Coming soon for Colorado golfers

Golf could be the Dorian Gray portrait of the sporting world. Ancient as the game is, the look of it changes little from year to year: We make our way from tee to fairway to green attempting endlessly to put a little ball into a little hole.

But the golf industry, now, that’s something else! From fashion to gear to technology, it changes, evolves and develops so quickly that the coming season won’t ever look the same as the last.

Here are five fresh takes Colorado golfers might notice in 2024.

• The spread of split tee-times at Colorado courses that stay open in the offseason. Denver Golf has found success in recent years starting players on both the first and 10^th tees at 10 a.m. over the winter, maximizing 18-hole rounds while minimizing frost delays. This year the CGA’s CommonGround adopted the system. Look for more courses to join the bandwagon next winter.
• The PGA Tour returns to Colorado for the first time in 10 years, Aug. 22-25, with the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club. Everybody’s a winner at this FedExCup playoff event: 50 players and a $20 million purse.
• Of course we all should have our clubs regripped for the April 15 season opening, but how about a new shaft on that putter? One of the newest equipment innovations comes to us courtesy of Barney Adams – yes, the mind behind Tight Lies, which started us all on what we know today as hybrids. Now he’s formed Breakthrough Golf and introduced the ultra-stiff Stability putter shaft, which has just 1 degree of torque to keep your existing putter face square at impact. Read all about it at breakthroughgolftech.com.
• Broadlands and Applewood became the first Colorado courses to implement Noteefy, a new, cutting-edge app that puts players on a waiting list for tee times in their preferred window and alerts them when a spot opens. Courses like it because they can fill late openings. And Colorado golfers who have set their alarms for midnight to make tee times have to love the idea of an app that will let them snore away.
• Finally, the annual PGA Golf Expo showcased something new for every golf body: the usual flashy new polos for guys, flirty new skorts for gals and cutting-edge golf shoe technology. One of the most talked about accessories to put next to your skin, though, is a pair of putt-reading sunglasses from USWING. The glasses are rated for UV400 sun protection and the brand promises to “distinguish the direction of the grass pattern and undulating slope of the green.” Starting at around $600 MSRP, these are perfect for the golfer who will do anything to lower his or her scores.

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Veteran journalist Susan Fornoff has written about golf for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, ColoradoBiz magazine and her own GottaGoGolf.com. She became a CGA member when she moved from Oakland, CA, to Littleton in 2016, and ghost-writes as “Molly McMulligan,” the CGA’s on-course consultant on golf for fun. Email her at mollymcmulligan@gmail.com.

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