Sara Montgomery is using the management skills she developed as a golfer at the University of Denver to guide her path as the president of the Colorado Golf Association.
“The game of golf is very much about character building,” she said of her time as a Division I athlete. “There’s a lot of integrity and humility. I hope I can bring my experience both on and off the course to support the CGA in its mission – to make golf and all it offers available to everyone.”
A member of the board of directors since 2020, the 43-year-old East Denver resident began her two-year term as president last December. The CGA owns and operates CommonGround Golf Course, an 18-hole Tom Doak layout that anchors its campus in suburban Aurora. The campus also includes CommonGround’s nine-hole Short Course, a recently renovated clubhouse, a community putting green, a short-game area and a driving range. The CGA is the only Allied Golf Association of the USGA with an 18-hole course and nine-hole short course. Of the 57 AGAs, only eight own and operate a golf course.
“The plan is to continue to do what we are doing,” said Montgomery, who was a three-year captain and an academic All-American at Denver. “I know that sounds simple, but the CGA and CommonGround are doing great things. The goal is to make sure that more people have the opportunity to know and access what the CGA is doing, whether it’s the caddie program, playing golf, or learning about the game.”
Montgomery is in the fortunate position of forging forward with one of the country’s most stable and well-run state associations under the guidance of executive director Ed Mate, who has served in the role for 25 years. Since 2020, the CGA has grown by a third to more than 92,000 members.
“So, there is a ton of momentum,” said Montgomery, who has an international studies undergraduate degree and an international M.B.A. in finance from Denver. “Let’s focus on the things we do well and continue to do them well and part of that is making sure people know about us.”
“First of all, Sara is likable,” Mate said. “Second, she is passionate about golf, having played growing up and competitively in college – by the way, she plays fast, so she is great company on the golf course. Finally, she is very comfortable in her own skin, and there is almost no trace of ego. Combine all that and you have a fairway hit, a green in regulation, and a good look at birdie. The CGA will definitely make a lot of birdies with Sara at the helm.”
Before her term began, Montgomery, who values relationships and networking, offered a series of lunches to CGA board members to hear their thoughts and perspectives and receive direct input on all association-related ideas.
“Most members of the board are not competitive golfers, which is like the overwhelming majority of our CGA members,” Montgomery said. “Some have played for years and others are newer to the game. Regardless, each board member brings valuable experiences and perspective.”
“We want to strengthen our caddie program, do more with grantmaking in the Colorado Golf Foundation, and also focus on membership growth, impact in the community, and improving the CommonGround campus.” — Sara Montgomery
In addition to its competitive golf offerings, the CGA partners with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado, Special Olympics of Colorado, Children’s Hospital Colorado Adaptive Recreation for Childhood Health and McAuliffe International School to use CommonGround and its facilities as a “learning lab” for community and wellness initiatives. The CGA has recently started a birding program at CommonGround and has established a relationship with the Denver Botanical Gardens.
Montgomery points to the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy and the Colorado Golf Foundation as two other pivotal CGA partnerships.
The academy was established at CommonGround in 2012 by brothers George and Duffy Solich, who attended the University of Colorado on Evans Scholarships administered by the Western Golf Association. The training program offered at the academy creates opportunities to “develop leadership skills and enhance character.”
The foundation is the charitable arm of the CGA and provides financial support to caddie, youth development and community programs.
“We are going through our priorities now, but we’d like to grow,” Montgomery said. “We want to strengthen our caddie program, do more with grantmaking in the Colorado Golf Foundation, and also focus on membership growth, impact in the community, and improving the CommonGround campus.”
The third woman to serve as the CGA’s president following Juliet Miner (2018) and Janene Guzowski (2019-2020), Montgomery played golf at Fort Morgan High School and was the first girl to play on the boys’ team since a team wasn’t offered for girls. Admitting that she was not trying to be groundbreaking – “I just went where I was allowed to go” – Montgomery is proud of her lasting mark as the first female player at Fort Morgan, which added a girls’ team after her graduation.
Her current employer, accounting firm Plante Moran, partners with the Western Golf Association in areas such as professional development, recruiting, and financial literacy. She has visited the University of Colorado’s Evans Scholars House on many occasions to make business and career presentations.
Montgomery’s busy schedule has three segments – family, work, and volunteering. She emphasizes her No. 1 job is being a mom to son Luke and daughter Meredith. She shepherds through the family schedule with her husband, Dan.
“It’s a few hours a week in the least,” she said of her time spent on CGA business and events. “I will sleep a little less and put some things in different places. It feels like I am the one getting the benefit. Selfishly, I really enjoy the time working with the CGA and CommonGround. I find the time to carve it out because it matters to me.”
Montgomery was a member of the Colorado Women’s Golf Association as a junior and college player before it integrated with the CGA in 2018 but as she married and started a family, golf took a secondary role. Through a work colleague’s mother – Dana Murray, a CGA board member – Montgomery became involved in golf administration in 2020.
Anyone working in golf understands the loss of time on the course. “Like most people in the job, we talk more about golf than we play it,” Montgomery said, adding sardonically that she hasn’t met the 20-round criteria for an avid golfer in Colorado in more than a decade.
Montgomery realizes she is a small cog in the width and breadth of the business of the CGA and says she wants to be a “humble but good steward.”
“It is a wonderful time to be part of the organization,” she added. “There’s a ton of momentum for golf. We are one of the very few associations that has a golf course and it’s a great one. There’s a lot of folks who care very much about the organization and the golf course, so working on things is easy.”
She realizes two years will pass quickly but she’s targeted two items in particular.
“There are many days that I’m looking forward to at the CGA,” Montgomery said. “And a couple of milestone days for me will be the day we hit 100,000 members and the day CommonGround hosts a major USGA event.”