When he wasn’t coaching his sons’ sports teams, refereeing basketball games or skiing with his family, Rollie Cahalane was earning a reputation as an elite superintendent, primarily at Columbine Country Club and Inverness Golf Club.
Golf was one of the many sports he played as a boy in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Wyoming but after a year joined the Marines. Returning to Wyoming in the early 1960s, Rollie took a job on the grounds crew at Cheyenne Country Club while pursuing an accounting degree at Wyoming.
Better suited for active outdoor work, Rollie in 1972 moved his young family south to Littleton, supervising the grow-in of the course at Roxborough Park we now know as Arrowhead. The project’s financial problems led to his big break as Columbine Country Club’s Head Superintendent. Working with PGA head professional Tony Novitsky enabled the super to shine. The club hosted two LPGA Tour championships, and the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association elected him president.
“My dad was a kind of a tournament prep guy all the time—he was noted for his fast greens,” remembers his son, Dave. “He was always more about the playability than aesthetics,” Craig Cahalane adds. “I always saw him playing his own course. He taught me it’s best to see it while you’re playing it, not driving around in the car.”
In 1981, Cahalane headed to The Club at Inverness, where he’d spend the next 20 years working alongside another Colorado Golf Hall of Fame PGA professional, Tom Babb. They often teamed up Monday pro-ams.
In 1992, when the pros arrived at Inverness for the first Colorado Open not held at Hiwan Golf Club, Rollie had the course in top condition—and the championship returned for the next five years. Inverness also welcomed the John Elway-hosted Celebrity Classic in 1999 and many Colorado PGA Section Championships. In 1998 the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association named him “Turfgrass Man of the Year.”
Rollie retired in 2001. His reputation as a leader prompted the RMGCSA to make him a lifetime member. Although he died in 2012, his legacy continues in the many superintendents he mentored, including his three sons: Kevin, who recently retired after 32 years at Telluride Ski & Golf Club; Dave at Bear Dance; and Craig at Pole Creek. Like their father, Dave and Craig have served terms as RMGCSA president.
