It was quite a diverse and accomplished group of inductees and award winners that were celebrated Sunday night at the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s 46th annual induction dinner, held at Sanctuary golf course in Sedalia:

— Inducted was a person (Jim Bunch) who has served at some of the highest levels of volunteer golf administration, including on the USGA Executive Committee and as chairman of the Western Golf Association, the USGA Rules of Golf Committee and of the Evans Scholars Foundation that awards full tuition and housing college scholarships to high-achieving caddies with limited financial means.

Helping salute Bunch on Sunday — via video — were USGA CEO Mike Davis and WGA president and CEO John Kaczkowski.

“Jim always gave back (to the game) more than he received,” Davis noted.

Bunch’s foundation in golf was laid when he caddied in the Chicago area beginning as a 12-year-old. “I got more education in the caddie yard than I did in the rest of my life,” he said.

— Also inducted was a PGA Master Professional (Danny Harvanek) whose instruction work with junior golfers earned him the PGA of America’s national Junior Golf Leader award and who planted the seeds that led to the highly successful Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program.

Noted Harvanek, who was the first PGA head professional at Bear Creek Golf Club, earned the Colorado PGA Golf Professional of the Year honor three times, received an award from the CGA for outstanding contributions to amateur golf, and authored eight golf books: It’s been “a Walter Mitty life.”

(The two inductees are pictured above, with Harvanek at left.)

— Honored for distinguished service was an organization (the CWGA) which drew accolades for more than a century of work in women’s golf and which continues to be a cornerstone of the game in Colorado after joining forces with the CGA at the beginning of the year.

“In the past, we worked hard to become the best damn women’s golf association around — and we did it,” said Juliet Miner, the final president of the CWGA, and now co-president of the CGA with Joe McCleary.

— Likewise honored was the the first class of “Future Famers” — teenagers who have shown all the makings of stellar careers in Colorado golf: Davis Bryant of Aurora and Hailey Schalk of Erie. Schalk will defend her 3A girls state high school title starting Monday in Pueblo.

Noting the name of the award presented to Bryant and Schalk, longtime CGHOF master of ceremonies Tom Green quipped, “No pressure there.”

— Also receiving an award (Golf Person of the Year) was a PGA golf professional (Mark Pfingston of the Golf Club at Bear Dance) who last year earned the PGA of America’s top honor for merchandising at a public facility.

— And there was the man CGHOF president Scott Radcliffe called “kind of a background guy” (Rich Billings), who has provided the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame all manner of support over the last several decades. Billings received a lifetime achievement honor.

“It’s a tremendous organization,” Billings said of the Hall of Fame. “And I feel tremendous kinship with the board.”

A crowd of about 180 attended Sunday’s banquet, including many CGHOF inductees, among them 1958 PGA Championship winner Dow Finsterwald and the Century of Golf Gala’s Colorado Golf Professional of the Century, Vic Kline.

For an earlier story about some of the accomplishments of Sunday’s honorees, CLICK HERE.

The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame will return to Sanctuary on Aug. 22 to host its annual golf tournament. For more information on that event, email CGHOF executive director Jennifer Lyons at jennifer@cghof.org

Below are some additional photos from Sunday’s fesitivites: From top: Miner and former CWGA executive director Laura Robinson; Pfingston; and Billings. 

This summer, there’s an opportunity to both play a stellar golf course which isn’t easy to get on, and to help honor three of Colorado’s all-time golf greats.

The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame will hold its annual tournament on June 29 at a very popular, picturesque venue — Santuary Golf Course in Sedalia — with first-come, first-served registration opening on Friday (Feb. 10) at 9 a.m.

And following the round of golf, three of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s most notable inductees will be recognized — Judy Bell, Dale Douglass and Dow Finsterwald.

Bell was the first female president of the USGA. Douglass won three times on the PGA Tour and 11 on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, including the 1986 U.S. Senior Open. And Finsterwald claimed a dozen PGA Tour wins, with the 1958 PGA Championship being the most notable.

The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame tournament on June 29, which will feature a “shamble” format, will begin with an 11:30 a.m. shotgun start. The cost is $1,000 per foursome. To register for the event beginning Friday at 9 a.m., CLICK HERE.

