Our 8th Annual Golf Invitational Teed Up a Record-Breaking Day of Community, Friendly Competition, and Support for Getting Students Outside
This year’s Golf Invitational at Harvard Gulch brought in record attendees and record fundraising. On Saturday, August 8th, 2026, 150 golfers filled the tee sheet at Harvard Gulch Golf Course for the 8th annual Golf Invitational at Harvard Gulch, and together they raised over $21,000 for Cottonwood Institute.
The Invitational is hosted and presented each year by Ryan Feaster, REALTOR® with Realty ONE Group, and is held in memory of Rivers Stilwell.
Watch the 2026 recap video:
What is the Golf Invitational at Harvard Gulch?
Nine holes, par 3, teams of four, best ball, and a flurry of gimmick hole challenges. This event is open to all skill levels — scratch golfers, occasional golfers and first-timers. It’s a day with a purpose: to support each other, and Cottonwood Institute.
Foursomes rolled off the first tee every ten minutes starting at 8:00 AM. Along the way they took on closest to the pin, longest putt, a synchronized tee-off, a photo hole, and a timed team relay that turned amateur and adept golfers alike into sprinters. Costumes were encouraged and celebrated. And dozens of attendees went home with prizes from the putt-for-prizes putting and chipping green, the silent and live auction.
DJ Lamine kept the day flowing with crowd-pleasing music. Attendees and volunteers enjoyed breakfast from Torchy’s Tacos and Einstein Bagels, lunch from Hopdoddy Burger Bar, beer from Ratio Beerworks, and canned cocktails from Epic Western.
What this Day Supports
We set a $20,000 fundraising goal for this year’s tournament, and the day far exceeded expectations. Funds from this year’s event helped close the funding gap for 4 of Cottonwood’s summer programs with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College, Sims-Fayola Foundation, Confluence Colorado, and Horizons at Colorado Academy. Cottonwood’s programs are loved by participants and their families. Here’s what one parent of a recent participant shared:
“I just want to send out a huge thank you to Cottonwood Institute for the trip! They seemed to be hugely invested in the amazing and wondrous activities that this camp offered….Standing ovation to the instructors and the directors who were behind this project and brought it to life.” – Proud parent of a 2026 summer participant
Cottonwood Institute is an award-winning Denver nonprofit that connects middle and high school students to nature and inspires them to protect it. Every foursome, every auction item, every $10 shot to win the ninth-hole cooler, and every putt on the practice green paid for that work.
The 2026 Golf Invitational Winners
Team
- Champion: Bopp CMG Home Loans, 25 (relay hole tiebreaker, 20.43 seconds): Jesse Bopp, Fred Chacon, Kelly Gummelt, Matthew Jeffreys
- Runner-up: LONG Ball, 25 (26.8 seconds): Alex Bakel, Bobby Henderson, Jeff Hughes, Kevin Jayne
- Third: Janus Henderson Investors, 26: Becca Baldwin, Marissa Finley, Melanie Haeflich, Matthew Lampe
Men’s Low
- Champion: Kelly Gummelt, 26 (won on the relay tiebreaker)
- Runner-up: Kevin Jayne, 26
- Third: Bobby Henderson, 27
Women’s Low
- Champion: Becca Baldwin, 27
- Runner-up: Melanie Haeflich, 28
- Third: Marissa Finley, 30
Contests
- Closest to the Pin (Hole 9): Jeff Hughes
- Longest Putt: Cay Bouett
- Fastest Relay: Peter Hartman Party (16.33 seconds)
Best Dressed
- Champion: The Fore-Fathers
- Runner-up: Odyssey my Putt
Thank you to our sponsors
Presenting sponsor: Ryan Feaster with Realty ONE Group
US Engineering · Impact Capital Partners · CMG Home Loans (Jesse Bopp) · Goosehead Insurance (Noah Taxman) · Janus Henderson · CoBank · Ratio Beerworks · Best Day Brewing · Epic Western · Hopdoddy Burger Bar · Torchy’s Tacos · Scraps Mile High · Gaston Photography · PGA Tour Superstore · Dick’s Sporting Goods · Snooze
The Stilwell family again donated all of the Wyld Gear items in Rivers’ memory, including the live-auctioned cooler that anchored the ninth-hole contest.
Thank you to our volunteers
Janet Harrison · Megan Haeffele · Marie Daher · Jesse Bopp · Kathy Tracy · June Chua · Beth Williams · Mike McGinnis · Al Galperin · Dean Boyer · Shana Stokes · Kelly Rostermundt · Bobby Henderson · Hannah Posedel · Matthew Knowles
Our volunteers ran check-in, staffed the hole challenges, kept the coolers filled, tracked the scoring, and broke it all down at the end of a long, hot Saturday. None of this happens without them.
Mark your calendars for the 2027 Golf Invitational
We are already planning next year. The 9th annual Golf Invitational at Harvard Gulch is set for Saturday, August 7, 2027. Registration opens this winter. Get on the list, and we will email you the moment it goes live — teams from past years fill fast.
Couldn’t make it this year but still want to help get kids outside? Donate to Cottonwood Institute.
Check out the full photo gallery from Gaston Photography— every group, costume, & putt.
A special thanks to our donors and sponsors who helped make this event possible. Please support the following businesses that support the local community and Cottonwood Institute!
