’Tis the season to pass around the holiday gift wishes, Colorado golf style
By Gary Baines – 12/23/2024
Wrapping paper, bows, to/from stickers and tape may be near necessities for many people leading up to the holidays, but we can function easily without them here.
That’s because we limit our offerings in this space to gift wishes — specifically of the Colorado golf-related variety. That might be disappointing to some, but it’s how we’ve rolled for many years now with this particular annual year-end tradition.
With that understood, here’s our 2024 edition of holiday gift wishes, Colorado golf style:
— To: Keith Schneider, who is retiring this month after 43 years of holding down key positions at Castle Pines Golf Club (PGA head professional, then general manager). Gift Wish: To experience the novel idea of taking a vacation during the summer.
— To: Colorado golfers at public courses. Gift Wish: Less frustration while trying to line up prime tee times in the post-pandemic era.
— To: Brothers George and Duffy Solich, who played major roles in making the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship a big-time success at Castle Pines Golf Club this last summer. Gift Wish: Sheer satisfaction at a job well done.
— To: Officials for the 2025 U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor. Gift Wish: A fitting follow-up to this year’s BMW Championship at Castle Pines, where attendance was big — but not so big as to be a hassle — and the event raised a record amount for a good cause.
— To: Leadership at well-maintained public courses that charge greens fees under $50 for 18 holes. Gift Wish: A big-time thank you. Given the demand, we know you could be charging more, but gracias for keeping the increases in check in recent years while still making ends meet.
— To: Davis Bryant, who grew up in Aurora and played golf at Colorado State University. Gift Wish: After just embarking on his first season on the DP World Tour — in the wake of finishing third in final qualifying last month — a PGA Tour card for 2026.
— To: Colin Prater, the Colorado Springs-based high school science teacher who has earned CGA Player of the Year honors three times in the last five years. Gift Wish: Becoming the first amateur since 1994 to win the overall title at the Inspirato Colorado Open.
— To: The caddies at the University of Colorado Evans Scholars house in Boulder. Gift Wish: Full appreciation for the wonderful opportunity you’ve earned by being awarded the scholarship.
— To: Former CU golfer Yannik Paul. Gift Wish: After several years on the DP World Tour, a PGA Tour card, and to become part of one of the rare sets of siblings (much less twins) to hold PGA Tour playing privileges at the same time. Note: Twin brother Jeremy will be a PGA Tour rookie in 2025.
— To: Sara Montgomery, who just became president of the CGA. Gift Wish: A dozen golf balls inscribed with the CGA’s mission: “Make golf and all it offers available to everyone”. If that isn’t an ideal alignment marker for such golf balls, we don’t know what is.
— To: Steamboat Springs resident Verne Lundquist. Gift Wish: A wonderful exotic trip during the second week of April, after spending all but two of the last 42 years during that time of year helping call the Masters for CBS.
— To: The folks at Cherry Hills Country Club. Gift Wish: After all the work — and money spent — on the clubhouse renovation that was done in conjunction with the club’s 100th anniversary, a well-earned pat on the back for earning third place among the best New Clubhouses of the Year in the private club category, by Golf Inc.
— To: Denver native Mark Hubbard. Gift Wish: After going into the 2025 season with 231 career starts on the PGA Tour, a well-deserved victory on that circuit after knocking on the door multiple times.
— To: The two 2025 World Long Drive competitions scheduled for Bigfoot Turf Farm southeast of Greeley. Gift Wish: A 500-yard drive by one of the competitors. Also, a victory by Colorado’s own Monica Lieving.
— To: Kyle Heyen, who stepped forward when the Colorado PGA found itself in a bind to become president of the Section nearly two decades after initially holding down the position. Gift Wish: Personalized licenses plates. How about COLO PGA?
— To: Wyndham Clark and Jennifer Kupcho, who both were inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame on Dec. 1. Gift Wish: Respective career victory No. 4 on golf’s biggest stages — the PGA Tour for Clark and the LPGA for Kupcho.
— To: Ed Mate. Gift Wish: In 2025 to mark your 25th anniversary as executive director of the CGA, three silver-colored golf balls with which to randomly practice your juggling hobby.
— To: Michael and Chris Keiser —who are in the midst of developing the Rodeo Dunes public golf resort near Roggen, about 30 miles northeast of Brighton. Gift Wish: Congratulations on you both checking in at No. 11 — along with your dad, Mike, on Golf Inc.’s list of the Most Powerful People in Golf. FYI: Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, the designer of one of the Rodeo Dunes courses (as well as Colorado Golf Club), checked in at No. 23 on the same list.
— To: Denver resident Jon Lindstrom, the 2023 CGA Senior Player of the Year. Gift: A return to peak form following some health challenges.
— To: Ardent local golf fans. Gift Wishes: If you haven’t already seen it, a visit to the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame Museum at The Broadmoor. It’s well worth the trip — and it’s free.
— To: Local superintendents. Gift Wish: A chance for you — and your golf courses — to rest and recover this winter after the very busy last few years.
— To: The Colorado Christian University men’s golf team. Gift Wish: After claiming a national NCAA Division II title in 2024, a clean sweep of victories in the 2024-25 season, culminating with another national championship. (Note: The Cougars won team titles in all five of their fall tournaments.)
— To: The Ascendant presented by Blue Korn Ferry Tour event. Gift Wish: A tournament-record crowd to enjoy the action at TPC Colorado, a very picturesque venue indeed.
— To: The inaugural Team Colorado, a junior golf all-star squad just recently introduced. Gift Wish: To have at least one of your players eventually earn a spot on the U.S. National Junior Team.
— To: Soon-to-be 42-year-old Colorado resident and former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird. Gift Wish: To perform well enough in 2025 — despite having just conditional status on the PGA Tour — to regain a full exemption on the world’s premier golf circuit.
— To: The Colorado Golf Expo. Gift Wish: Attendance of more than 10,000 for the show for the first time since 2012.
— To: All Colorado golfers. Gift Wish: Many a day on the course in Colorado where you look around and think how fortunate you are to play this game in this state.
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