Ed Mate hasn’t caddied on any sort of regular basis for about 30 years, so a sore back and shoulders may await the CGA’s executive director after doing a fair amount of looping in 2015.
In fact, the former Denver Country Club caddie, who earned a full tuition and housing Evans Scholarship at the University of Colorado thanks to toting bags as a teenager, will really put his middle-aged body to the test this year. Five times in 2015, he not only plans to caddie, but he’ll carry doubles on each occasion. That tends to wear out high school kids, much less a person pushing 50.
But it’s all for a good cause. With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its 1915 founding, one of the ways the association is commemorating the milestone is with the season-long, statewide Century of Golf Challenge fundraiser.
Through pledges they collect for golf-related activities revolving around the number 100, participants will raise money for the Colorado Golf Foundation and the Colorado-based youth-oriented golf programs it supports. The Century of Golf Challenge activities can include something like the 100 holes of caddying Mate plans, playing 100 holes of golf (in one day — as with the old Colorado Open Golf Marathon — or any set period up to the entire golf season), or just donating $100 to the Foundation.
In Mate’s case, once a month from May through September, he’s going to caddie for a different twosome, with the hope that the pledges he draws will be earmarked for a specific program the Colorado Golf Foundation supports or is likely to support. For instance, Mate plans to caddie for fellow CU Evans Scholar alums George and Duffy Solich, after whom the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course is named. Other programs Mate’s efforts will benefit will be the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools Program, the Western Colorado Golf Foundation, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Colorado Open Golf Foundation.
“The whole spirit of this is a coming together to raise money to advance golf,” Mate said this week.
Mate has set a personal goal of raising $10,000 through pledges for his 100-hole caddie odyssey, preferably with 100 donors or more participating. Overall, Mate hopes that the Century of Golf Challenge will net $100,000 for programs the Foundation will help fund.
“The idea is to get people to engage — to get them to do something that’s meaningful to them,” Mate said. “It’s just as important that we get a large number of people involved” as to meet specific fundraising goals.
Two participants in the Century of Golf Challenge will win tickets to the Nov. 14 Century of Golf Gala featuring Jack Nicklaus. One pair of tickets will go to the person who raises the most money, with the second pair being given to a donor of $100 or more via a random drawing.
With the time around the Masters being an unofficial start to the golf season for many Coloradans, so it is for the Century of Golf Challenge. Within the next couple of weeks, the Colorado Golf Foundation will have a portal set up to accept pledges for activities people have planned in association with the Century of Golf Challenge.
The portal will be accessible through ColoradoGives.org, the website for the annual Colorado Gives Day, with those pledging being able to search the site for the personalized activity they’d like to support. For more information, CLICK HERE. To access the fundraising page for Mate’s personal caddie challenge, CLICK HERE.
