Fowler, who played golf for CU and was a volunteer coach of the men’s team for 29 years (1948-76), will be inducted — posthumously — into the Hall on Nov. 9.

Fowler tied for fourth place in the 1948 Big Seven Conference Championship while serving as a player-coach. During his long coaching career at CU, among his standout players were Hale Irwin and Dale Douglass, both of whom went on to successful runs on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.

During Fowler’s coaching years, CU won three conference titles and Irwin claimed the only NCAA individual championship in the history of the men’s program (1967). Fowler’s 1968 squad placed eighth in the NCAA Championships, marking the Buffs’ best showing ever in the tournament.

Fowler, a longtime member at Boulder Country Club, was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1978. The CGA’s Player of the Year award is named after him.

Fowler, who served as a state senator and representative, passed away in 2003 at age 78.

Other inductees into the 2017 CU Athletic Hall of Fame class:

Stan Brock, Football (1976-79)
Chad Brown, Football (1989-92)
Frank Brown, Skiing (1957-59)
Karrie Downey, Volleyball (1991-94)
Steve Hatchell, Football/Administration (1966-75)
Mark Haynes, Football (1976-79)
Jay Humphries, Basketball (1980-84)
Jamillah Lang, Women’s Basketball (1990-94)
Jorge Torres, Cross Country & Track (1999-2003)  
 

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.”
 

Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the ninth monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles are being published on coloradogolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 1995-2004. For the previous installments, CLICK HERE.

There have been many groundbreaking and pivotal moments for women in the history of golf in Colorado and beyond, but it hasn’t gotten much bigger in the Centennial State than in the mid- and late-1990s.

It started with The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs hosting the 50th U.S. Women’s Open in 1995, marking the first time arguably the top championship in women’s golf has come to Colorado — or the Mountain time zone, for that matter. And though no one realized it at the time, one of the sport’s all-time greats was to emerge, as Annika Sorenstam made that tournament the first of what would become 72 LPGA Tour victories before she unexpectedly retired in 2008.

In the first of her 10 major championship wins, Sorenstam (below) finished a stroke ahead of Meg Mallon and two in front of Pat Bradley and Betsy King at The Broadmoor’s historic East Course. That was the first year the U.S. Women’s Open featured a purse of at least $1 million.

While all that was huge from a historical perspective, the next year was even more unique.

That was when Colorado Springs resident Judy Bell was elected president of the USGA, becoming the first female to hold that post. In fact, Bell’s two-year term beginning in January 1996 remains the only one in which a woman has served as USGA president since Theodore Havemeyer became the first president of the association in 1894.

“I bet that’s the first time the incoming president kissed the outgoing president on the way to the dais,” Bell memorably joked after it was announced she would succeed Reg Murphy.

But, as former USGA president Stuart Bloch noted, “Judy’s gender, I don’t believe, was a consideration in her election. Her abilities, I think, were the consideration that caused her to be selected as the first woman president. If she were a man, she would have been elected.”

Overall, Bell was the third Coloradan to become USGA president, following Denver residents Frank Woodward (1915-16) and Will Nicholson Jr. (1980-81). (Bell is pictured at top in a USGA photo presenting the low-amateur award to Cristie Kerr at the 1996 U.S. Women’s Open.)

During Bell’s presidency, the USGA started the “For the Good of the Game” program, a $50 million initiative which aimed to increasingly spread the game to groups such as youth, minorities and the disabled.

Bell had had a long, distinguished career as both a player and a volunteer golf administrator leading up to her presidency. She had served on the USGA Women’s Committee starting in 1968 and chaired that committee from 1981 to ’84. Then in 1987, she became the first woman elected to the USGA Executive Committee.

On the playing end, Bell won three Kansas women’s amateurs, starting at age 15, and three Broadmoor Ladies Invitation titles, competed in 38 USGA championships and was both a player and captain on U.S. Curtis Cup teams. And in 1964, she shot the lowest round in the history of the U.S. Women’s Open, a 6-under-par 67, a standard which stood for 14 years.

For all this and much more, Bell was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.

