CO-WY District Optimist Junior Golf

I am one of the co-chairmen of the Colorado-Wyoming District 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 major youth programs. Each year, THE OPTIMIST is held at the Trump National Doral Resort and Spa in Miami FL and fields about 700 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, and Jason Day, 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 District Optimist Junior Golf Program is recognized as the best Junior Golf Program in all of Optimist International and serves over 400 junior golfers each year. The best of these junior golfers will qualify for THE 2024 OPTIMIST.

The 2024 Colorado-Wyoming District Optimist Junior Golf Qualifiers will be held Thursday, May 30, at South Suburban Golf Course in Centennial for girls ages 10 - 12, 13 - 14, and 15 - 18; Thursday, June 13, at Overland Park Golf Course in Denver for boys ages 10 - 11, 12 - 13, and 14 - 15; and Monday, June 17, at Patty Jewett Golf Course in Colorado Springs for boys age 16 - 18. A total of about 300 junior golfers will tee off in these three events, competing for 59 spots at THE 2024 OPTIMIST.

In October 2023, we held the 8th Annual 36-hole Optimist Junior Tour Event at Green Valley Ranch in Northeast Denver. This was a new event for us starting in 2016 and, because of its success, has become an annual event, welcoming golfers from around the country. A total of about 75 golfers teed off in the October 2023 event, competing for an additional 20 spots at THE 2024 OPTIMIST.

The Colorado-Wyoming District Optimist Junior Golf Program is totally self-funded. We sent 60 junior golfers to THE 2023 OPTIMIST and raised over $ 45,000 for that purpose.

We were able to give $ 630 to each of the seven age group winners and $ 500 to the other 53 qualifiers from the 2023 District qualifying events. With 59 slots for THE 2024 OPTIMIST, we will again need to raise about $ 45,000 to provide the same amount of financial support for the 2024 age group winners and other qualifiers.

To boost our fund-raising activities in 2024, we will hold an adult golf scramble and silent auction on Wednesday, May 22 at Meadow Hills Golf Course in Aurora.

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 District Optimist Junior Golf Program "Bringing Out the Best in Kids".

More information about the Colorado-Wyoming District 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 District Optimist Junior Golf Program Co-chairman