Set to celebrate his 25th anniversary as the CGA’s executive director, Ed Mate has gone where no one at the association has gone before
By Gary Baines – 2/3/2025
Ed Mate’s first official day as executive director of the CGA coincidentally fell on April 1 of 2000.
“It’s an easy day to remember,” he noted recently. “I’ve always jokingly said it’s the longest April Fool’s joke in history. I’m going to be called in by the board and (told) ‘Just kidding. You didn’t get the job.’”
Yet he was indeed hired. And a quarter-century later, it’s no joke. This spring, he’ll celebrate 25 years as the staff leader of the CGA. In fact, regarding the two most prominent administrative golf organizations in Colorado that employ full-time executive directors — the CGA and the Colorado PGA — no one has served as executive director longer. He’s surpassed the 22-year runs by Myran Craig of the Colorado PGA (1973-95) and Robin Jersey of the CWGA (1992-2014) — and is still going strong.
Indeed, Mate’s work as a golf administrator is burned even deeper into his DNA. Before becoming the CGA’s executive director, he worked as an intern for the organization starting in 1985, then as a staffer. And he also had a four-year stint at the Colorado PGA.
But … it would be incorrect to say all of the jobs Mate has held as an adult have been golf-related. Actually, in the mid-1990s, after his first run with the CGA and before joining the Colorado PGA Section staff, Mate worked for six months as the communications director for a Denver-based satellite office of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
“I went on my sabbatical; I wondered the desert,” he said with a chuckle. Then “the Section was hiring a tournament director, and I ended up jumping right back into golf. I always tell people I was scared straight.
“I wanted to become executive director of a state golf association. That was always my goal. When I left the CGA (in 1995) I just needed a change of scenery. It wasn’t like I had a change of heart and (thought) I’m on the wrong career path. I just needed to do something different.
“One of our favorite questions to ask people in interviews is ‘What’s the best mistake you ever made?’ And that was definitely the best mistake I ever made — leaving golf for a period of time.”
But ever since 1996, Mate has been a prominent fixture in Colorado golf. He’s seen — and/or overseen — many changes in the local golf landscape over the years.
Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kent Moore has had a front-row seat for much of Mate’s run. Moore has competed in CGA championships since the 1970s, has served on the CGA board of directors and was president of the association in 2021-22. He’s even teamed with Mate in CGA Senior Four-Ball Championships in the past.
“Ed has been a tireless warrior for the interests of golf in Colorado,” Moore wrote in a recent email. “A person of great energy that has not diminished at all through the years. His many relationships across the world of golf have brought recognition and distinction to Colorado. He is always willing to pitch in and offer his expertise and the resources of the CGA for the good of the game and Colorado. It has always amazed me that his enthusiasm for the game and those that play it seems to increase with age.”
How long has Mate been executive director? Long enough that he’s served alongside a whopping 14 CGA presidents. For those keeping track, that includes (from longest ago to most recent) Rick Polmear, Dennis Lyon, Jerre Hause, Kevin Laura, Bill Fowler, Jim Magette, Tom Lawrence, Phil Lane, Joe McCleary, Juliet Miner, Janene Guzowski, Moore, Gary Albrecht and now Sara Montgomery.
As Albrecht noted when Mate hit 24 years on the job last April, “Ed has unmatched and unbridled energy and passion for golf, kids, caddies, CommonGround, and continuing to expand the mission of the CGA, among many other things. He does this not to build on his legacy but to improve the lives of others.”
Regarding working with all the aforementioned presidents — and the CGA board in general — Mate said, “One of the best things about my job is every two years I have a new ‘boss.’ I report to the (CGA’s) president. I have great respect for the governance and the checks and balances that are part of a well-run non-profit. I always had the right president at the right time.
“My first president was Rick Polmear. I needed a little of micromanagement then, and he was a bit of a micromanager. I needed that. I was learning the ropes.”
In a way, Mate has been learning the ropes since he was a teenager. A Colorado native — in fact, he’s a lifelong Colorado, saying “I’ve never left the shadow of the mountains” — he attended (Denver) East High School and played golf there, having cut his teeth as a player at the old City Park Golf Course. He caddied at Denver Country Club and went on to earn an Eisenhower-Evans Scholarship to the University of Colorado.
