On Monday, Mark Pfingston, the PGA head professional at The Golf Club at Bear Dance in Larkspur, was named the PGA of America’s national 2017 Merchandiser of the Year for public facilities. Pfingston will formally receive the award on Nov. 1 in Austin, Texas at the PGA of America’s annual meeting.

This marks the sixth time a Colorado PGA professional has received a PGA of America national honor for merchandising — and the fourth time since 2012.

Coloradans previously honored nationally for merchandising by the PGA of America:

— Keith Schneider, 1990 Private Merchandiser of the Year
— Russ Miller, 2003 Resort Merchandiser of the Year
— George Kahrhoff, 2012 Private Merchandiser of the Year
— Dale Smigelsky, 2012 Public Merchandiser of the Year
— Jim Hajek, 2015 Public Merdhandiser of the Year

Pfingston has been the head pro at Bear Dance since 2006 after previously being an assistant for three years at the club where the Colorado PGA is based. (Pfingston is pictured in a Section photo.)

As the PGA of America noted in its story announcing national award winners, “During Pfingston’s time as head golf professional, golf shop sales have skyrocketed, and they continue to grow. Pfingston, who values creativity in the shop as a way of maintaining an appealing environment and increasing sales, has redefined the shop experience for his customers. In running an aesthetically pleasing, true ‘mountain style’ course, he and his staff seek to create raving fans by exceeding customer expectations every day.”

Pfingston was the Colorado PGA’s Public Merchandiser of the Year in 2005, ’15 and “˜16.

With Pfingston’s accomplishment, Colorado PGA members continued their roll of the last decade-plus in receiving national recogntion for their work. In the last 11 years (2007 through ’17), CPGA members — or the Section as a whole — have earned nine national awards from the PGA of America.

Dating back to 1958 — when Dow Finsterwald won the PGA Championship and took home the PGA of America’s Player of the Year honor — the Colorado PGA have received 18 national PGA annual awards.

Here are all the PGA of America national award winners from the Colorado PGA:

— Dow Finsterwald, 1958 Player of the Year
— Warren Smith, 1973 Golf Professional of the Year
— Jim Bailey, 1976 Horton Smith Award
— Paul Runyan, 1977 Horton Smith Award
— Keith Schneider, 1990 Private Merchandiser of the Year
— Alan Abrams, 1997 Junior Golf Leader
— Mike McGetrick, 1999 Teacher of the Year
— Vic Kline, 2000 Golf Professional of the Year
— Russ Miller, 2003 Resort Merchandiser of the Year
— Danny Harvanek, 2007 Junior Golf Leader
— Clayton Cole, 2008 Bill Strausbaugh Award
— Kyle Heyen, 2009 Presidents Plaque Award
— Ann Finke, 2010 Junior Golf Leader
— Colorado Section PGA, 2011 Herb Graffis Award
— George Kahrhoff, 2012 Private Merchandiser of the Year
— Dale Smigelsky, 2012 Public Merchandiser of the Year
— Jim Hajek, 2015 Public Merdhandiser of the Year
— Mark Pfingston, 2017 Public Merdhandiser of the Year
 

For the fourth time since late May, the Colorado golf community lost one of its most notable members as Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Bill Bisdorf passed away last Monday (Sept. 19) in Denver at the age of 87.

Ironically, the man who was born exactly four months before Arnold Palmer in 1929 died just six days before The King did on Sunday.

In winning three of the first four Colorado Opens at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, Bisdorf is one of just three players who have captured that title at least three times, along with Dave Hill (four wins) and Bill Loeffler (three).

Bisdorf (pictured) was runner-up to Bob Pratt in the 1966 Colorado Open, meaning his first four finishes in the tournament were first, first, second, first. He was also second in 1975 (placing just in front of Peter Jacobsen), third in 1971 and fifth in ’72.

Add it up and that’s seven top-five finishes in the first dozen Colorado Opens. He also won the the 1959 and ’66 Colorado Section PGA Championships, the 1960 Wyoming Open and the 1965 Mile High Open.

Ronn Spargur, a former longtime executive director of the Colorado Open, noted that Rocky Mountain News golf writer Dave Nelson — who’s also in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame — had a nickname for Bisdorf back in his prime.

“He called him ‘the blacksmith’ because (Bisdorf) could hit the ball two or three miles,” Spargur said. “He was really strong.”

Indeed, it’s said that Bisdorf out-drove Jack Nicklaus during practice leading up to the 1967 PGA Championship at Columbine Country Club.

Not surprisingly, Bisdorf was named the Colorado PGA’s Player of the Year following his first two Colorado Open victories (1964 and ’65). He also claimed the championship in 1967. Interestingly, Bisdorf didn’t receive any official prize money for winning the first Colorado Open as there was no purse that year. And it’s notable that the runner-up that first year, amateur Jim English, also passed away in the summer of 2016. In ’65 and ’67, Bisdorf won $1,000 and $1,200, respectively, for his Colorado Open victories.

Bisdorf competed in 46 events on the PGA Tour from 1956 to ’71, including a career-high 14 in 1957. He posted two top-10 finishes, including a third place in 1956.

Bisdorf played 16 major championships over the years — 10 PGA Championships and six U.S. Opens. He finished tied for 20th — along with Raymond Floyd — in the 1967 PGA Championship at Columbine.

And after the creation of the Senior Tour — now known as PGA Tour Champions — Bisdorf competed in nine events on that circuit from 1980 to ’86, recording three top-25 finishes.

A member of the PGA of America since 1955, Bisdorf served as the head professional at Green Gables Country Club from 1959 through ’67. He later owned Denver Capitol Golf, where golfers could receive year-round lessons, then was head professional at Twilight Golf Course from 1979 to ’89.

