Back in the Loop: George Solich

Colorado Spearheads the Comeback of the Caddie

Denny Dressman

George Solich is a member at Cherry Hills Country Club, Castle Pines Golf Club and The Broadmoor Golf Club. Not coincidentally, all three have vibrant caddie programs.

“I probably play about 50 times a year,” he says. “And I take a caddie 99 percent of the time. Everybody who knows me and plays golf knows if they ask me to be in a foursome, it’s going to be a walking day.”

“It gets back to the root that I absolutely believe we need to ensure that this tradition of the game continues on, that the golf cart doesn’t extinguish what I consider to be one of the great traditions of the game. As we continue to pursue finding candidates for the Evans Scholarships, the most important piece of that is that we continue to have thriving caddie programs throughout the state of Colorado, and actually, throughout the country.”

The centerpiece of this effort locally is the Solich Caddie and Leadership Academy, located at the CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course, formerly site of the Air Force officers course on the old Lowry Base at Havana Street and First Avenue. In its third year of operation, the Academy teaches ninth- and tenth-graders to be caddies, and develops leadership traits through a series of training programs and community service. At the end of the second year, the “graduates” are ready to continue caddying at area clubs, and on their way to contending for lucrative Evans Scholarships to the University of Colorado.

“We wanted to build a program around caddying, and around developing young people and introducing them to the game,” Solich explains, “but not necessarily in a junior golf clinic, per se. I was reading a story in Golf World—this was maybe four years ago—about a caddie camp at a club in Nantucket. I sent that to Ed and said, ‘This is not exactly what we should be doing, but this is close.’

“So he developed a business plan around a caddie academy where we could take kids, who maybe have never been exposed to golf, and give them the opportunity for a job, introduce them to the game of golf, and also give them the opportunity that eventually, maybe they could get a college scholarship.”

Originally, the idea was to call it the Eisenhower Academy, “after the President, in honor of his time spent in Colorado,” Solich says. But for various reasons, the CGA Board of Directors thought it would be better to name it for the Academy’s benefactor. So Mate called Solich.

At first George demurred, telling him, “Ed, you know I’m not much for doing that.” But Mate persisted until Solich relented, sort of.

“After he said ‘No,’” Mate says, “he said, ‘If my brother agrees, then yes. But you have to sell it to him.’ And he emphasized: ‘It’s not named after me, it’s the Solich brothers.’”

Mate proved persuasive. And when Geoff “Duffy” Solich gave his benediction, George says, “Duff and I put both our financial backing and our support behind it. Ed and his team did all the hard work, and I think we have a great program today.”

Duffy Solich is two years older than George. It’s because of him that George came to appreciate the tradition of the caddie.

“He really is the guy who got me into caddying,” George emphasizes. “He kind of blazed the trail for me. He went over to Broadmoor Golf Club and became a caddie, then he convinced me that I needed to become a caddie. He was going to go for the Evans Scholarship. Lo and behold, he got it. I was fortunate enough to heed his advice, and I became a caddie at The Broadmoor at the age of 13.”

Solich was one of 150 caddies at The Broadmoor, which in 1974 was a national hub of amateur golf.

“I learned the game of golf through caddying,” George says, “but I learned a lot of great life traits, too: hard work and stick-to-it-iveness; listening to people and communicating with people; and really having a good sense of being around successful people, how they act and what they do; and seeing the best behavior of people and the worst behavior of people. You learn good etiquette and bad etiquette, and what a good loser is and what a good winner is. Some people you liked, and some you didn’t like, but that in itself was a very real-world experience because that’s kind of the way it is in the world—there are people you want to spend time with, and people you don’t necessarily want to.”

Solich hopes he can expose “as many kids as possible to this kind of life experience.”

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Back in the Loop: Solich Caddie and Leadership Academy

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