He started his time as an intern at the CGA during his summers while an Evans Scholar, then became a full-time staffer in November of 1988, not long after graduating from CU. Then, as noted, he worked there through the mid-1990s, under then executive director Warren Simmons, a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer.
“I worked for Warren and he was great,” Mate said. “He was definitely not easy, but he was willing to do anything. There was no task that was too good for him. He was a great role model to me. There were certain things I didn’t think he was great at, but the thing I took away from Warren was lead by example, and he definitely did that.
“He really did love, love, love golf. Once you got past that hard exterior, he was really a good guy to work for.”
Then — after his time wondering “the desert” — Mate went to the Colorado PGA as tournament director and assistant executive director before getting his dream job as the CGA’s executive director in 2000.
Actually, he did contemplate leaving Colorado for other potential professional opportunities in golf before the CGA executive job opened up when Simmons elected to retire. He interviewed for the executive director job at the Utah PGA and for a rules eduction position at the USGA, but didn’t get either.
“Fate just kept me here,” he said.
Mate (right) while competing in a CGA championship with Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kent Moore.
And went the CGA executive director job became available, it seemed appropriate that Mate’s interview for the position came at Denver Country Club, where he caddied. M.J. Mastalir, the CGA’s out-going president and a former member of the USGA Executive Committee, led the CGA’s search committee.
After particularly impressing that committee with responses to a four-question written inquiry regarding the position — a query Mate still has in his possession — he received the good news from Mastalir.
“I’ll never forget,” Mate said, recalling how he was notified. “He didn’t tell me I had the job. He said, ‘Ed, I’d like to meet with you at my office’ — and it was going to be on a Saturday. I went in and he shook my hand and said, ‘Congratulations.’ He handed me a letter outlining the job. … One of the things I really appreciated about the hiring process was I had to compete for the job. It wasn’t like they handed it to me even though I felt I was the right person because I grew up in the organization.
“It was honestly a dream job. It’s what I always wanted to do. I felt very fortunate I was able to return to the organization that I really grew up in — as a junior golfer, as an Evans Scholar. To be able to achieve really my career goal — to become an executive director — at a fairly young age, and to do it here in Colorado was (special). I felt a lot of gratitude and a lot of responsibility to live up to what I thought were pretty high expectations. I haven’t really reflected on those early years. I’ve just learned a lot.”
When the CGA officially integrated with the CWGA and the two became a single organization at the beginning of 2018, Mate added CEO to his executive director title.
If Mate’s career as executive director can be considered a book, he’s neatly broken it up into five chapters, each lasting roughly five years.
“It’s a nice, convenient way to contextualize it,” said Mate, who became executive director roughly at age 34 and who will turn 59 in April. Here’s the breakdown in his own words:
— “The first five years were learning the ropes — learning how to become an executive director, learning how to manage the staff, understanding what it was like to report to a board that wasn’t there every day keeping me accountable.
— “The next five years was CommonGround (Golf Course in Aurora, which the CGA owns and operates). We acquired it in 2005 and I put my full attention on that; it became a major focus. I had the good fortune during that time that Thomas Pagel (now a prominent senior staffer at the USGA) was on our staff and I really handed him a lot of responsibilities because it was clear to me that he was very ready to take on more. (The Tom Doak-designed CommonGround layout, sitting on the same site as the former Mira Vista Golf Course — previously known as the Lowry Air Force Base course — opened in 2009. It, along with an accompanying nine-hole short course, was originally owned by both the CGA and the CWGA.)
— “From 2010-15 it was the creation of the Colorado Golf Foundation, the launch of the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, the hiring of Ryan Smith (now the CGA’s chief development officer and the Colorado Golf Foundation executive director) and having the CGA spread its wings as a fundraising organization — a true non-profit — where we built programs that required investors. George (Solich) really started that ball rolling by creating the foundation (in 2012).
— “From 2015-20, the highlight of that period was the integration with the Colorado Women’s Golf Association, which was something I always felt made a lot of sense, but the season wasn’t right. The CWGA wasn’t open to that idea. It wasn’t until the USGA redefined the landscape and made it clear they weren’t going to continue operating as they had in the past where they had licenses with a multitude of organizations in the same geographic area. They said no more public-only golf associations, no more women’s-only golf associations, so our hand was forced. That was a huge undertaking, which has set the table for the last five years.
