For third time in the last 5 years, Castle Pines Golf Club will join other premier courses in hosting Drive, Chip & Putt Regionals, where 8 junior golfers will punch their tickets to National Finals at Augusta National
By Gary Baines – 1/27/2026
In the first six years of qualifying for the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals that are held at Augusta National Golf Club, Colorado held exactly zero regional competitions — the ones where the national finalists were determined.
Ever since then, however, Colorado has been on a nice roll as far as hosting DCP regional qualifiers. Colorado Golf Club in Parker did the honors in 2019 and 2021 — with no DCP competitions held in 2020 due to Covid-19 safety concerns — and Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock was a regional site in 2022 and ’23.
And on Tuesday, when Drive, Chip & Putt announced that registration has opened for qualifying for the 13th edition of DCP, Castle Pines GC was named one of the 10 regional qualifying sites.
So that will mark the fifth time in the last seven qualifying seasons that a regional has been held in Colorado. And that’s no small deal considering regionals go to some of the most notable golf courses in the country. For instance, other regionals this year are set for Pebble Beach Golf Links, TPC Sawgrass, Whistling Straits, Pinehurst Resort, Southern Hills, Crooked Stick, Los Angeles Country Club, Laurel Valley and Quaker Ridge.
The date for the regionals at Castle Pines is set for Sunday, Sept. 13. Castle Pines has hosted 22 PGA Tour events over the years — 21 Internationals, plus the 2024 BMW Championship.
At the 2023 DCP Regional at Castle Pines, club chairman and president George Solich had this to say about hosting the event:
“I think it’s a thrill for a lot of these kids and their families to come to Castle Pines. We do it right for them. We have a little barbecue for the contestants and their families here the night before. They got to go in the pro shop and get a few items with Castle Pines on it. It’s just a beautiful setting for this.
“Anybody that’s in golf loves the opportunity to get young people involved — and we’re no different. Our membership is just thrilled. They love coming out and seeing the kids; it’s inspiring to see. We think (Drive, Chip & Putt is) a fabulous organization to get young people involved from all over the country.”
At each of 10 regional qualifiers, the winner of every age/gender division advances to the DCP National Finals. There are eight age/gender divisions in each DCP event, with contestants scoring points in each discipline — driving, chipping and putting — based on how they place in each, with the points added together for a cumulative total. Each competitor hits three drives, three chips and three putts.
No Coloradan has ever won a DCP overall title at the National Finals, but three have finished runner-up: Jacob Eagan (2023), Brady Shaw (also 2023) and Chunya Boonta (2019) .
DCP is sponsored by the Masters, the USGA and the PGA of America. In Colorado, the Colorado PGA conducts the regional event — along with local and sub-regional qualifers — with the help of numerous volunteers and courses/clubs. The competition is limited to players 7-15.
The DCP National Finals were first held in 2014, with the regional qualifiers conducted in 2013.
The 2026 National Finals, concluding the 12th season, will be held on April 5 at Augusta National, just prior to Masters week. After winning regional titles in October at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., Sophia Eagan of Castle Rock (girls 7-9), Shepherd Choi of Westminster (girls 10-11), and Peyton Landon of Fort Collins (girls 14-15) will compete in Georgia. That brings to 21 the number of Coloradans who have qualified for the DCP National Finals. In the National Finals, the 80 golfers compete in driving and chipping in the practice area, then in the putting on the 18th green of the famed course.
For more information about Drive, Chip & Putt, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com