It’s not a stretch to call them the reigning First Family of Colorado Golf.
They’re all formidable as individual players, but put them together in a team event lately, and they’ve been close to unbeatable.
They’re the Moores of Greenwood Village, and they’ve built quite a golf resume over their lifetimes, but what they’ve done collectively in the last nine months is especially extraordinary. In that span they’ve racked up three CGA or CWGA team titles.
Talk about keeping it All in the Family.
Late last September, Kent Moore and wife Janet joined forces to claim the CWGA Mixed Stableford title at the Ridge at Castle Pines North. Then came a golf exacta in June: Janet and daughter Sarah earned the CWGA Mashie championship at Red Hawk Ridge in Castle Rock, and Kent and son Steven joined in the festivities by taking the CGA Father-Son crown on Sunday at Cougar Canyon in Trinidad.
“It was real fun,” said Steven, a sophomore-to-be at Wheaton College in Illinois. “There was some pressure since (Janet and Sarah) had won theirs first. We didn’t want them to have all the fun.”
The Moores, members at Cherry Hills Country Club, are certainly no strangers to success in this state. Janet and Kent have both been inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame (2001 and 2004), and their names are liberally sprinkled through the championship record books of the CGA and CWGA.
Janet, a former University of Arizona golfer, has won five CWGA Stroke Play Championships and has qualified for 10 USGA tournaments (three U.S. Women’s Amateurs and seven U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateurs).
Kent, who played college golf at Purdue, has claimed five individual CGA titles spanning four decades — the 1973 Junior Match Play, 1986 Stroke Play, 1989 Match Play, 1995 Mid-Amateur and 2006 Senior Match Play — and has competed in nine USGA events (three U.S. Amateurs, five U.S. Mid-Amateurs and one Men’s State Team Championship).
As for their kids, Steven was Division III Wheaton College’s top player as a freshman and won a tournament in April (coincidentally with his parents in attendance). The 19-year-old earned all-conference honors in the CCIW. Sarah, a 17-year-old senior-to-be at Arapahoe High School, recently finished sixth in the Class 5A girls high school state tournament, shooting a 70 on the final day — the low round of the tourney.
Given the family’s collective ability, it’s no surprise that the Moores are often in contention. But the fact that they’ve teamed up for three state titles in the last nine months is remarkable. They sometimes call themselves “golfing nerds,” but the results speak for themselves.
“We’re real excited, thinking it hadn’t been done before with the whole family having won,” Janet Moore said. “Once Sarah and I won, the pressure was on the boys. We were saying, “˜Wouldn’t it be neat if they could do it too?'”
As much and Kent and Janet Moore enjoy playing good golf themselves, they particularly relish watching their kids do well. They never pushed their two children into golf — in fact, they made it a point of telling both of them that if they didn’t want to play, that’s perfectly fine — but since Steven and Sarah did develop a love for the game, Kent and Janet are their biggest fans.
Last Sunday during the Father-Son, Steven played a key role in the Moores’ victory. Playing alternate-shot, Steven hit a drive of about 350 yards on the par-5 12th hole, leaving Kent just 180 yards for his approach. Kent hit a 6-iron to about 30 feet from the flag and Steven drained the putt for an eagle.
“It’s nice to have a strong horse,” Kent said of Steven. “It was fun to play well and win.”
Likewise, at the Mashie tournament, Janet Moore noted that on a couple of holes in the championship match where Janet couldn’t help the team, Sarah came through with clutch shots. Ultimately, the Moores overcame Kim Eaton and Cindy Pallatino in 19 holes.
“It was one of the toughest matches I’ve ever been a part of,” Janet said. “Everyone was playing well and you had to fight on every hole.” When Sarah came through on a couple of key holes, Janet thought, “She’s my partner, but as a mom I’m so proud of her. I was so impressed.”
Sarah said the feeling was mutual.
“It’s fun to play with my mom and to see her in the zone,” Sarah said. “You never really think of your parents like that.”
With four busy schedules, it’s not easy for all the Moores to regularly get together for a round of golf. But they do often practice together and they sometimes play the par-3 course at Cherry Hills.
“Golf is a huge blessing for our family,” Janet Moore said. “Kent and I met on the course (they recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary) and we have a ton of fun playing golf together. The kids enjoy it; that’s what it’s all about.”