— “2020-25: What I’d call the Covid bounce. Since 2020 has just been incredible (given the growth of golf). In 2018 when we merged (with the CWGA) we had just under 60,000 members, and now we’ve increased by 50 percent over that period of time. Now we’re at 92,000. It’s all attributable to that inflection point of Covid and a lot of other things happening in the background.
“So that’s sort of the tale of my five chapters. The next five, I don’t know what it will bring. That’s the fun part.”
Mate hearkens back to his days as a caddie at Denver Country Club.
It’s a considerable understatement to say that plenty of things have happened regarding the CGA and Colorado golf in general over the last quarter-century. Mate and the association have had significant roles in some of the big changes, but as he’s quick to point out, “I always think it’s funny when someone’s leaving a job or reflecting on a job, the things that happened on their watch are sort of credited to them. That’s fair, I guess, but a lot of times it’s just dumb luck. They were there.”
That notwithstanding, Mate was asked the things he’s most proud of that have been accomplished over the 25 years — under his watch as the CGA’s executive director.
— “The hiring of Tom Doak as the course designer for CommonGround,” he said. “I do feel directly responsible for that. It was my relationship with Don Placek as an Evans Scholar who opened that door. And (the relationships with fellow course designers) Eric Iverson and Jim Urbina. Others will remember that differently.
— “The naming of the golf course (CommonGround). I’m very proud of that. We declared a mission and it holds us accountable.
— “The Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, without a doubt.” Named for — and supported by — brothers George and Duffy Solich, former CU Evans Scholars who are now members of the Western Golf Association’s Caddie Hall of Fame, the SCLA was founded in 2012 at CommonGround. It has since expanded to Meridian in Englewood, Lincoln Park and Tiara Rado in Grand Junction and Fort Collins Country Club, besides the similarly-named Broadmoor Caddie & Leadership Academy. The Academies promote the use of caddies by paying their base fees through an educational grant, with participating golfers having the option of adding a tip. The Academies also feature a robust leadership element, with each participating youngster not only caddying but required to attend leadership classes and do community-service work each summer.
“I love the way (people say how) it changes lives,” Mate said. “That’s the area where I really feel the work I’ve been able to be a major part of is lasting. My mantra that the ‘C’ in CGA stands for caddie, part of that is a love of history. That way predates me. In 1950-something, Dick Campbell (who would become the CGA president from 1961-72) said we should start a scholarship named after Dwight D. Eisenhower. Then it merged with the Evans Scholars in the early ’60s. … That’s where it all began. The CGA had already put its flag in the ground and said caddying is important to us. That’s a pretty neat thing.
— “How well we have honored the commitment and overdelivered our promise to the CWGA that women’s golf would not be pushed to the side. Making sure we’re holding ourselves accountable to a truly integrated golf association. I look at where were are today with equal (male-female) representation on the staff, on the board, leadership, presidents. I think we’ve gone above and beyond or lived up to that promise. The fear of the merger (between the CGA and the CWGA) was that women’s golf would be pushed aside, wouldn’t be a priority. There’s always work to do there, but I’m really proud of” what’s been done in that regard.
Mate at the recent Evans Scholars selection meeting at Cherry Hills Country Club. Mate was an Evans Scholar himself, in the 1980s at CU.
— “The creation of the Colorado Golf Foundation. That was not my idea. It was really the brainchild of Will Nicholson and George Solich. We’ve already created a legacy for giving back to the game of golf in a very holistic way beyond the borders of the CGA. We now have $4.3 million in the foundation (after a lead gift of $2 million from Solich about a dozen years ago). We have seven different endowments that are all supporting the mission, which is to inspire kids on the course and in the classroom throughout Colorado. But what I’m most proud of with the foundation is it supports all of golf — (including) the First Tee chapters — and we continue to expand. We’ve added Gold Crown, we’ve added Colorado UpLift. So we’re looking beyond just CGA. If there’s a program out there that’s using golf as a vehicle for youth development, it’s on our radar now. We are doing a good job, the best we can, to support it. That’s just going to continue to grow.”
The CGA uses one branch of the Foundation as the CGA’s charitable arm as it distributes it to various programs. A significant amount from the CGF and its endowments go yearly to PGA Reach Colorado, the Colorado PGA’s foundation, and is used primarily for competitive junior golf. Besides the Colorado-based First Tee chapters, the Pikes Peak Linkers program, youth caddie programs and other worthy entities in the state receive funds. The CGF’s mission “is to provide funding for Colorado-based golf organizations and programs that use golf to build important life skills and character, with an emphasis on instilling hard work and self-reliance in young people.”
