The development of a golf course for beginning players of all ages is expected later this year in Greeley with the opening of an introductory 9-hole course at Boomerang Links Golf Course.
The course will be located on the south side of 4th Street, and will be named for the late Michael Lee, a former Greeley Central High School and Colorado School of Mines golfer, who died in December 2020 due to complications of COVID-19.
The course, with nine holes 50 to 60 yards in length, is the latest effort by Lee’s family and a foundation in his name to remember Michael while using golf to impact the lives of youth.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new short course will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Boomerang Links, 7309 W. 4th St. Parking will be available in the golf course parking lot, assistant golf professional Mike Maestas said. Volunteers will also be at the course to shuttle ceremony attendees to the direction of the short course.
Lee’s family, including his parents John and Amy, set up the Michael Ray Lee Foundation in early 2021. John and Amy Lee estimated the foundation has since given about $500,000 in scholarships for college-bound athletes — not only golfers — as well as money to organizations.
The Lees started an annual golf tournament in June 2021 to raise money for the foundation. The Greeley Country Club, where Michael Lee played a lot of golf, has since hosted the tournament in early June. This year, Boomerang will host the tournament, Lee’s parents said.
The development of the introductory course has been in the works for almost two years, John said. The foundation was awarded a $350,000 American Rescue Plan Act grant in fall 2023 to help pay for the course. The city of Greeley is covering the remaining cost at just under $500,000.
The course will connect and link with a previous donation effort by the Lee Foundation.
A look at the layout of a new introductory, 9-hole golf course to be built in 2025 at Boomerang Golf Course in Greeley. The course will be named in honor and memory of Michael Lee, a former golfer at Greeley Central High School and the Colorado School of Mines. Lee died of COVID-19 related complications in Dec. 2020 at age 28. His family established a foundation in his memory to use golf to impact the lives of youths and others. (Courtesy/Amy Lee).
In spring 2023, the foundation donated $10,500 to Greeley-Evans School District 6 for the purchase of beginner golf kits from a company called SNAG (Starting New at Golf).
The kits contain clubs made of plastic with large heads, brightly colored balls between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball, and devices to teach the golf swing. The kits are portable, allowing for use in a school gym or outside.
Amy Lee said the kits are now in 10 District 6 schools from the elementary and K-8 levels to middle schools.
Christa McAuliffe S.T.E.M. Academy, a K-8 school where Amy Lee was a teacher, is hosting a district boys and girls golf team this spring, assistant principal and athletic director Kaylyn Kingman said.
The short course at Boomerang will support the SNAG equipment and will be open and accessible for adults.
Loveland built a SNAG mini course in 2012 and the facility reopened about two years ago, according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald.
“It’s good for adults,” Amy Lee said. “It’s not just for kids. Anyone can play.”
Zak George Landscaping in Fort Collins will build the course, and it’s estimated to open in mid- to late summer, Amy Lee said.
John and Amy Lee said the city of Greeley’s contribution will include installing a bench and a mounted plaque near the first hole to honor and remember Mike Lee.
Michael Lee and his wife, Morgan, on their wedding day in June 2020. Michael Lee, a 2010 Greeley Central graduate, was a standout golfer at Central and at the Colorado School of Mines. He died in December 2020 from COVID-19-related complications at age 28. His family and friends are establishing a foundation in his memory with the objective of using golf to help others and focusing on junior golfers.
John and Amy Lee said city of Greeley representatives have been “fantastic” and instrumental to the project reaching this point, including the work of Mayor John Gates, Highland Hills Golf Course head golf pro Chris Colling and Boomerang golf course superintendent John Lambrecht.
“We want to bring light to bring more people to golf,” John Lee said. “It keeps Mike’s legacy alive in honoring him. This is Mike’s course, named after him, and it’s also to those who’ve lost loved ones to COVID or COVID-related deaths. It’s in their memory as well.”
