In October 1927, Dr. Frank Margetts presented a lecture at the Presbyterian Church on Cooper Avenue. His topic did not involve theology. Instead, the doctor brought to Glenwood Springs a subject which had another passionate following.

His subject was the sport of golf.

Hotel Colorado manager E.A. Thayer introduced golf to Glenwood Springs in the late 1890s. Searching for additional recreational opportunities for the hotel’s guests, Thayer had traveled to New York to study the fine art of the game.

By 1906, the hotel’s recreational center located south of the city limits (directly across Grand Avenue from today’s Sayre Park) offered lawn tennis, polo, croquet and horseback riding. The golf course at that site grew popular.

When Dr. Margetts came to Glenwood Springs in 1927, golfers here already recognized the health benefits of fresh air and sunshine.

As a chiropractor, Dr. Margetts presented additional benefits gained taking up the sport.

“Golf, in a peculiarly profitable way exercises the discs between the vertebrae of the spine, and the swing of the club gives flexibility to the muscles of the back,” instructed Margetts. Additionally, “the exercise of the body produces perspiration which eliminates poisons from the body.”

And finally, said Margetts, the businessman’s mind “gets recreation by being withdrawn from more serious work. It is as good a tonic as the tired businessman can take.”

Development of the South Park Subdivision in the 1950s turned our original golf course into residential housing. However, Dr. Margetts would be pleased with all of the exercise and relaxation being taken on golf courses built since across the Roaring Fork Valley.

“Frontier Diary” is provided to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent by the Frontier Historical Society and Museum, 1001 Colorado Ave., Glenwood Springs. Winter hours are 1-4 p.m. Monday and Thursday through Saturday.