The Foundation “allows us to be the ambassador of golf and to give money to others and have that halo effect where we’re kind of stewarding this on behalf of the game instead of it just being ours,” Mate said. “That sends a message to the community that we’re in this together.”
Mate said he wouldn’t rank the CGA-related accomplishments/programs listed above, noting that they’re interrelated and built upon one another.
“I’ve always said if we get the golf course right, we’re going to be fine,” he said, referring to CommonGround. “There was a lot of hand-wringing and what-iffing about owning a golf course. The CGA, way before my time, decided in the late ‘80s it wanted to own and operate a golf course. A lot of smart people were way ahead of me — mainly M.J. Mastalir — in putting the CGA in position to acquire what is now CommonGround, the Lowry Air Force Base course. It was an uncertain time, a lot of change.
“The thing that was really the guiding light was if we get the right architect — and we did — to me everything else fell into place, including building a walking golf course that could support a caddie program, naming it CommonGround, a place for everybody. That just gets bigger and better all the time. The environmental stewardship we’re doing now, the relationship with the Denver field ornithologist, the Denver Botanic Gardens … I just think the sky’s the limit. But it all starts with the right golf course. If we had built a crappy golf course that people didn’t want to play or that wasn’t worthy of hosting a U.S. Amateur or a U.S. Mid-Amateur … It’s stood the test of time already.
“Everything kind of unfolded from that, on up to the Foundation because the Foundation is a laboratory — it does support non-CGA programs, but it primarily supports CGA programs. Those programs are almost entirely housed at CommonGround.”
Other notable things that have happened at the CGA under Mate’s watch:
— The CGA’s 100th anniversary and Century of Golf Gala at The Broadmoor which drew about 1,250 people and raised about $380,000 for the Colorado Golf Foundation.
“That’s a huge one,” Mate said. “I was able to sink my teeth into my love of history. What stood out there was obviously the dinner, having (1,250) people there and Jack Nicklaus. I’m also proud of the fact that I’m the one who researched the CGA history to know (when it was founded). When I first started working for the CGA, I did a series of articles on the history of certain golf courses. I did Lakewood, Park Hill, Estes Park. When I was researching Lakewood I came across that article that said the CGA was founded (in 1915). We (previously were at) like 1912. Where did we get that? I remember showing it to Warren (Simmons). He was like, ‘Holy (crap). That’s amazing.’ So if it wasn’t for Ed Mate, we wouldn’t have known it was our 100th anniversary. Somebody would have figured it out maybe.
“So then to be able to validate that by celebrating with a dinner (where) we’re going to raise money. That was a year into the creation of the Foundation so that was kind of a coming-out party for the Foundation. And it was really important to Will Nicholson. I’m a firm believer it gave him purpose in those years (shortly before he passed away in May 2016). What a great way to honor his life and his contributions to golf.”
— The major emphasis the CGA places on youth caddies and the programs that make them successful.
— The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado, a joint effort with the Colorado PGA that went by the wayside early in 2022.
“Ultimately, the reason the JGAC did not succeed — and I would define success as survive — was it’s very difficult to collaborate at that level” with two distinct organizations overseeing the program, Mate said. “There’s no lead; you need to have a lead. It’s like co-executive directors. That doesn’t work. … I’m proud of the JGAC that we tried something even though it didn’t eventually stick.”
— The CGA’s website, ColoradoGolf.org, becoming a go-to resource regarding Colorado golf news, whether it directly involves the CGA or not.
— Increased emphasis on governmental relations as they pertain to golf — an effort which has been largely spearheaded by the golf course superintendents.
— The creation of Team Colorado as part of a pilot program designed to expand the pipeline for elite junior golfers into the U.S. National Development Program, which was launched by the USGA in 2023. Colorado was one of seven states involved in the pilot program from the start.
“The CGA is well regarded at the USGA level,” Mate said of the reason the association is helping spearhead the effort. “… Our most important relationship, without a doubt, is the USGA because that’s what funds us. Without the USGA, we’re out of business.”
In addition, individually speaking, Mate was part of the USGA Rules of Golf Committee when the major rules modernization was put into place in 2019.
