I am the President of the Board of Directors of the Colorado-Wyoming Optimist Junior Golf Program.
Optimist International is one of the world’s largest service club organizations with 2,500 clubs and 80,000 members in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and around the world. Carrying out the motto “Bringing Out the Best in Kids”, Optimists conduct positive service projects that reach more than six million young people each year. More information about Optimist International is available at http://www.optimist.org/
The Optimist International Junior Golf Championships (commonly referred to as THE OPTIMIST) is one of Optimist International's signature youth programs. Each year, THE OPTIMIST is held at the Trump National Doral Resort and Spa in Miami FL and fields about 600 of the world's best junior golfers from more than 28 countries around the globe. Past age group winners at THE OPTIMIST (and its predecessor, the Optimist Junior World Golf Championships) include Denver's own Mark Hubbard, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Davis Love III, Lorena Ochoa, Beth Bauer, Nancy Lopez, Brittany Lincicome, Lexi Thompson, Brooke Henderson, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Akshay Bhatia, and Chris Gotterup, among dozens of prominent PGA and LPGA golfers.
Other Denver area golfers that have played in THE OPTIMIST include PGA and LPGA stars Wyndham Clark and Jennifer Kupcho.
More information about THE OPTIMIST and the Optimist International Junior Golf Program is available at http://www.optimist.org/golf/.
The Colorado-Wyoming Optimist Junior Golf Program is recognized as the best Junior Golf Program in all of Optimist International and serves over 250 junior golfers each year. The best of these junior golfers will qualify for THE 2026 OPTIMIST.
The 2026 Colorado-Wyoming Optimist Junior Golf Qualifiers will be held Tuesday, June 2, at Overland Park Golf Course in Denver for boys ages 10 - 11, 12 - 13, and 14 - 15; Monday, June 8, at Flatirons Golf Course in Boulder for boys ages 16 - 18; and Wednesday, June 10, at Meadow Hills Golf Course in Aurora for girls ages 10 - 12, 13 - 14, and 15 - 18. A total of about 250 junior golfers will tee off in these three events, competing for 60 spots at THE 2026 OPTIMIST.
The Colorado-Wyoming Optimist Junior Golf Program is totally self-funded. We sent 45 junior golfers to THE 2025 OPTIMIST and raised about $ 50,000 for that purpose.
We were able to give $ 750 to each of the seven age group winners and $ 500 to the other 38 qualifiers from the 2025 District qualifying events. With 60 slots for THE 2026 OPTIMIST, we will need to raise over $ 50,000 to provide the same amount of financial support for the 2026 age group winners and other qualifiers.
To boost our fund-raising activities in 2026, we will hold an adult golf scramble.
We will also hold an online auction in May 2026. More than a dozen donated golf foursomes, other golf equipment, and fine wine will be among the items up for bid.
We will also solicit title, banner, hole, and participant sponsors for the District Qualifiers from many Colorado-Wyoming District Optimist Clubs, individual Optimists and their friends and businesses.
In addition, we solicit cash and in-kind donations from local golf courses, golf-related businesses, parents of our junior golfers, and the general public.
This GOFUNDME site is the latest of our "thinking outside the box" methods of fund-raising.
Please continue to help support the Colorado-Wyoming Optimist Junior Golf Program "Bringing Out the Best in Kids".
More information about the Colorado-Wyoming Optimist Junior Golf Program is available at https://sites.google.com/site/cowyooptimistgolf/.
If you need further information or have any questions, please let me know.
Thank you,
Bob Meyer
Colorado-Wyoming Optimist Junior Golf Program Co-chairman