2022 Flying Horse Ladies Golf Recap
This has been a great season for Ladies golf at Flying Horse! Here’s an update on a few recent events. - By Kathy Clark
Pike’s Peak Team Association (PPTA)
The Pikes Peak Team Association is an inter-club league that has been in existence since 1959. This year, thanks to the efforts of several of our members, Flying Horse was admitted to the league. This brought the total number of clubs in the league to eleven, so each club played one match against each of the other ten clubs. For each match, a club has to field 16 players divided into an A team and a B team. Four A-team and four B-team twosomes compete in a match play format against teams from the opposing clubs for both gross and net scores. Points are accumulated throughout the season with results announced at the season ending Field Day.
More than 40 Flying Horse ladies signed up to participate in PPTA play this year! That in itself is a tribute to how much our ladies program has grown in the past few years. Many participants had never before competed in this type of competitive league, so we were hoping just to be competitive this year as we learned what the league was all about.
It turns out we had nothing to worry about! Flying Horse did amazingly well for a first year team. Out of 11 teams, our A team finished the season 6th in Gross and 2nd in Net with the B team 8th in Gross and 9th in Net. And overall, we finished 7th. A great result for our first year!
A great thanks to our team Captains Laura Watt, Sue Payton, Heidi Kellar and Peggy Cox as well as to Val Talus – all were instrumental in getting us voted into the league this year!
CGA Club Team Championship
The Colorado Golf Association holds a variety of tournaments throughout the state. The final tournament is the Team Club Championship where clubs from all over the state send a 4-person team to compete in a one-day tournament. This is the first year that Flying Horse sent a team. Teams are made up of an A, B, C, and D player based on handicaps. It’s a tough tournament – all four players gross scores count on eve- ry hole! And there is no limit as to how high that score can be and it’s not unusual for teams to have to take one or more scores of double digits! Furthermore, there are 30 teams from all over the state, not just the Pike’s Peak region.
Our team was made up of Kady Brown (Club Champ at both Main and North), Lisa Buhlinger (runner up club champ at Main), Heidi Kellar (flight winner Main), and Kim Harden (qualifier at Main). They did an amazing job, finishing 10th overall! All four ladies played extremely well and it was a terrific showing as we finished ahead of all our fellow Pike’s Peak teams as well as ahead of last years winners!
Congratulations on a great showing and thanks to Jake for sponsoring our team this year!
LAFI (Ladies Annual Fall Invitational)
Ladies Annual Fall Invitational is an event that was started as an informal outing of friends in 2018 by a group of ladies from Eisenhower. In 2019 it was expanded into a one day tournament to include ladies from other clubs in the Colorado Springs region. After a year off in 2020 due to Covid, LAFI was organized as a 501c3 organization with a mission to promote women’s golf in the Pike’s Peak Region by holding a fun and affordable one-day tournament and raising funds to support women’s participation in golf. The 2021 tournament was held at Cheyenne Shadows at Ft. Carson. Flying Horse member Kathy Clark was part of the organizing committee for that tournament and was asked to assume the lead role as President of LAFI for the 2022 tournament. Kathy asked other Flying Horse members, Kady Brown (sponsorships), Cheri Wolf (registration), and Peggy Cox (treasurer) to join committee members Sook Kelley (LAFI Founder), Dianne Holmes (secretary), Patsy Hicks (prizes), and Wendy Waite (webmaster) to help organize LAFI 2022.
We set our sights on not only hosting a great tournament, but on raising $5000-$10,000 to support an organization that promotes women’s golf. We asked Jake O’Dell for some input and he suggested we talk to First Tee Southern Colorado. Jake arranged a meeting with First Tee executive director Sandy Johnson and we learned that First Tee is in desperate need of golf clubs for girls in their junior program. So we designated First Tee as the recipient of any funds raised.
Kady Brown took on the role of obtaining sponsors and did a fantastic job. Jake used his contacts at Callaway to get a great deal on 18 sets of junior clubs. This year’s tournament was held at Perry Park Country Club and sold out within two weeks of opening registration. With three title sponsors and 18 hole sponsors, plus some amazing prizes donated for a raffle, we raised over $10,000 to support First Tee! It was a great day of golf and a very successful event, thanks to the amazing work of the organizing committee and the enthusiasm of all the participants, which included 20 ladies from Flying Horse!
Live Like Robin
This past July we lost a beloved member of the Flying Horse Ladies group, Robin Koop. Although Robin left this life way too early, she lived life to the fullest. Robin was a successful businesswoman, an avid golfer, an animal lover, a friend and mentor to many, and a woman of great faith. She touched many lives across the many aspects of her life. Her friends at Flying Horse adopted a motto in her honor – LIVE LIKE ROBIN. This serves as a reminder to all of us to make the most of each day and to embody the attributes that we all admired in Robin.
As a tribute to Robin, Mary Watt took the lead in organizing a special golf tournament – the Live Like Robin tournament. More than 20 participants, as well as many who could not play but contributed, enjoyed a great day of golf in her honor. Kady Brown made beautiful “Live Like Robin” ribbons that all participants wore. Proceeds from the tournament were donated to Best Friends, an animal rescue organization and a cause near and dear to Robin’s heart. More than $1800 was raised for this cause.
In addition to the special tournament, Flying Horse members participating in the LAFI tournament got together to sponsor a “Live Like Robin” hole, raising over $300 for First Tee.
May we all continue to Live Like Robin!