“My dream is to provide a platform where everyone involved in golf can be in one location at the same time,” Cramer said. “Everyone can get business done for the good of the industry. Ultimately, if we can get more people playing more rounds, it’ll be better for courses, golf retail, the professionals, (and) people will take more lessons, more people will be hired ... that’s the dream. But it takes all these different pieces to make it happen. And where it goes from here is anybody’s guess.”
The cost to attend the Expo is $10 for adults, $8 for those 50 and over, and $3 for kids 13 and under. People can get $2 off the regular price of admission by printing a coupon compliments of the Colorado PGA off of coloradopga.com.
For golf enthusiasts, the freebies alone easily make up for the admission cost. Those attending the event receive a free round of golf at the Broken Tee Englewood course, a certificate for a custom-built lob wedge from Dimension Z, a subscription to Golf Digest or other golf magazines, and discount books for Denver-area restaurants. About 150 door prizes are also up for grabs.
“We love giving stuff away,” Cramer said.
Free seminars conducted by professionals are on tap — in addition to lessons for juniors and beginners — and equipment and merchandise galore will be on display. In addition, plenty of golf resorts, courses and other exhibitors will be represented. Players can swing new clubs at a club test and driving range. And the Colorado Golf Association will host a golf swap to benefit CGA youth programs. All the major golf organizations in the state are expected to be in attendance, and the CGA will hold its Tee-Off Luncheon, rules of golf workshop and annual meeting on site.
Among those holding seminars is Castle Pines Golf Club head professional Don Hurter, who last year was ranked No. 47 on Golf Digest’s list of “America’s 50 Greatest Teachers.”
“I don’t know what he’ll do this year, but last year Don gave 10-minute lessons to some people; how is that to get a 10-minute lesson from one of the best instructors in the country?” Cramer said.
There’s also a seminar on the mental aspects of the game given by Michael Riggs, who studied under the renowned Bob Rotella.
The show hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10.
For more information, go to denvergolfexpo.com.
Denver Golf Expo Provides Winter Respite
15th Annual Event on Tap February 8-10
By Gary Baines
Colorado Golf Journal, Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Free seminars conducted by professionals are on tap —
in addition to lessons for juniors and beginners — and equipment and merchandise galore will be on display.
There’s been precious little golf to be played in Colorado over the last couple of months, but at least there’s a mid-winter event that can put the game’s aficionados in the right frame of mind.
The 15th annual Denver Golf Expo — complete with plenty of freebies, seminars, instruction, and new golf equipment and merchandise — will take place Friday through Sunday (Feb. 8-10) at the Denver Merchandise Mart Plaza at I-25 and 58th Ave.
Mark Cramer, who along with his wife Lynn has been the show’s owner and manager since 2001, has seen the Expo evolve into quite the offseason event over the years.
DENVER — Not even a huge sinkhole can slow down the Denver Golf Expo.
On Thursday — a day before the Expo was to open at the Denver Merchandise Mart — a massive sinkhole took shape just a couple of hundred yards away, on northbound I-25 at 58th Ave.
Colorado Golf Journal, Friday, February 8, 2008
Crowds Large Despite Nearby Sinkhole on I-25
But despite the non-HOV lanes on I-25 northbound being closed as the Expo opened its three-day run on Friday, you’d never have known there were problems by the long line of people waiting to get inside the Expo. The line Friday morning extended a lob-wedge shot outside the Merchandise Mart’s entrance.
“Even with the sinkhole they came,” said Mark Cramer, the man in charge of running the Denver Golf Expo since 2001. “I don’t like to see people waiting out in the cold, but I think it shows the value that we give back (to Expo attendees).
“When I first learned about the sinkhole, I thought to myself, ‘Oh my.’” Cramer said. “But we’ve had the TV stations down here asking how it was affecting us, so we’re going to be all over the news. It’s amazing how God works.”
Cramer said attendance at the Expo has increased every year, with the 10,590 from 2007 being the record.