The reception where Bell, Douglass and Finsterwald will be recognized will follow the golf.

Also this year, the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame will be holding its induction dinner on May 21, also at Sanctuary. Inducted that night will be M.J. Mastalir of Denver, with annual awards going to the new Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado, Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, and Rick Polmear of Greenwood Village.

For more information on either the induction dinner or the golf tournament, contact CGHOF executive director Sammie Chergo at sammiechergo@gmail.com or 303-594-9159. To visit the CGHOF website, CLICK HERE.

Ballyneal in Holyoke, designed by Tom Doak, holds down the No. 1 slot on the list, which includes public, private and resort courses. Earlier this year, Ballyneal (pictured) was ranked No. 4 among Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses in the U.S.

Here are the top 40 in Colorado, as ranked by Top 100 Golf Courses:

1. Ballyneal
2. Cherry Hills CC
3. Colorado GC
4. Castle Pines GC
5. Sanctuary
6. Broadmoor (East)
7. Ravenna
8. CC of the Rockies
9. Maroon Creek
10. Denver CC

11. Redlands Mesa
12. Red Sky (Fazio)
13. Red Sky (Norman)
14. Cornerstone (now closed)
15. Aspen Glen
16. Roaring Fork
17. CommonGround
18. Catamount Ranch
19. Adam’s Mountain (renamed Frost Creek)
20. Broadmoor (West)

21. Breckenridge
22. Lakota Canyon
23. Cordillera (Valley)
24. Ironbridge
25. Ridge at Castle Pines North
26. Pradera
27. CC at Castle Pines
28. Raven at Three Peaks
29. Haymaker
30. Columbine CC

31. Devil’s Thumb
32. Murphy Creek
33. Cougar Canyon (now closed)
34. Flying Horse
35. Riverdale (Dunes)
36. Bear Dance
37. Fossil Trace
38. Four Mile Ranch
39. Eagle Springs
40. Cherry Creek CC

For more on the recent Top 100 Golf Course rankings, CLICK HERE.

This year, those reflections have particularly come into focus.

With the CGA celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, there’s been a concerted look back on the past century of golf in Colorado. That includes a 10-part series of stories on notable people and events from the last hundred years.

Writing that series was illuminating, which brings us back to Thanksgiving. A better understanding of the past can lead to increased appreciation for all we have to be thankful for in Colorado golf.

To wit, here are 10 things that come to mind:

— Rich History of Golf. The Century of Golf Gala held recently at The Broadmoor particulary brought this home, with Jack Nicklaus reminiscing about his strong links to Colorado over the last 60 years. Nicklaus is one of golf’s all-time pantheon to have won significant tournaments in the state, with others being Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Kathy Whitworth, Babe Zaharias, Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player, Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson. For much more about Colorado golf history, CLICK HERE.

— Teamwork. Another thing that the Century of Golf Gala — 1,250 attendees strong — and related activities reinforced is that big things can happen when the Colorado golf community joins forces. Teaming up with the CGA in making it all a major success were the CWGA, Colorado PGA and the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association.

— Great Venues. The day of the Century of Golf Gala, a golf outing held at The Broadmoor (pictured) demonstrated yet again what stellar golf courses Colorado has produced. On a mid-November day, temperatures reached the mid-60s, and the setting was enough to make any golfer take pause. The same can be said for countless other courses in the state — Sanctuary, Arrowhead, Castle Pines, Ballyneal, Red Sky, Eisenhower, etc., etc. Golfers in Colorado are indeed fortunate.

— Good of the Game Partnerships. The recent creation of a partnership between the CGA and the Colorado PGA will result in a new Colorado Junior Tour and many other advantages for all levels of junior golfers in Colorado (READ MORE). It’s yet another example of how the game can be well served by constructive cooperation.

— Local Players Who Excel. Colorado has a long history of homegrown players hitting it big — with Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Dale Douglass, Jill McGill, Brandt Jobe, Bob Byman, Kevin Stadler, Shane Bertsch, Bill Loeffler and to some extent Mike Reid, to name some. It’s always fun for Coloradans to have one of their own to root for on the national or international level. And we also have some very promising young players potentially in a similar pipleline with the likes of Mark Hubbard, Jennifer Kupcho, Wyndham Clark and Hannah Wood.

