Building & Sustaining a Junior Caddie Program with the Colorado Golf Association and Western Golf Association | Episode 36

This episode of the National Links Trust Podcast is a recording from a recent edition of the Municipal Golf Network Webinar Program. In this episode, we explore how municipal and daily fee public golf facilities can build and sustain successful junior caddie programs.

A junior caddie program not only offers golfers a unique way to experience your course—it also deepens your facility’s impact on the community. These programs teach kids and teens valuable communication and life skills, introduce them to the game of golf, and can open doors to life-changing scholarship opportunities, including the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Program, which provides full tuition and housing scholarships to deserving junior caddies nationwide.

This webinar specifically spotlights one of the country’s best models: CommonGround Golf Course in Denver, Colorado. Owned and operated by the Colorado Golf Association, CommonGround is home to the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, a two-year program that develops leadership and character through caddying. Like National Links Trust’s Jack Vardaman Workforce Development Program, the Solich Academy partners with the WGA to connect caddies with the Evans Scholars Program. Guests in this episode include Ed Mate, Executive Director and CEO of the Colorado Golf Association, who has led the growth of the Solich Academy and Brandon Rogers, Senior Director of Caddie Development (Southwest Region) and Spencer Groessl, Director of Caddie Recruitment, (Central Region) for the WGA.