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Steamboat Golf Club collects SWIGL title

John F. Russell

— Since the Steamboat Women’s Interclub Golf League began three years ago, the women of the Steamboat Golf Club have dominated.

“We really work hard at it,” Steamboat captain Beth Taylor said. “When it comes to SWIGL our team is really together.”

This year, the team from the Steamboat Golf Club wrapped up the season with 44.5 points. The Haymaker was second with 36.5 points, Catamount was third with 34 points, and the Sheraton was fourth with 29 points.



“They’ve won it three years in a row,” Haymaker captain Wendy Franks said. “I’m sure that one of the other clubs would love to win the trophy, but they do a great job of putting their golfers together.”

Taylor said it’s nice to win, but the most important thing is that about 50 women took part in this year’s league, which has grown into one of the most popular women’s golfing leagues in the Steamboat area.



Haymaker, Sheraton, Catamount and the Steamboat golf clubs have all formed teams to take part in the two-women match play format. Teams (not necessarily the same players) compete once a week at each of the area courses, and at the end of the season, the points are tallied to crown a season-long champion. Since SWIGL was formed three years ago, the women of the Steamboat Golf Club have held the title.

Although the title has eluded the other clubs, the idea of getting out and playing has not.

“This is just a great opportunity to get out and play with different women at different courses,” Franks said.

The idea of SWIGL was to build camaraderie and friendship among the women at the different clubs and to introduce women to all four courses in the Steamboat area.

“I wouldn’t know the women at those other clubs if it wasn’t for SWIGL,” Taylor said. “This is a great league.”

SWIGL has also fostered a new competitive spirit among the clubs, and Taylor hopes it’s getting more women involved in golf in Steamboat.

Franks said winning the title each year is a goal for all four teams.

In an effort to make the league more inviting to different levels of golfers each team must have an A-, two B-, and a C-level golfer each week. The players compete in a match play format in which a pair of golfers goes head to head with a pair from another club on each hole. Points are awarded to the pairs that win the front nine, the back nine and the overall.

The format has been tweaked a bit throughout the years, but Taylor says most of the women who have taken part like this format.


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