— Highly Regarded PGA Professionals. There are oustanding PGA professionals throughout the country, but members of the Colorado PGA have proven to be high achievers as the Section or its members have won national PGA of America awards eight times in the last nine years. And highly respected instructor Ann Finke was recently voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, along with Colorado-based Champions Tour player Craig Stadler. And Vic Kline was honored as Colorado Golf Professional of the Century during the Century of Golf Gala.

— Foundations to Support Good Causes. Numerous golf foundations in Colorado do considerable and commendable work in bolstering good causes through the game of golf. Among them are the Colorado Golf Foundation, Colorado PGA Reach, the Colorado Open Golf Foundation, and the Rocky Mountain Environmental Golf Institute.

— Volunteers. While the staffs of the major golf organizations in Colorado do yeoman’s work, those organizations would be a shell of what they are were it not for volunteers. Such volunteerism came to the forefront this past year with the passing of Joe Salvo, and the departure from the Colorado tournament golf scene of Rich Langston and Joan Scholes. Each of them made major contributions — in terms of both time and dediction — to the likes of the CGA, CWGA and Colorado PGA over the years. And many, many others do likewise each year.

— Another Senior Major on the Horizon.This year it was announced that the 2018 U.S. Senior Open will be contested at The Broadmoor the year the resort celebrates its 100th birthday. It will mark the third U.S. Senior Open held in Colorado, meaning only Ohio (with six) will have hosted more. The Centennial State also was home to another senior major, the Senior PGA Championship contested at Colorado Golf Club in 2010.

— Good People. I’ve always marveled at the number of good people you meet through the game of golf. Perhaps it’s part of the significant “self-policing” aspect of the sport that tends to attract people of high character. But whatever the case, it’s refreshing.

And yet another reason to give thanks.
 

This week, the focus is more on turkey than two-putts, more on pumpkin pies than pars, and more on family and fellowship than fairways and flagsticks.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons to reflect on the game of golf, and reasons to be thankful for it, especially here in Colorado.

Therefore, in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, here are nine things for which to be grateful, Colorado golf-wise:

— Stellar Golf Venues: Think of the golf courses and locales that are options in the state, and it’s enough to make anyone who loves to play the game salivate as if they were sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner. And not only are venues like Arrowhead (pictured above), the Broadmoor, Ballyneal, Sanctuary, Eisenhower, Perry Park and Red Sky jaw-droppingly beautiful, but the topography of the state makes for a great variety of courses.

— Diversity of Major Events: When The International PGA Tour stop took its final bow in 2006 after a 21-year run, there’s no doubt it created a big void. But looking back on the diversity of tournaments that helped fill that void is truly remarkable. Over the last seven years, Colorado has hosted the best men’s and women’s professionals in the world, the best seniors, as well as the best amateurs. There’s been the 2008 U.S. Senior Open and the U.S. Amateur Public Links, the 2009 Palmer Cup, the 2010 Senior PGA Championship, the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open, the 2012 U.S. Amateur, the 2013 Solheim Cup and the 2014 BMW Championship. Suffice it to say it’s been a pretty nice lineup for Colorado golf fans.

— Relatively Inexpensive Golf: While there are plenty of golf courses in Colorado that cost a pretty penny to play, there’s also an abundance of quality, well-maintained venues that charge $40 or less for a round. And there are even some nice courses where you can walk up to the counter on a summer weekend, pay your 18-hole green fee, and get change from the $30 you hand the golf shop attendant. For those who have played much in other states, you can get some pretty good bang for your buck in Colorado.

— Outstanding Golf Associations: While your average golfer in Colorado may or may not know it, there is tireless work being done behind the scenes by local golf associations — the CGA, CWGA, Colorado PGA, the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents and others — to assure that the game thrives not just now, but well into the future.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kent Moore summed it up well on Sunday at the Colorado Golf Awards Brunch. While he was speaking specifically about the CGA, it’s safe to say the general notion applies as well to the other major golf associations in the state: “I’ve seen this come from a cigar box and two guys on the first tee to an incredible organization that runs championships as professional as any you’ll ever see, and now making an incredible impact in the community. It’s just fabulous.”

