Charlie Soule (Colorado Golf Association Photo)
By Gary Baines for the Colorado Golf Association To the best of his recollection, Charlie Soule has been competing in CGA championships for well over two decades. But in all those years, he’d never won one of the association’s individual titles.
Until Sunday, that is.
And then, he had to come “home” to do it.
Soule grew up in Longmont and graduated from Longmont High School, just a few miles as the crow flies from The Fox Hill Club, where the breakthrough took place on Sunday at the 38th CGA Mid-Amateur. After moving to Longmont at age 12, Soule was a “cart kid” at Twin Peaks and Ute Creek golf courses, he used to compete in Longmont city championships and his parents lived (and still live) just off Twin Peaks GC.
Soule played Fox Hill only a smattering of times growing up and said Sunday he hadn’t been on the course in roughly 15 years. But the town’s mojo still seemed to be in place for one of its own.
The former University of Denver golfer shot a bogey-free 3-under-par 67 in the final round at Fox Hill to blow open a previously very tight leaderboard and win the 25-and-older title by five strokes.
“It’s kind of fun,” the now-Denver resident said of things coming full circle for him in Longmont. “I hadn’t played this course in probably 15 years, so it was fun to be back out and remember the greens. It’s always fun to come back home and get to play. I (first) picked up golf here. It’s good Longmont vibes.”
Soule broke a string of 14 straight pars with a short birdie putt on his final hole on Sunday.
At the formidable test that is The Fox Hill Club, Soule ended up as the only broke to finish under par for three rounds as the 40-year-old from Columbine Country Club checked in at 5 under.
“Anything under par is a great week,” said Soule, a real estate broker for the last 10 years. “This place can play difficult if you’re not hitting the right spots. You can’t overpower it. You have to be patient. There’s a lot of holes where I was hitting 4-irons and hybrids (off the tee). Other guys are pulling drivers out. I’m way back just because driver brings a lot of trouble into play. I think I only pulled it out twice today.”
Soule finished five ahead of an impressive couple of runners-up: Colin Prater from Cherokee Ridge Golf Course, winner of the past two CGA Mid-Ams and the overall CGA Player of the Year in 2020 and 2023; and Ryan Axlund of The Club at Inverness, the 2019 CGA Mid-Amateur champ.
Prater, the 2024 CGA Amateur winner who qualified for the U.S. Open this year, made an eagle at the par-5 14th hole on Sunday and added five birdies, closing with a 67. Axlund, also the runner-up in the CGA Mid-Amateur Match Play this fall, carded five birdies en route to a 68 on Sunday.
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Jimmy Makloski of Pueblo Country Club, the 2023 and ’24 CGA Four-Ball champion with Parker Edens, tied for fourth place at 1 over par with Matt Dugan of Hiwan Golf Club and former DU golfer Esteban Missura.
“It was really a golf course that tests all parts of your game,” Prater said of Fox Hill after his bid for a CGA Mid-Am three-peat fell short. “I didn’t drive the ball well enough to win; I spent too much time in the trees all three days. I lost a couple of golf balls (earlier in the tournament) hitting it down the fairway. That gets a little frustrating (as it cost him) four shots. I ripped them down the fairway and never found them.
“But moving up from 12th to second (on Sunday), that’s a good day. I take some positives from that. I had 64 in my brain to start the day (as to what might be necessary to win).” But, as it turned out, even a 64 from Prater on this day wouldn’t have been good enough for the title.
That’s what happens when somebody else at the top of the leaderboard doesn’t make any worse than a par on the final day. Soule, who posted four top-10 finishes in the Colorado Open from 2005 through ’15, almost jarred his first approach shot of the day, settling for a 2-inch birdie, then added a 12-foot birdie on 3. From there, he carded 14 consecutive pars before closing things out on a high note with a 3-foot birdie on 18.
“I made a lot of putts — and a lot of them were for par,” said Soule, who rolled in a 20-footer for par on 17 and 8-footers on 9 and 10. “I saw a lot of them go in — which was nice. I had a stretch where I didn’t hit a green for six holes — and got all of them up and down. Especially out here where the greens are tough to read and (there’s some break to a lot of putts), with a little bit of skill and a little bit of luck, it came together today. I’m happy — all smiles.”
While Sunday marked Soule’s first individual CGA championship title, he has won a team event before. In 2020 he and teammate Charles Sahlman took home a CGA Four-Ball victory.
Soule has been in the running for other major CGA titles before, including the 2006 CGA Amateur at Boulder Country Club, where he finished tied for third, a stroke out of a playoff won by Pat Grady.
But this time Soule wouldn’t be held off.
“It’s pretty special,” he said. “We had that Four-Ball victory, but this is the only CGA individual win that I’ve gotten. I came close a number of times and (now) I’ve finally gotten it.”
Ironically, Soule said his swing “was all squirrelly coming into the week.” But some guidance from PGA instructor Sherry Andonian-Smith, with whom Soule works on a semi-regular basis, proved “super helpful,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been here without her. The putter worked and I had some fun.”
Indeed, a player needs to be near the top of his or her game at Fox Hill to have a chance at winning big-time events. And, at least by the time he teed it up for the Mid-Am, Soule was able to piece things together very effectively.
“This course, if you’re out of position just a little bit it will penalize you really quickly,” he said. “I was able to escape the many times I was in trouble today” in going from one stroke behind to start Sunday to a five-shot victory.
“It was fun,” Soule said. “Golf is crazy. You run into different things every time you play. Sometimes the ball-striking is good; other times the putting is good. It just kind of came together. I was lucky enough to put it all together today against a great field with a lot of solid competitors. I’m pretty happy and proud of it.”
As for Prater, he didn’t have much down time following the CGA Mid-Am. After attending the awards ceremony on Sunday, the high school science teacher took off to drive to Grand Junction, where Cheyenne Mountain’s boys golf team will compete at Tiara Rado in the 4A state tournament on Monday and Tuesday. Prater is an assistant coach for the team.
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Colorado Mid-Amateur
Active CGA members. 54 holes of stroke play. A 36-
hole cut will be made to the low 40 players and ties.
A
player must be 25 years of age or older
as
of the first day of a tournament. Non-exempt
players
must pre-qualify.
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