Fore, please! Fall sports now driving.

While today won’t be as highlighted as when the rest of the kids hit the practice fields, it’s a significant day on the high school athletic calendar.

Ready, set, go. We’re off.

Boys golfers will take to driving ranges and practice greens throughout the state as the 2024-25 athletic year officially kicks off. Some teams will see competition this week while most teams won’t reach the tee boxes for real until sometime next week.

This also marks a monumental year for golf as a sport as a fourth classification has been added to the mix. The sport went to three classifications back in 2008 and has seen an increase in both the number of individuals going out for the sport and the number of schools that have added boys golf teams to their athletic departments.

According to the CHSAA participation database, 2,457 kids went out for golf in the first year that Class 3A joined the mix. Since that time, participation numbers dropped to a low of 2,145 in 2014-15. That number spiked to 2,930 in the 2020-21 year which was coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and golf was seen as a sport that allowed kids a low-risk opportunity to compete for their schools.

Last year, 2,863 kids went out for the sport. What was more telling, a big reason for adding a 2A class was that there were 77 teams in both 3A and 4A which left 45 teams in 5A.

A fourth classification was added to provide more equity throughout each classification of the sport.

But enough of the business talk.

There is a boatload of talent returning to the fairways and greens in 2024. Peak to Peak senior Om Mathur is the only returning state champion, but the top of the leaderboards from all three of last year’s state tournaments are littered with players coming back and trying to hunt down a state title this fall.

Top returning players from 2023

Class 5A:

  • Miles Kuhl (Fairview)
  • Brayden Forte (Cherokee Trail)
  • Jesse Hand (Chatfield
  • Austin Barry (Fossil Ridge)

Class 4A:

  • Liam Houlihan (Evergreen)
  • Tyler Long (Evergreen)
  • Jack Kaul (Grand Junction)
  • Charlie Doyle (Cheyenne Mountain)

Class 3A:

  • Om Mathur (Peak to Peak)
  • Jack Carter (Resurrection Christian)
  • Clint Summers (Resurrection Christian)
  • Vince Lopez (Montezuma-Cortez)

Note: Players listed above are highlighted from their 2024 classification and they may be playing at a different level in 2024. The full breakdown of classifications can be found in the CHSAA Bulletin.

Competition for boys golf will officially begin Thursday with several tournaments on the docket. Windsor, ThunderRidge, Montezuma-Cortez, Kent Denver and Holy Family are among tournament hosts slated for Thursday.

State tournament sites for 2024

  • Class 5A: CommonGround (Aurora)
  • Class 4A: Tiara Rado (Grand Junction)
  • Class 3A: Walking Stick (Pueblo)
  • Class 2A: The Club at Rolling Hills (Golden)