— Volunteerism: While there are many paid staffers that make Colorado golf special with their day-to-day work, the amount of time and energy and wholehearted effort devoted by volunteers in the game is impressive. More than 2,500 people — 90 percent coming from Colorado — volunteered in the first week of September at Cherry Hills to help make the BMW Championship the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year. Other volunteers devote countless hours year-in and year-out to the CGA, CWGA, Colorado PGA and a myriad of other organizations to make the game what it is. In yet another example, just this week it was announced that Colorado Golf Club head professional Graham Cliff will serve as a volunteer assistant coach for the University of Denver men’s golf team. Without all these volunteers — and those who donate financially to the game — golf would be a shell of what it is.

— A Game of Honor: While this one certainly isn’t limited to Colorado, it’s noteworthy that golf is a leader in the world of sports regarding sportsmanship, integrity and honesty. Seldom does more than a couple of months go by without stories coming out about how a golfer reported a costly rules violation on himself or herself that no one else was aware of. Even at this year’s BMW Championship at Cherry Hills, Keegan Bradley withdrew after having lingering doubts about an embedded-ball ruling he received early in the tournament (CLICK HERE). 

— Great Programs for Juniors: Knowing that kids are the future lifeblood of the game, there is particular emphasis in recent times in drawing youngsters to golf and exposing them to all the virtues of the game, including through caddying.

Among the many worthwhile local programs that focus on youth are the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy (left) at CommonGround Golf Course, the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program, the Evans Scholarship house for caddies at the University of Colorado, and the local First Tee chapters.

— Local Tour Players: Every golf fan has his/her favorite tour players, but many Coloradans take a special interest in those who cut their teeth in the state as junior golfers and college players, then make it to the big time. Certainly that’s true in Colorado, with players like Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Brandt Jobe, Kevin Stadler, Martin Laird and Jill McGill. And now there’s a younger group of local players who are getting their chance on golf’s big stages, golfers like Mark Hubbard, Espen Kofstad, Emily Talley and Becca Huffer, along with transplanted Coloradans like Sam Saunders. It’s always fun to see the local kid make good on a national/international level.

— The Sheer Camaraderie Achieved Through Golf: As the world gets ever faster-paced, and more and more time is devoted to gadgetry of one type or another, spending a few hours on the golf course with friends, family or random acquaintances can be remarkably refreshing.

Kind of like Thanksgiving.
 

But it’s not just the quantity that’s impressive. It’s also the quality.

The list includes such standouts as Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock (1981), Ballyneal in Holyoke (2006) and Colorado Golf Club in Parker (also 2006).

In fact, it’s safe to say that over the last three-plus decades, the state has had more than its share of stellar new courses.

And while local residents might be biased in saying as much, another national ranking of courses confirms that Colorado has certainly added more highly-regarded layouts since 1980 than is the norm for a given state.

Last week, Golfweek published its list of the best modern courses in the U.S., with the magazine classifying “modern” as opening in 1960 or later.

Six Colorado courses are included in Golfweek’s best 200 modern layouts. With 176 of those courses having opened since 1980, the Colorado venues make up 3.4 percent of that total, almost twice the norm for the 50 states.

Moreover, three Colorado courses are in the nation’s top 40.

Without further ado, here’s Golfweek’s rundown of the Colorado courses in the top 200, with the top pick in the category also included: 1. Sand Hills in Mullen, Neb.; 6. Ballyneal (pictured); 35. Colorado Golf Club, home of this year’s Solheim Cup; 38. Castle Pines Golf Club, where the PGA Tour’s International was held from 1986 through 2006; 124. Ravenna in Littleton; 131. Sanctuary in Sedalia; 188. Redlands Mesa in Grand Junction.

In last week’s top course breakdown, Golfweek also ranked the top 200 classic courses in the country, those opened before 1960. Colorado wasn’t nearly as well represented in that category, which included just two courses from the state.

