A person can count on two hands — with a few fingers to spare — the number of existing Colorado golf courses that can truthfully claim they were in business the year the Titanic sank, 1912.
Denver’s City Park Golf Course, designed by Scotsman Tom Bendelow, is among those that can, as this year it’s joining the centenary club. And in this case, hitting the 100-year milestone is no small matter in the minds of many who have deep roots at City Park.
“I love that course,” said Tom Woodard, a former PGA head professional at City Park, as well as a former director of golf for the City of Denver. “I’ve played at that course more than any other, and I hold the course record of 61. I’ve probably played between 2,000 and 2,500 rounds there. I played there every day all day” as a kid.
This week, Woodard and several other people with longtime ties to City Park will join other prominent members of the Colorado golf community and Denver dignitaries in celebrating City Park Golf Course’s 100th birthday. On Friday (April 27), a “Centennial Season Tee-Off Breakfast” will be held at the facility at 2500 York Street. Invitees will share stories about the course, then hit ceremonial tee shots from the eighth hole, which features some picturesque views of the Denver skyline and the mountains beyond.
It will be the start of a 100-year celebration at City Park. Also on the schedule is a Centennial Tournament on Sept. 1, and a variety of promotions which prominently feature the number 100 in various ways. Though plans haven’t been finalized, City Park head professional Keith Soriano said a time capsule may be buried as part of the Centennial Tournament celebration on Sept. 1.
“To have 100 years of golf played here is incredible,” Soriano said. “It’s a big moment in the history of the course. But it’s also an opportunity to look forward and see where we can take the course and what it can mean to the community in future years. We want it to be a place for everyone.”
Not surprisingly, City Park has a rich history over the last century. Among those who have played the course are former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, outstanding all-around athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Charlie Sifford and Jonathan Kaye of PGA Tour fame, and 1952 Olympic long jump champion Jerome Biffle.
Some of those players — and many others — were attracted to City Park because it was known as a place where there was plenty of “action” — in other words, where a little cash was known to be exchanged via golf bets.
Another thing that’s made City Park distinctive is the makeup of its players. To put it succinctly, Woodard believes the course is still the most diverse in Denver.
Three people invited to share their thoughts about City Park on Friday certainly know of what they speak. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer and noted Colorado golf historian Dan Hogan won 10 club championships at City Park and claimed the Denver Muni-Links title three times. He was a regular at the course for about a quarter-century beginning in the late 1950s.
Woodard moved to within a couple blocks of the course in 1967. He caddied at City Park, played there daily, and after attending the University of Colorado and spending time as a tour player, he served as City Park’s head professional from 1987 to ’90, and as Denver’s director of golf from 1997 to 2006. Woodard was there long enough that he can remember the days when the head professional — who doubled as the concessionaire — lived in the upstairs of the clubhouse with his wife. And Woodard’s sponsor as a tour player, Willie Kellum, came from City Park-based East Denver Golf Club.
As for Ed Mate, the CGA’s executive director, he grew up playing and practicing at City Park, primarily from 1979 to ’85.
“City Park had two practice greens, and we’d sit out there for hours putting for Cokes,” Mate remembers. “That’s one of my favorite memories. The fewest (cumulative) strokes would win. One time I was down 50 Cokes, and you’d always go double or nothing. I don’t know if anyone ever paid off. But I think that’s one of the reasons I became a pretty good putter.”
Mate recalls how Woodard, who grew up at the club, was held in such high regard, particularly during the 2 1/2 years that he competed on the PGA Tour during the early and mid 1980s.
“He was a legend,” Mate said. “People would get out the sports pages and show his name that was in bold face (in the PGA Tour scores). When he came back, it was like a king returning. For me it was like, ‘Wow, it’s the Tom Woodard everyone is talking about.'”
But long before Woodard gained prominence, Hogan was a renowned player at City Park. He remembers annual home-and-home Denver public links league matches against teams from the other city courses. Hogan, who played in a couple of British Amateurs, was one of the more formidable competitors.
“I had an awful lot of fun out there” at City Park, Hogan said. “There was just so much competition. And it was quite a melting pot (of players from various ethnic backgrounds). At one time they had four men’s clubs out there — the East Denver Golf Club (made up of African-American players), the City Park Men’s Club (white) and two Japanese-American clubs.”
A founding member of the East Denver Golf Club, Judge James Flanigan, helped knock down racial barriers in state golf tournaments when he was refused the right to play in the CGA Match Play Championship in 1961. The next year, the CGA changed its policies and admitted minority clubs, including the East Denver Golf Club.
Coincidentally, one of the notables Mate remembers most from his City Park days was Sam Valuck, who ironically won the 1961 CGA Match Play from which Flanigan was barred.
While many of the various men’s club golfers played with their own groups at City Park, gambling eventually integrated people of different races.
“When I started playing there (in the late 1960s), the men’s clubs were pretty much segregated, but the gambling games weren’t,” said Woodard, now the director of golf for the Foothills Park & Recreation District. “The color of money — green — was the only thing that mattered there. I thought that was pretty amazing.”
Indeed, money games were part of what made City Park famous. Kaye, who has since won twice on the PGA Tour, was among the active participants as a youngster, as were some local professionals and other promising young players.
“The thing I remember most is the gambling games,” Woodard said. “Every Friday and Saturday you could find a game — but you better bring your ‘A’ game. You better be ready to play. If you were a good player from a public course, you eventually made your way to City Park.”
During Mate’s days at the course, one of the better players who was a regular there was CU golfer Darrell Knight.
“He was a guy I idolized,” Mate said. “He was so polished. He was really friendly with the younger kids; he wasn’t too good for you. He and Sam Valuck would hit balls forever. City Park had a driving range where you could shag your own balls, which really added to the communal aspect of the course.”