Bisdorf was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1989. Since May, fellow Hall of Famers Will Nicholson Jr., English and Ed Nosewicz have also passed away.

Norma Bisdorf, Bill’s wife, said there will be no services, but half of his ashes will be placed at Fort Logan Cemetary. Bill Bisdorf served in the Navy and played on Naval Championship teams along with Billy Casper and Gene Littler during the early 1950s. 

Bisdorf is survived by Norma, five children, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
 

The choice of Pete Bevacqua as keynote speaker for the second annual G4 Summit wasn’t just serendipitous, but in some ways it seemed ideal given the nature of the gathering.

After all, this was an event designed so that Colorado’s top golf organizations could join forces to combat issues that keep golf from realizing its full potential in the state.

And who better to talk about what can be achieved by teaming up than someone who has held major leadership positions at both the PGA of America and the USGA? Bevacqua has seen the game from both sides — as well as from having been a caddie, a caddiemaster and a golf shop attendant.

Especially given his background, he realizes that organizations staking out territory often is counterproductive, especially when they share the overarching goal of growing the game of golf.

Bevacqua (left) has noted the possibilities when groups such as the PGA of America, the USGA, the PGA and LPGA Tours, and Augusta National collectively attack an issue.

“We all come at it from slightly different angles, but the similarities so vastly outweigh the differences, so what we can do is profound,” he said Tuesday in a speech at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. “And I think collaboration is at an all-time high.”

While Bevacqua, now the CEO of the PGA of America, was speaking about the national golf organizations, his words fit just as well on a local level in Colorado.

At the Broadmoor, representatives from the CGA, CWGA, Colorado PGA, the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents and the Mile High Chapter of the Club Managers Association came together in an effort to help make the game in Colorado take a step or two in the right direction.

And certainly something must have struck a chord for those in the golf industry as about 300 people — up from a little more than 125 last year — attended the second G4 Summit.

“The collaboration is better than it’s ever been,” noted Eddie Ainsworth, executive director of the Colorado PGA. “We’re in control of our future, and I’m excited about it.”

Asked his reaction to how the day played out, CGA executive director Ed Mate said, “I would just say ‘home run’. You plan a day like today — it’s a team effort; it was truly the G4. Really what it shows is when you work together you get better results. … It’s going to be a tough act to follow, frankly, for future years. It was an A-plus.”

The main speakers covered a wide variety of topics, all very important to golf’s future. Hunki Yun, who as director of strategic projects with the USGA helps oversee pace-of-play issues for the organization, detailed that problem and ways to combat it. “The more (data) you have about what’s happening, the better,” he said. “It’s crucial to have control over the system.”

Sandy Cross (left), senior director of diversity and inclusion at the PGA of America, discussed the importance of understanding generational attributes in trying to attract young, middle-aged and older players — as well as both women and men — to the game. “It has dramatic implications for what (golf) is trying to accomplish,” she said. “Marketing must evolve. We have to adapt.”

And some ingrained ideas are simply outmoded, Cross said, citing for example the idea of selecting tee boxes based on gender rather than ability. “That’s deeply flawed. It’s denigrating and not welcoming.”

And Bevacqua not only spoke about the PGA’s strategic plan, but in steps the organization has taken recently to grow the game and become more inclusive. He cited Suzy Whaley becoming the first national female officer of the PGA of America, working with the LPGA to create the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the national PGA being more open to ideas emanating from the PGA Sections, and PGA programs such as Get Golf Ready, PGA Junior League and the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship.

“It was a great day of education and exchanging information and best practices,” said CWGA executive director Ann Guiberson, who was attending her first G4 Summit after being hired early last spring. “It was very informative, with some top speakers. And I think the mix of speakers appealed to a wide audience.”

Given that nationwide, the National Golf Foundation reports that only about 21 percent of all golfers are women, the CWGA was especially interested in getting Cross’ perspective on growing the game among females. To that end, the CWGA leadership met with Cross to exchange information, ask questions and “get some more ideas as to what we can do to grow women’s golf in Colorado,” Guiberson said.

In addition to the presentations, there was a panel discussion in which Bevacqua, Yun, Cross and J.D. Dockstader, chief business development officer of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, addressed a wide variety of golf industry-related topics (photo at bottom).

While many major hurdles remain for golf, they don’t seem quite as insurmountable when the golf industry throws its collective weight behind trying to implement solutions.

“Combined, we can make golf all it can be,” noted CGA president Phil Lane, who served as an unofficial host at his home club at the Broadmoor.

All in all, what came to fruition Tuesday gave the organizers a sense of satisfaction in taking a noteworthy step forward.

“This is something Ed Mate and I have been passionately working on (along with the CWGA, superintendents and club managers) for several years now,” Ainsworth said. “We are singularly focused on moving the needle together.”

Notable: The CGA provided a sneak preview of its new logo to those in attendance at the G4 Summit. The full-scale public unveiling will be coming shortly. … The Colorado PGA reported the Golf in Schools Program, a joint effort of the Allied Golf Associations in Colorado, has now reached 30,000 kids through P.E. classes over the last five years. … To date, 29 Colorado golf facilities have signed up for PGA Junior League Golf, where the idea is to bring a Little League atmosphere to junior golf competition for boys and girls of all skill levels. … Local qualifiers for the 2015 Drive Chip & Putt Championship will take place in June and July, with a sub-regional planned for CommonGround Golf Course on Aug. 30. The competition is open to boys and girls age 7-15. For a list of the Colorado qualifying sites, CLICK HERE.