The CGA and CWGA utilize many volunteer rules officials who work tournaments not only in Colorado, but in far-flung locations as well.
But it’s probably a safe bet that not many local rules officials have taken it to the extent that Windy He has.
In Colorado, He (pictured) has been a fixture at many significant — and widely varying — golf tournaments. Besides CGA and CWGA events, that includes USGA qualifiers, Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado tournaments, the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open, boys and girls state high school championships and even one NCAA Division II tournament. In all, she devoted 33 days this year to volunteering as a rules official.
But now, she notes with a laugh, “It’s officially closed for the season.”
Before moving to Colorado, He did similar duty in her native China, in and around Guangzhou, a city in the southeastern part of country, near Hong Kong. In fact, He got her start as a rules official in China, after being spurred to do so by an incident at a golf tournament involving her son, Li Chen, who currently plays on the University of Northern Colorado men’s golf team.
“That was a very interesting story,” He recalled this week. “In 2003 my son Li Chen was trying to qualify in China for the Junior World Golf Champioships in San Diego. He was 6 years old, and he hit the wrong ball. Somebody told me, ‘There is a two-stroke penalty.’ I said, “What!? There is a penalty in golf? Seriously?’ The guy said, ‘Yes, that’s the rules.’ I said, ‘How many rules are there in golf?’ And the guy said, ‘Lots of rules.’ I had to figure it out. So I bought some rules books and began to read the rules.”
Several years later, she was ready to take the next step.
“When my son played golf in China, he played on a junior golf team and they wanted to do some tournaments and they needed some rules officials,” He said. “I thought, ‘OK, I can do it.’ And I got the certificate (in 2008) and helped them to do some junior events. That was the first time I was a rules official.”
After teaching in a Chinese elementary school, then starting up a company that sold golf shoes and later developing the first junior golf website in China (chinajuniorgolf.com) in 2004, He officiated at tournaments in China in 2008 and ’09.
In 2010 He and her family moved to Colorado after she had never before been to the state as her husband, Damon Chen, was transferred from China to the Niwot-based headquarters for shoe manufacturer Crocs. The family now lives in Broomfield.
For several years, He helped facilitate son Li’s development as a promising junior golfer. Li went on to twice finish runner-up in the 5A state high school tournament and earned a spot on the UNC men’s golf team. And when Li was a senior at Legacy High School, He returned to officiating, starting in 2015. (He is pictured this fall giving guidance at the 3A state high school tournament to eventual champion Oliver Jack.)
“My son has played golf for more than 14 years now, and I’m thinking for this long term what makes us stay (closer) together,” He said. “If I play golf it’s not possible for me to be as good as my son. But rules, I can do it. It’s all about reading, decisions and experience. So I do the rules and he plays golf. That makes us stay on the same page. It makes us more close so we can stick together.”
Li Chen is a sophomore at UNC this season and He attended many of his fall tournaments, particularly given that the Bears played all of their fall events within the state.
So how does rules officiating differ in China and the U.S. for He?
“There’s some difference,” she noted. “The first is the language. In China, I used my native language. Here, I use a second language, which is English. It’s a little bit difficult for me (He speaks three languages overall: Cantonese, Mandarin and English). That’s the biggest difference. And here, I can choose which tournaments I’m going to work because there’s lots of tournaments. In China there’s just a few tournaments. There’s not as much opportunity to work.”
Fortunately, that’s not an issue in Colorado, which is why He has become a familiar face at some of the biggest tournaments held in the state.
While He got into rules officiating for reasons related to her son, her enjoyment of officiating now goes beyond that.
“It’s (nice to) work — I cannot say it’s a job — with people,” she said. “I especially enjoy working with junior players because a rules official always can help them on the course — and that makes me happy.”