But Bell wasn’t the only woman from Colorado in USGA volunteer leadership roles around this time. Colorado Springs’ Barbara McIntire, winner of two U.S. Women’s Amateurs and a British Ladies Amateur, served as USGA Women’s Committee chair in 1995-96, and Denver’s Joan Birkland, another accomplished athlete, followed McIntire in that role in 1997-98.

On a more local level, 1995 marked the debut of the Colorado Women’s Open.

Here are some of the other Colorado golf highlights of the period from 1995-2004:

— Steve Jones (left), who grew up in Yuma, Colo., and played golf at the University of Colorado, won the 1996 U.S. Open, overcoming runners-up Davis Love and Tom Lehman. The victory culminated a remarkable comeback after Jones was off the PGA Tour for almost three years following a dirt-bike accident in November 1991. The victory gave former CU golfers four U.S. Open titles — three for Hale Irwin and one for Jones.

— In 1996, the CGA entered into an agreement with the Lowry Redevelopment Authority to purchase the former Lowry Air Force Base golf course. The CWGA became partner with the CGA in the purchase of the course. The site is now home of CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA.

— From 1996 to ’98, Ken Krieger won three consecutive Colorado PGA Professional Championships, becoming the second player in the 1990s to do so, joining Ron Vlosich (1991-93).

— In the five-year period from 1997-2001, an amazing 42 courses opened in Colorado.

— Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the 1998 Trans Miss, won by Dan Dunkelberg. Coloradan John Olive was the runner-up.

— CU graduate Hale Irwin won two U.S. Senior Opens in three years, in 1998 and 2000. That gave the former Buff a total of five USGA championships, including his three U.S. Opens.

— In 1998, The Broadmoor hosted the biennial PGA Cup matches, which pits the top club professionals from the U.S. and Great Britain & Ireland. In Colorado Springs, the U.S. defeated GB&I 17-9.

— In the period from 1999 to 2002, Kevin Stadler won the CGA Match Play title twice, along with the 2002 Colorado Open championship in his pro debut. During the decade 1995-2004, Stadler and Jonathan Kaye (1996) won the Colorado Open en route to becoming PGA Tour champions.

— John Olive, winner of the 1977 CGA Match Play, became one of the top senior players in Colorado history. In addition to claiming titles in five CGA Senior Stroke Plays and four Senior Match Plays during this decade, he won the inaugural Colorado Senior Open (1999) and remains the only amateur to earn the title in that event.

— Colorado PGA members received four more PGA of America national awards in this decade: Alan Abrams (1997 Junior Golf Leader), Mike McGetrick (1999 Teacher of the Year), Charles “Vic” Kline (2000 Golf Professional of the Year) and Russ Miller (2003 Resort Merchandiser of the Year).

— In 2000, Coloradan Kaye Kessler won the PGA of America’s National Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism.

— Also in 2000, Warren Simmons retired as CGA executive director, with Ed Mate succeeding him. Mate continues in the position to this day.

— Nicki Cutler won the CWGA Stroke Play three times in a four-year period from 2000-03.

— Rick DeWitt, the 1999 CGA Stroke Play champ, won the last of his record seven CGA Mid-Amateur titles in 2002 before being inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and later turning pro. He was named CGA Player of the Year a record six times.

— With financial issues and mismanagement burdening the Colorado Open, the 2003 championship was called off during tournament week. Thanks in large part to developer Pat Hamill, the event was resurrected in 2004.

— The International at Castle Pines saw two future World Golf Hall of Famers — Phil Mickelson (1993 and ’97) and Davis Love III (1990 and 2003) win the PGA Tour event for the second time.

— Les Fowler, a Colorado Golf Hall of Fame player and a former CGA president who had a key role in the CGA acquiring the golf course at Lowry, passed away in 2003.

— In 2004, Steve Irwin, a former pro who regained his amateur status, joined his father Hale (1966) as a winner of the CGA Match Play.

— Jamie Lovemark won the prestigious 2004 Western Junior at Denver Country Club. Lovemark later became the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world.