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(Gold) Crowning Tomorrow’s Champions
WHEN VALOR CHRISTIAN’S boys’ team won the Class 5A championship in golf last fall, it brought a smile to Brian Lee’s face; in fact, as he scrolled down the final standings, his grin got bigger and bigger. “Every year we have 10 to 12 of their players in our program; Ralston Valley finished fourth—every year they have 12 to 15 kids with us,” said Lee, the program director for the Gold Crown Foundation, the Colorado nonprofit that offers athletic and enrichment programs to almost 20,000 youth annually. While Gold Crown is synonymous with basketball and volleyball, hosting hundreds of tournaments and leagues in its fieldhouse in Lakewood, golf is quickly making a name for itself as well.
“It’s really been starting to gain traction the last five or six years,” Lee says. “Kind of the way our youth basketball programs have become feed- er systems for the area’s high school programs, our golf programs have become feeders for some of the top high schools—it’s really cool to see the impact we’re having.”
And, as is the case with hoops, the opportunities to join in the fun are ubiquitous, with pro- grams running throughout the spring, summer and fall—according to the foundation, 31 high school teams participated in their “Back to School” series, comprised of four weeks of nine-hole tournaments played at courses in the metro Denver area and open to individuals or “high school play- ers looking for extra tournaments, or for JV pro- grams that do not have a league to play in.”
There are also similar middle school programs for sixth to eighth graders; overall, in 2020, officials say they offered “opportunities” to more than 500 players.
“I love that we continue to fill niches and voids,” Lee said. “Because of COVID-19, we noticed the girls’ season was getting off to a bit of a late start this year, so we created a little four-week program so that they would be able to get out and knock a little bit of the rust off before they got started with their schools and they could enter their tryouts with some confidence.
“It’s about giving them opportunities and helping them achieve whatever goal they have in the sport, whether it be just picking up the game and just being able to play with their friends, or to make their high school team, or maybe take that next step and play in college.”
Lee spent some time working for Troon Golf and playing on some of Arizona’s mini-tours before moving to Colorado in 2012. After a stint at The Ridge at Castle Pines Golf Club, he joined Gold Crown in 2015, continuing to feed an itch that started after getting the bug as a seventh-grader. He eventually became proficient enough to earn a scholarship to the University of Nevada-Reno, but lost it when (perhaps in a bit of foreshadowing, given his current employer) he injured an ankle playing in a basketball league.
“I was actually playing with my Dad,” Lee said. “It was a bad decision, but it led me to where I am today, and so I really wouldn’t change anything.”
Speaking of COVID, another benefit of Gold Crown was, with all the grownups hogging all the tee times at courses throughout the area, there was a haven for youngsters to play. And, with spring and summer seasons burgeoning, chances are the need will be equally great this year.
“And courses are actually starting to see the value of starting to cater to and build up that next wave of golfers,” Lee said. “We have great relationships with the City of Denver courses, as well as Jeffco and regionally…and all of us just love the idea of how much the game is growing—it’s a really cool bond that we’re all sharing.”
goldcrownfoundation.com/golf-programs
This article was also featured in the May Issue of Colorado AvidGolfer.
Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.
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