Because golf is known as a game of honor, we’ll assume that far more people in the Colorado golf community can be found on Santa’s “nice” — rather than “naughty” — list as Christmas approaches.
Either way though, it’s that time of year when we send out Colorado golf-style gift wishes for the holiday season. And we’ll do it in alphabetical order, so as to make it easy on old Saint Nick.
So, without further ado …:
To: Part-time Colorado Springs resident Judy Bell. Gift: That the former USGA president spend many an enjoyable visit to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Scotland, which just started adding female members — including yourself — this year.
To: Parker resident Shane Bertsch. Gift: That, at 45 years old, your return to the PGA Tour this season will be parlayed into a prolonged stay on the world’s top golf circuit.
To: Coloradans Zahkai Brown and Gunner Wiebe. Gift: Plenty of starts on the Web.com Tour in 2016 despite having conditional status.
To: Colorado Golf Fans. Gift: That the 2018 U.S. Senior Open coming to The Broadmoor be one of several tour events to visit Colorado over the next half-dozen years.
To: The six Colorado golf People of the Century honored at the recent Century of Golf Gala. Gift: That you inspire future generations to follow in your footsteps.
To: The Colorado PGA and its members. Gift: Let’s make it nine PGA of America national awards in the last 10 years.
To: The CU women’s golf team, currently the only Colorado-based NCAA Division I program currently ranked among the top 25 in the country (24th by Golfweek). Gift: A team berth in the NCAA finals for just the second time in program history.
To: The CWGA. Gift: That 2016 proves to be a rip-roaring success for your centennial year.
To: Dan Hogan, Colorado golf historian extraordinaire. Gift: Many more local golf artifacts for which to find a proper home.
To: Hale Irwin. Gift: That, even at age 70 and playing a more limited schedule, you make another run or two at a Champions Tour title.
To: Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe. Gift: After a rough last few years on the PGA Tour, the rookie of the year award on the Champions Tour in 2016.
To: Junior golf in Colorado. Gift: A noticeable uptick in participation — and just plain fun — as the CGA and Colorado PGA join forces to bolster junior golf in the state.
To: Two-time CWGA Player of the Year Jennifer Kupcho and fellow Coloradan Hannah Wood. Gift: For the two Colorado players who find themselves in the top 100 of the women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings, a matchup against one another in the finals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
To: Rich Langston, Colorado golf volunteer extraordinaire, who recently moved to Oklahoma. Gift: Many reasons to come back to visit old friends in Colorado.
To: Ed Mate, CGA executive director. Gift: A good, long stay on the powerful USGA Rules of Golf Committee that you recently joined.
To: New CGA president Joe McCleary and new CWGA president Juliet Miner. Gift: That your leadership helps make golf in Colorado that much more enjoyable.
To: CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year David Oraee. Gift: A nice run as a golf professional before you turn your full attention to a medical career.
To: Players, pro or amateur, who have relied on anchored putting in recent years. Gift: To regain the nerves and feel of a teenager before your first rounds of 2016, when the anchoring ban takes effect.
To: CWGA board member Dana Rinderknecht, the creative driving force behind the highly successful Colorado Gives Day. Gift: A sense of deep satisfaction — but not to the point of resting on your laurels.
To: The Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy. Gift: That the groundwork you laid will keep gaining traction in Colorado and elsewhere.
To: Evergreen resident Craig Stadler. Gift: May your impending Colorado Golf Hall of Fame induction give you yet another reason to love the Centennial State.
To: Part-time Colorado resident Kevin Stadler. Gift: A return to 100 percent physically after a rough 2014-15 PGA Tour season.
To: Mary Weinstein, who called a two-shot penalty on herself for an infraction no fellow competitor or rules official noticed at a big junior tournament last summer. Gift: The hope that by setting a good example, other young golfers in the state would follow your lead under similar circumstances.