Mate at the 2005 CGA Junior Match Play with runner-up Gunner Wiebe.
But there have certainly been challenging times as well. Asked the most difficult things he’s had to deal with as the CGA executive director, Mate noted some that have stuck with him:
— “The first thing that comes to mind was the 2013 flood,” he said. (By way of background, the September flooding of that year — with more than 14 inches of rain falling in just six days — left an estimated 50 percent of CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course under water initially, with some of it accumulating 6 feet deep. It took nearly a month before the water drained off the course completely, and by then eight holes were damaged severely and the turf on five greens died. The repairs ran about $350,000 and it cost the facility $750,000-$850,000 in lost revenue. CommonGround didn’t fully reopen until late the following spring.)
“I’m quick to panic. I’m not a cool head in a storm,” Mate said. “When that happened I’m like, ‘Holy crap, what are we going to do?’ Will Nicholson (a Coloradan who once served as USGA president) was the chair of our golf board. He was cool as a cucumber, as was (then CommonGround’s PGA director of golf) Dave Troyer. I was so happy that calmer heads prevailed. … (Will was like) ‘Fine, we’ll get through this.’ And we did. Dave was really great. He figured out how we were not going to lose our momentum and keep nine holes open. That could have been the end of CommonGround; it could have very easily bankrupted us. It definitely set us back.”
— “Another thing that stood out was working through the relationship with the (Colorado) PGA Section. That’s why I’m very proud of the fact that we’re still financially supporting the (PGA Reach Colorado) foundation. But really it involved the longstanding agreement we had — that dated back to 1978 — that had grown completely out of touch. That was definitely not easy. We came out of it on the other end and the Section is stronger than ever. Our relationship with the Section is much healthier. It’s almost like we had this divorce that went back to the ‘70s that we couldn’t get over, and now it’s behind us. That was a very challenging couple of years to work through that process.”
— When asked about the integration with the CWGA in 2018, Mate said, “I’m so proud of the way we came out of (a period of) distrust of the CGA. It was well-earned, frankly. The CWGA had every right to feel that way because historically women in golf their experiences are certainly not equal. That sort of period of separation when we split our offices was kind of important because it showed the CGA how hard we needed to work to be better. That was definitely a challenging chapter — but both that and the Section came together so well at the end.”
— And when the Covid-19 pandemic was noted, Mate said, “For everybody it was such an unknown. There was a lot of catastrophic thinking. It was different than the flood because there was more of a sense that we’re all in this together as opposed to CommonGround being an island. But (in the wake of Covid) we quickly realized how much the rounds (being played) were up. I think of Covid now as such an inflection point — and it’s associated as a positive event (regarding golf). It could have been different if you were in the restaurant business or something.”
Another significant function of the CGA is to conduct championships, USGA qualifiers and, occasionally, help host USGA national tournaments. For instance, CommonGround was one of the two courses for the stroke-play portion of the 2012 U.S. Amateur (along with Cherry Hills) and the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur (at Colorado Golf Club). And the CGA was a host organization for the 2023 U.S. Girls’ Junior that was played at Eisenhower Golf Club at the Air Force Academy.
And Mate himself is a highly regarded resource regarding the Rules of Golf. In that regard, besides once serving on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, he’s been a rules official at three Masters, one or two U.S. Opens, along with some U.S. Women’s Opens, U.S. Senior Opens and U.S. Amateurs.
“That’s part of my career that I’m done with,” he said. “I’ve officially retired from rules officiating at that (level). I’ve kind of been there, done that. I prefer teaching the rules, talking about the rules. I love our (CGA ’Spirit of the Game’ rules) podcast, doing rules videos. I never really loved rules officiating. That wasn’t something that was my favorite part of the job. I was too worried I was going to make a bad decision. I consider myself very lucky that I never made a notable bad ruling. I’m sure I made a bad ruling, but nobody knows about it. I don’t even know about it. That was my fear at the Masters: that I was going to become famous. You don’t want to become famous” as a rules official.
So, after a quarter-century of serving as executive director of the CGA — and roughly another dozen years as a full-time golf administrator at other levels — how much longer does Mate intend to continue on the job?
“It’s totally indefinite,” he said. “I just continue to be challenged. It’s a new job every day. I’m really excited to think what are the next five years going to bring. I’ve also kind of concluded you can’t plan too far off. … Now I take it one day at a time.”
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com