It’s time for one last 18 in honor of Thanksgiving.
Here are 18 things to be thankful for in Colorado golf:
1. Spectacular settings for courses: Colorado certainly has its share of jaw-dropping scenery at golf courses. Among those that get very high marks on the beauty scale are Arrowhead, the Broadmoor, Sanctuary, Castle Pines, Lakota Canyon Ranch, Perry Park (pictured), Fox Acres, Hiwan and Eisenhower. And that’s just a smattering of examples out of a long list.
2. Inexpensive golf: Especially in this tough economy, a lot of people have to watch their wallet. Reasonable green fees keep the game accessible to many players. There are plenty of very good golf courses in the state where a person can play 18 holes for under $50, and even quite a few that run $30 or less.
3. Sunny skies: Playing golf year-round isn’t for everyone, but for the hard-core enthusiast who can’t make it to a warm-weather state, it’s not unusual for Colorado to offer golf every month of the year. Six months out of the year are normally outstanding, and even in the “off-season” the number of days in which the sun doesn’t shine is relatively minimal.
4. Being a major venue: The loss of the International PGA Tour event in Colorado several years ago was a big blow, but the state has strung together a fortunate run of major tournaments. There was the 2008 U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor, the 2009 Palmer Cup at Cherry Hills and the 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club. And coming up there will be the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor, the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club.
5. Highly-regarded professionals: Colorado certainly isn’t lacking for club and teaching professionals whose work has received national acclaim. In the last four years, four members of the Colorado Section PGA have earned national PGA of America awards, including Ann Finke of Colorado Springs, who won this year’s national Junior Golf Leader honor. Other Colorado PGA members in this recent national run are Kyle Heyen, Clayton Cole and Danny Harvanek.
6. Strong golf associations: The golf associations in Colorado — including the CGA, CWGA and Colorado PGA — are highly regarded by the national powers that be. The election of CWGA executive director Robin Elbardawil as president of the International Association of Golf Administrators is but the latest indication of that. And the organizations have staying power, with the CGA dating back to 1915, the CWGA to 1916 and the Colorado PGA to 1957.
7. A little star power: The participation of John Elway — arguably the biggest name in the history of Colorado sports — in more and more Colorado golf tournaments can do nothing but help the attention the game receives. Among the events Elway competed in this year were the HealthOne Colorado Open and Colorado Senior Open, and the CGA Four-Ball Championship.
8. Highly-ranked courses: Colorado is home to three of “America’s 100 Greatest Courses,” as rated by Golf Digest, which puts together the game’s oldest course rankings. Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, home of the International PGA Tour event for 21 years, is ranked 28th, 2012 U.S. Amateur host Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village is 54th, and the Sanctuary in Sedalia is 96th. In addition, many other Colorado courses are liberally sprinkled on national “best” lists.
9. Great memories: This past June, when Arnold Palmer (pictured at left) came back to Cherry Hills to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his unforgettable triumph in the 1960 U.S. Open, made us remember what a wonderful golf history we have in this state. Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam, Phil Mickelson and Juli Inkster are among those who have won professional or amateur majors in Colorado over the years.
10. Up-and-coming junior players: If the international junior rankings are any indication, Colorado has its share of very promising young players. Five Coloradans are ranked in the top 100 of their gender internationally by either the AJGA or Junior Golf Scoreboard. Here’s the list, with the highest current ranking for each player: Wyndham Clark of Cherry Hills Village (10th, Junior Golf Scoreboard), Brendan Connolly of Castle Rock (23rd, AJGA Polo), Patricia Lee of Lone Tree (38th, AJGA Polo). Somin Lee (65th, AJGA Polo) and Paige Spiranac of Monument (66th, Junior Golf Scoreboard). Connolly has signed a letter of intent to play college golf at Gonzaga, while Somin Lee is headed to Pepperdine and Spiranac to Arizona.
11. Highly-ranked college players: Between players from Colorado and those who compete for Colorado-based schools, Colorado has its fair share of highly-ranked college golfers. On the men’s side, there’s Aurora’s Gunner Wiebe, from the University of San Diego (ranked 32nd in the nation by Golfstat); Ryan Peterson of Colorado State (60th, Golfstat) and Castle Rock’s Jamie Marshall , from Arkansas (68th, Golfweek). For the women, there’s Jessica Wallace of the University of Colorado (35th, Golfstat); Emily Talley of CU (55th, Golfstat); Kelly Drack of the University of Denver (77th Golfweek); Brianna Espinoza of CSU (87th, Golfstat) and Ellie Givens of DU (99th, Golfweek). As a team, the CU women are ranked 24th in the nation by Golfweek and Golfstat.
By the way, two of the aforementioned — Wiebe and Wallace, who each won a fall tournament — were named to Golf World magazine’s mid-season all-America team.
12. Prominent Tour players: Five players with strong Colorado ties play the PGA Tour at least semi-regularly these days — former world No. 1 David Duval of Cherry Hills Village, Shane Bertsch of Parker, Colorado State University graduate Martin Laird, Denver native and former University of Colorado golfer Jonathan Kaye, and Kent Denver High School graduate Kevin Stadler. Duval regained his fully-exempt status on the PGA Tour this year by finishing in the top 125 on the money list. Laird, meanwhile, had his best year ever on Tour, finishing second twice in playoffs and ending up 35th on the final money list.
13. Jack Vickers: The International PGA Tour event in Castle Rock was last held in 2006, but there is no doubt that the tournament made an indelible impact on the Colorado Golf scene for more than 20 years. And Vickers, as the founder of the International and of Castle Pines Golf Club, deserves a debt of gratitude for that.
14. Plenty of notable tournaments: The USGA, PGA of America and LPGA have brought high-profile events to Colorado on a regular basis, but there are many other prominent mainstays of the Colorado golf tournament schedule. HealthOne sponsors the Colorado Open, Colorado Women’s Open and Colorado Senior Open — all of which draw formidable fields. In the same vein, there’s also the 72-year-old Enstrom’s Rocky Mountain Open in Grand Junction. And the CGA, CWGA, CJGA and Colorado PGA run dozens of their own tournaments each year.
15. 600,000 golfers strong: Few sports can boast a larger number of active participants than golf. There are about 600,000 golfers in Colorado, which means roughly 12 percent of the population plays the game.
16. Colorado-based chapter of the Evans Scholars: The Evans Scholarship for caddies, one of the largest privately-funded scholarships in the country, includes 14 chapter houses, one of which is at the University of Colorado. The Eisenhower-Evans Scholarship, which is co-sponsored by the CGA, CWGA and the Western Golf Association, fully pays tuition and housing costs for selected high school graduates who meet requirements for academic achievement, excellent caddie record, financial need and outstanding character. About 400 Scholars have graduated from CU since the 1960s.
17. Two Golf Expos: One of the joys of the off-season for many Colorado golfers is attending the Denver and/or Southern Colorado Golf Expos. Even though it still may be cold in the state at the time, exploring all the Expos have to offer puts golfers in a hopeful frame of mind.
18. First Tee and “core values”: One of the important things golf can do is help teach life lessons, particularly to youngsters. Among the organizations particularly focused on this task is The First Tee, which has four chapters in Colorado — Denver, Green Valley Ranch, Pueblo and Eagle County. The nine “core values” the First Tee tries to instill in young golfers are honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment.
If any person masters all those, they really have something for which to be thankful.
