If there were a first family of Colorado golf, Mr. and Mrs. M.A. McLaughlin would unquestionably qualify. The couple helped to found Lakewood Country Club, which opened in 1908 as Colorado Golf Club.
Known as “Mac,” Michael A. McLaughlin founded the Colorado Golf Association in 1915 and won its first match play championship. The following year, his wife, Ella, cofounded the Colorado Women’s Golf Association and also won its inaugural CWGA match play title. She then did her husband one better by repeating the feat in 1917.
Ella lost to her sister, CWGA Secretary Frances Moffat, in next year’s championship match, but won her third title in the event in 1921. Ella McLaughlin competed for more than 30 years in both Colorado, where she won multiple Lakewood ladies club championships, and California.
Ella McLaughlin died in 1939, a year after her husband, at the age of 69. The Colorado Women’s Golf Association, which grew to be one of the country’s foremost organizations of its kind, stands as her legacy. It endured for more than 100 years, reaching a peak membership of 19,000 women representing more than 200 clubs prior to its 2018 merger with the Colorado Golf Association.
