Colorado Golf Hall of Fame museum opens at The Broadmoor: 'Momentous day'

Apr. 14—The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new home.

Previously located in Brighton, the CGHOF opened its new museum at The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs on Friday. The project cost upwards of $1.7 million, and golfers, golf fans and others finally got to see the benefits.

"This, today, is a momentous day for Colorado golf," Colorado Golf Hall of Fame executive director Jon Rizzi said. "Not only for this organization, but for Colorado golf in general."

Bob Webster is CGHOF's president but hadn't visited the museum until Friday.

Between the generous donations and over two years the team spent working on the facility, Webster knew it would be great. But it still exceeded his highest hopes for how it could've turned out.

"I walked in this afternoon and was astounded," Webster said. "It was as big of a 'wow' factor as I've experienced in my life."

Webster took his time to stroll through the museum and view the roughly 700 items on display.

He walked into the building directly into the lobby, where various trophies were on display from various Coloradans' biggest professional victories. It included a display with Denver resident Craig Stadler's 1982 Masters Trophy, as well as other hardware from high-level competitions.

Webster turned left and saw the entry display, featuring golf bags, clubs and photographs of Colorado's Ryder Cup and Walker Cup competitors.

Past that, he viewed the wall of portraits, featuring glass-etched sketched portraits of the GCHOF's 148 inductees. Next to the portraits are mementos — shirts, hats, ribbons and more — from many of the more than 100 inductees.

Then Webster went down a corridor dating from 1887 to the present day, outlining the history of Colorado golf. At the end of the hallway is another trophy case, this one featuring antique awards, like M.A. McLaughlin's 1922 CGA Match Play trophy.

Webster isn't the only one who was mesmerized when strolling through the museum.

Rizzi has been there several times this week alone, and the feeling has been the same on every visit.

"There isn't a more appropriate and fitting venue for the celebration of excellence that we've been able to achieve," Rizzi said. "It's amazing."

Originally, the CGHOF was located at the Colorado Golf Association's headquarters in Greenwood Village. The extent of the Hall of Fame was a modest area of the building, known as the "Wall of Frames."

In 2005, the CGHOF found a more permanent home in the clubhouse at Riverdale Dunes Golf Course in Brighton, where it stood for 16 years.

Rizzi, Webster and the organization's board of directors decided Colorado Springs — and the Broadmoor, in particular — would be a better setting.

For one, Rizzi believes the new museum is located in a more accessible area.

"Broadmoor gets incredible foot traffic," Rizzi said. "Riverdale Dunes is an incredibly popular golf course, but half the people who went there didn't know we had the hall of fame. The only way you were going to see it is if you were going to the men's room. Here, everybody's walking through the clubhouse."

Plus, with more than 700 items on display at a given time, the museum needed more space. And the Broadmoor offers plenty of that.

"The Broadmoor is the standard for excellence," Rizzi said.

The museum will be open to the public, free of charge, daily during the hours the course is open. Friday was its official opening day.

In addition to the celebration for the new museum, seven golfers were celebrated on Friday.

Connor Jones, Jennifer Kupcho, Jill McGill, Yannik Paul and Matt Schalk each won Golf Person of the Year honors, while high schoolers Kyle Leydon and Maddy Bante won Future Famer awards.

For Leydon, a senior at Brighton High School, being one of the first golfers recognized at the new venue was overwhelming.

"I think it's come full circle," Leydon said. "I'm just happy that my hard work and patience has led me to this amazing night."

It was equally special for Bante, a junior at St. Mary's Academy in Englewood. But she doesn't want Friday to be her last trip to the Broadmoor.

"I want to play this course — very badly," Bante said.

Between the museum unveiling and the ceremonies for the seven golfers, the board of directors considered Friday a success.

And it gives them even more excitement as the project launches.

"Today's event celebrates excellence," Rizzi said.