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Inductees

Tom Apple

One of Colorado’s first PGA Master Professionals, the Pennsylvania native has worked in the Vail Valley for 50 years—the last 41 at Country Club of the Rockies. Helping to host all 21 star-studded Jerry Ford Invitationals, he also gave the president lessons. The multiple Colorado PGA award winner mentored more than 19 future head PGA Professionals and ran one of the country’s top-rated private golf shops. “Tom is a wonderful ambassador for golf,” the immortal Jack Nicklaus, who designed the Country Club of the Rockies, said. “His passion for teaching is matched only by his dedication to the game and support of the local community.”

Rollie Cahalane

A job growing in Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton in 1972 soon led the former Marine to the top greenkeeping job at Columbine Country Club as it held two LPGA Tour events, and at The Club at Inverness, prepping it for six Colorado Opens during his 21 years there. The 1998 Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association’s Turfgrass Man of the Year also served a term as president of the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association. His three sons—Kevin, Dave and Craig—all ply the family trade as head superintendents at Telluride, Bear Dance and Pole Creek.

Lance Johnson

For more than 30 years—first as a superintendent and now as parks and golf manager—he has elevated the City of Westminster’s two courses to premier status. Between them, Walnut Creek Golf Preserve and Legacy Ridge Golf Course have hosted more than 60 CGA championships, AJGA tournaments and USGA qualifiers. This past president of the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association and its nonprofit Rocky Mountain Environmental Golf Institute also chaired the statewide committee that created the 2019 Colorado Golf Industry Best Management Practices Guide.

Jon Lindstrom

The Lakewood Country Club member owns 13 Colorado Golf Association championship titles and has recently been ranked among the top 10 in the world among amateur golfers 55 and older. He won the 2023 Trans-Mississippi Senior Championship and the Golfweek Senior Division National Championship, and coming in ninth at the 2023 British Senior Amateur. He’s finished low-amateur at the Colorado Senior Open four times, competed in more than 20 USGA championships and in 2023 he was named to Global Golf Post’s Men’s Senior Amateur First Team.

Robert Polk

A winner of 15 Colorado Golf Association titles and four CGA Senior Player of the Year honors, the Colorado Golf Club member twice swept the CGA senior majors in a single season, and in 2021 became the oldest CGA major champion ever by winning his fifth Senior Am at age 66. A longtime volunteer member of the CGA board of directors and chair of the Tournament Committee, he is a major supporter of the Evans Scholarship for caddies, serving as one of the Western Golf Association’s directors since 2010.

Also honored…

Golf Person of the Year: Duffy Solich

A former Evans Scholar, Solich served as tournament chair for the PGA TOUR’s 2024 BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club, which attracted approximately 140,000 fans for the week and generated more than $8 million for the Evans Scholarship for caddies.

Lifetime Achievement: Verne Lundquist
Responsible for some of the most memorable calls during broadcasts of the Masters, the 84-year-old Steamboat Springs resident made his 40th and final call from Augusta in April.

Lifetime Achievement: Keith Schneider
Likewise, after 43 years at Castle Pines Golf Club, Keith Schneider ended his remarkable run at the end of 2024. Splitting his tenure between jobs as the club’s first PGA head professional and then the general manager, he played a pivotal role in 22 PGA Tour events held at the club.

Distinguished Service: Mitch Savage
The director of agronomy at CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course has consistently advocated on behalf of the golf industry in testimony before the state legislature. In early 2024 the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America honored him with the Excellence in Government Affairs Award.

Future Famer: Miles Kuhl
Currently a junior at Boulder’s Fairview High, the 16-year-old captured the prestigious 2024 AJGA Colorado Junior at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve, won two Colorado junior majors in 2023 and earned spot in the U.S. Amateur.

Future Famer: Tyler Long
The Evergreen High School senior won or tied for first in all eight high school events in which he competed, never carding a round higher than 69. He also prevailed in the 3A state championship and the 2024 AJGA Colorado Springs Junior. He will play at the University of Colorado in 2025.

Future Famer: Ashleigh Wilson
A round of 70 in the Colorado-based qualifying earned the Rock Canyon senior medalist honors in U.S. Girls’ Junior, advancing to the national championship in California. The Highlands Ranch product, who has verbally committed to play at Montana State, has finished runner-up in the CGA State Junior Girls, 5A State, Colorado Junior PGA Championship and the Colorado PGA Junior Match Play.