Here are the Colorado courses in Golfweek’s “classic” list, plus the No. 1 layout: 1. Pine Valley in New Jersey; 86. Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, which will host the PGA Tour’s 2014 BMW Championship after the 2012 U.S. Amateur was played there; 190. East Course at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, home of the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open and 2008 U.S. Senior Open.

Golfweek also picked the “best courses you can play” in each state, and these were the Colorado layouts included, in order: 1. Redlands Mesa in Grand Junction; 2. Cougar Canyon in Trinidad; 3. Fazio Course at Red Sky in Wolcott; 4. Lakota Canyon in New Castle; 5. CommonGround in Aurora; 6. East Course at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs; 7. Devil’s Thumb in Delta; 8. Norman Course at Red Sky in Wolcott; 9. Haymaker in Steamboat Springs; 10. Bear Dance in Larkspur.
 

Golf course rankings have become commonplace these days. Just about every major golf publication carries some variation on the theme, and the rankings often provide good fodder for discussions around the water cooler.

But few of the rankings take on the entire world, and far fewer still are as extensive as those in a 1,300-plus-page book that first came out two years ago, and which recently published its second edition.

The title of the book pretty much tells the story: “The Rolex World’s Top 1000 Golf Courses”. It’s the work of a French family (Morgue d’Algue) which specializes in golf publishing, and the book is the brainchild of Gaetan Morgue d’Algue, a three-time French amateur champion. Also playing a major role in putting together the publication was Kristel Morgue d’Algue, the 1995 NCAA women’s champion from Arizona State.

How much credence to put in this book’s rankings — as opposed to those of any other publication — is obviously a matter of personal opinion. But the Morgue d’Algue family did publish the popular Peugeot guide of Europe’s top 1,000 golf courses. For the world book, more than 200 anonymous course “inspectors” were used, all knowledgeable in golf architecture.

Colorado is well-represented in the second edition of the World’s Top 1000 Golf Courses, which is a feather in the state’s cap considering there are more than 32,000 registered golf courses on the planet. About a third of the top 1,000 are in the U.S., but there are 66 countries represented, including Egypt, Cambodia and Vietnam.

All told, 10 Colorado courses made the list: Ballyneal Golf Club, the East Course at the Broadmoor (pictured at left), Castle Pines Golf Club, Cherry Hills Country Club (pictured at top), Colorado Golf Club, CommonGround Golf Course, Denver Country Club, Sanctuary, and both the Fazio and Norman Courses at Red Sky Golf Club.

That’s a pretty good mixture of courses for the Centennial State.

We have one public facility (CommonGround, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA), one resort (Broadmoor), two resort/private (the courses at Red Sky) and six private clubs.

We have one course from the eastern plains (Ballyneal), one from southern Colorado (Broadmoor), two from the Western Slope (the courses at Red Sky) and six from the extended Denver metro area.

And we have three courses completed before 1925 (Denver, Broadmoor and Cherry Hills), six finished in the last 15 years (Sanctuary, the two at Red Sky, Colorado Golf Club, Ballyneal and CommonGround, the most recent addition, debuting in 2009), and one in the 70-some years in between (Castle Pines).

The 10 Colorado courses have hosted a combined 16 USGA championships, with the latest being the 2012 U.S. Amateur as Cherry Hills took on the primary role and CommonGround (pictured at left) was the supporting course. Those 10 courses also have been the sites of more than 30 tour events between the PGA, LPGA and Champions circuits.

The Rolex book doesn’t rank the courses in 1-1,000 order. Rather, the facilities that make the list are rated in five-point increments from 75 to 100, with 100 being the best. Here’s how the Colorado courses fared in that regard: Cherry Hills 95; Castle Pines, the Broadmoor East and Ballyneal 90; Denver Country Club, Colorado Golf Club, Sanctuary and the Fazio Course at Red Sky 85; CommonGround and the Norman Course at Red Sky 80.

Only 15 courses received ratings of 100, including seven in the U.S.: Augusta National (Ga.) , Bethpage Black (N.Y.), Cypress Point (Calif.), Maidstone West (N.Y.), National Golf Links of America (N.Y.), Oakmont (Pa.) and Pine Valley (N.J.).