Faces of the Game: Colorado Golf Prodigy Gavin Amella

Gavin Amella shows the challenges – and rewards – of high-level youth golf

By Michael Colander

Gavin Amella, the defending 5A boys high school state champ, is living the reality of what competitive youth golf is today.

Amella, a junior at Castle View High School in Castle Rock, won last fall’s boys large-school championship by shooting a 9-under par score at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora. He had a 4-under par final round that included five birdies in six holes on the front nine.

Amella next committed to play college golf at the University of Colorado after he graduates high school in 2026.

“I’ve wanted to be the state champion since I was 5,” he said. “My cousin won it back in 2012 and ever since, I just wanted to win. And that was always my goal from day one. And it’s big for me, but it’s also big because I went from my school. I mean, there’s the first state championship.”

He said he played well on the front nine of the final day, then hung on on the back while the other players tried to catch him.

“It was excitement and relief at the same time because I was just thinking about that, WOW, I finally did it,” he said.

He has been working with swing coach Ed Oldham for the past two years, the same coach who helped LPGA major-winner Jennifer Kupcho.

The youth golf season seldom stops, and after his success last summer, he was also named this year to the first squad of the USGA’s Team Colorado, a development team that supports some of the state’s most promising young players.

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This is the first year of Team Colorado. The USGA launched the state-level team initiative to offer players financial assistance for some tournament travel as well as access to nutrition and training.

As he and the other Team Colorado team members are experiencing their first year in the program, Amella is also looking ahead to a busy summer season, including a hoped-for return to his favorite junior competition, the Notah Begay III Jr. Golf National Championship.

The Begay tournament has become one of the most visible youth tournaments in the country. With state-level qualifiers all over the country and overseas, the tournament features a heated finals that is covered by the Golf Channel for boys and girls ages 10 to 18.

The finals are Nov. 2 through 9 at Koasati Pines at Coushatta in Kinder, La.

Amella said the tournament is near pro-level with the amount of media coverage.

“And so it was definitely nerve-wracking,” he said.

The Colorado qualifier is scheduled for Aug. 4 and 5 at CommonGround Golf Course and costs $329 to enter.

And for the summer season ahead and the defense of his state championship title, Amella is trying to stay level-headed.

“So right now I’m just taking it step by step, day by day, just trying to get 1% better each day,” he said.