October 1929.

Colorado golf, of course, reflected what was happening nationwide. In the last half of the 1920s, such local gems as Wellshire Golf Course (1926) and Green Gables Country Club (1928) — both of which would go on to host men’s or women’s tour events — opened for business. But in the quarter-century from 1930 through ’54, a grand total of just eight new courses that still exist came online.

There’s no other 25-year period in Colorado golf in which so few courses opened.

But those certainly aren’t the only highs and lows of this time. The decade from 1925-34 witnessed the beginning and end of two of the most successful runs in Colorado amateur golf history.

In 1928, dentist Larry Bromfield (left) defeated Nate Grimes 1-up in the CGA Match Play final, marking his eighth and final victory in the event, a feat unmatched to this day. How good was Bromfield? In 1922, he played the famous Gene Sarazen in a 36-hole exhibition, taking him to the final hole before losing 2-down.

And on the women’s side, in 1930 Phyllis Buchanan won the first of her record six CWGA Match Play titles. The Denver resident also captured the prestigious Women’s Trans National championship in 1933 in Iowa.

Then there was an out-of-stater who did great things in Colorado in 1933 en route to a World Golf Hall of Fame career. Read on for more about him.

Here are some of the other Colorado golf highlights from the period 1925-34:

— From 1927 through ’33, the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs hosted the prestigious Trans-Miss championship a remarkable three times in seven years. The winners of the titles those years were John Goodman (1927), Robert McCrary (1930) and Gus Moreland (1933). Goodman went on to claim the championship three times and Moreland and McCrary twice each.

— In 1933 rapidly emerging Stanford golfer Lawson Little (pictured at top) had a big year in Colorado. He won the title in the Broadmoor Invitation in Colorado Springs, one of the top amateur tournaments of the time, and captured the CGA Match Play championship with a 9 and 7 victory over Frank English in the final. Little also finished runner-up to Moreland at the Broadmoor in the Trans-Miss. He would go on to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame after sweeping the U.S. and British Amateur titles in both 1934 and ’35. During his run in the two national amateur events, Little won a remarkable 32 consecutive matches. He went on to capture the U.S. Open in 1940. Lawson and Hale Irwin (1967) have the distinction of being the only Broadmoor Invitation winners who were inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Joining Little in capturing the Broadmoor Invitation title during the decade we’re detailing was N.C. “Tub” Morris (1928), for whom the CGA Stroke Play Championship Trophy is named.

— Will Nicholson Sr. (left, at the Broadmoor Invitation), who would become the mayor of Denver in 1955, played a key role at the Western Golf Association in the mid-1930s, serving as a director from 1933 to ’36 before becoming a member of the USGA Executive Committee. Nicholson’s son, Will Jr., became president of the USGA in 1980.

— In 1929, Denver Country Club hosted the Women’s Trans National Championship, and Mrs. O.S. Hill of Kansas City, Mo., won the second of her four Trans National titles.

Next up: 1935-44, when Colorado hosts its first major championships.
 

The competitive golf season in Colorado will crank up to high gear in the coming weeks, and for one of the most notable tournament additions for this year, organizers will go back to the future.

The Broadmoor Invitation, an amateur event that built a big-time local and national reputation over a run that started shortly after World War I (1921) and continued until after the Cold War concluded (1995), will be resurrected this year.

After an absence of nearly two decades, the Broadmoor Invitation will rejoin the golf scene July 6-10, with the East Course at the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs hosting the first return installment. The West Course also will probably be used in future years, according to Russ Miller, the Broadmoor’s director of golf.

“We’re trying to re-establish a historical tournament and things around the hotel,” Miller said, acknowledging that Phil Anschutz, whose corporation bought the Broadmoor in 2011, would like to tap into — and build upon — the rich history of the Broadmoor. “He’s very much that way. And we had a great Invitation here for a long time.”

Indeed, among the winners of the men’s Broadmoor Invitation over its long run as a premier amateur tournament were future U.S. Open champions Hale Irwin (winner at the Broadmoor in 1967) and Lawson Little (1933), along with Tom Purtzer (1973), Grier Jones (1968), Duffy Waldorf (1984), Bob Dickson (1966), John Fought (1977) and Willie Wood (1983) — all of whom went on to win on the PGA Tour.

Irwin, who also captured the 1967 NCAA title as a University of Colorado golfer, won 20 times on the PGA Tour (including three U.S. Opens), a record 45 times on the Champions Tour, and has been a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame since 1992. Little is also a World Golf Hall of Famer. Other Broadmoor Invitation champions include noted lifelong amateur great Charlie Coe (1947 and ’48), three-time Colorado Open champion Bill Loeffler (1976, ’78 and ’87), N.C. “Tub” Morris (for whom the CGA Stroke Play Championship Trophy is named; 1928), and Jim English (1955 and ’64). For the record, the tournament was called the Broadmoor Amateur Open during its early years.

But while the Broadmoor Invitation was an individual competition for the great majority of its run, the 21st-century version will hearken back to the format the tournament used in the final years of its previous incarnation — as a scratch four-ball championship.

Miller hopes to draw 64 two-man teams — with players with handicaps of 12 and lower — and he currently has about half the field full. After a practice round on July 6, a qualifying round will be played on July 7, then July 8 through 10 will feature match play. And regardless of how teams fare, they’ll play all the way through the 10th.

“We’re trying to get away from college golfers, and go more to seniors and mid-amateurs,” Miller said. “We’re not trying to compete with the U.S. Amateur. Most of the people in the field will be 40 or older,” though it’s open to younger golfers.

“Most of the players signed up (so far) are from Texas and Oklahoma, and a lot of them played (the Broadmoor Invitation) in the past or their dads played.”

While players from all over are welcome, the Broadmoor is hoping to get a large representation from Colorado.

Though the Broadmoor Invitation in its previous run preceded Miller’s arrival at the golf club (1998), he said the tournament went by the wayside primarily due to financial reasons, with two golf courses being used for a week during the prime season, and players not required to stay at the Broadmoor Hotel.

In the 21st-century Broadmoor Invitation, it’s a package deal. The cost — $3,950 for one player and a spouse/guest — includes accommodations at the Broadmoor Hotel, five rounds of golf, tournament registration, a variety of exclusive events and activities, selected meals and receptions for both players and their spouses/guests, and gifts and awards. Dow Finsterwald, winner of the 1958 PGA Championship and a former director of golf at the Broadmoor, will be a special guest at the closing awards dinner on July 10. For more information or to enter, contact Miller at rmiller@broadmoor.com.

With the Broadmoor featuring a five-star hotel and golf courses that have hosted seven USGA championships, the Invitation is right in the resort’s wheel-house. Earlier this year, the Broadmoor was named the top resort in North America in Golf magazine’s biennial rankings. In earning the No. 1 spot, the Broadmoor beat out the likes of The Greenbrier, Bandon Dunes, Kiawah Island, and the Pebble Beach, Pinehurst and Sea Island resorts.

(Top photo: Will Nicholson Sr., a onetime mayor of Denver, presents the Broadmoor Invitation trophies. Photo below: runner-up Walter Crooks and champion George Cornes with the trophy in 1929.)