If your name is Charles, or some variant, and you love golf, this is your lucky week in Fort Worth.
In conjunction with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, the recently opened indoor golf and entertainment venue Five Iron Golf Fort Worth is offering anyone named Charles — including Charlie, Chuck, Chaz and every variation in between — one complimentary hour in its simulator bays.
“Fort Worth has such a strong golf culture, and with fans from across Texas gathering for one of the biggest weeks in golf, we wanted to create an experience that taps into the energy surrounding the tournament and the return to ‘Hogan’s Alley,’” said Austin Waterman, co-owner of the Fire Iron Golf franchise in Fort Worth with his father, Jim.
A small business tie-in is just one of the many ways the annual Fort Worth PGA tournament impacts the area.
With Fort Worth golfing legend Ben Hogan gone nearly 30 years and the tournament at Fort Worth’s Colonial Country Club turning 80, the event remains a vital connection to the city’s golfing legacy, said Jim Waterman.
“Before we chose our current location here in the Near Southside, we looked at a former Ben Hogan Golf warehouse, but it didn’t work out,” he said. “It would have been kind of neat to have that tie-in, but this location (824 W. Daggett Ave.) is perfect.”
Hogan lived in Fort Worth and is considered one of the greatest golfers in history, and he is linked forever with the Colonial tournament he won five times. His influence on the game remains strong as modern golfers still study his classic swing. Hogan won nine major championships in his career and made a dramatic comeback from a near-fatal car crash. He was also a businessman, starting a successful golf club manufacturing company based in Fort Worth. He died in 1997.
The current tournament sponsor, Westlake-based financial services giant Charles Schwab Corp., has bet on the value of the event. Schwab exercised its option to extend its sponsorship for another year. Now known as the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, the tournament continues to attract thousands of sports enthusiasts and television eyeballs to the area — creating an estimated $5.5 million in economic impact, according to data from Keller-based Highland Market Research.
More than 33,300 tickets were sold for the 2024 golf tournament, mostly to North Texas sports enthusiasts. About 26.5% of ticket holders arrived from out of state, and another 8% visited from other parts of Texas, according to the report.
Five Iron Golf Fort Worth has good news for people named Charles this week in conjunction with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial toournament. (Courtesy | Five Iron)
This is Schwab’s eighth year as title sponsor and fifth year of a five-year title sponsorship. Schwab is exercising its one-year option to extend the title sponsorship in 2027.
“Since day one, Charles Schwab has been fully committed to making our tournament one of the best on the PGA Tour for fans and players,” said Kip Adams, Charles Schwab Challenge Tournament chairman.
Schwab embraces and honors Colonial’s rich history and traditions, Adams said.
“They’ve made it a priority to embrace what the tournament has meant to Fort Worth for eight decades,” he said.
That consistent sponsorship marks a significant change from 2017 when the tournament’s future was a “fried egg,” golf slang for being deep in heavy rough. That year, the tournament’s sponsor, specialty grocery chain Dean & DeLucca, abruptly pulled out of its title sponsorship just two years into a six-year contract, citing financial difficulties.
With the future of the tournament on the line, a foursome of local companies — American Airlines, BNSF, AT&T and XTO Energy — scrambled together to back the then-named Fort Worth Invitational in 2018. But the tournament’s long-term future remained in doubt.
Charles Schwab Corp., the financial services giant with deep ties already to the PGA, teed up a four-year title sponsorship that started in 2019 and was renewed and extended in 2021.
Since then, the financial firm increased its investment in the Fort Worth area, relocating its corporate headquarters to nearby Westlake and has grown its local employment base to about 7,000.
The company has hardly stayed behind the ropes in promoting the tournament. Schwab has initiated innovations such as the champion’s prize, an updated classic vehicle that commemorates pivotal milestones in the company’s history.
This year’s champion’s prize is a fully restored 1982 Schwab Scrambler, commemorating the year Schwab introduced 24/7 order entry and quote services, giving clients around-the-clock access to financial markets for the first time, according to the company. The vehicle’s interior features custom leather seating with Colonial’s signature Scottish royal tartan plaid inserts.
The Schwab Challenge’s economic impact extends beyond hotel, restaurant and tourism spending.
The tournament has generated more than $200 million in total cash and services for more than 150 different organizations in the last two decades, according to a media guide from the event. Last year, Fort Worth Colonial Charities said it generated nearly $19 million via its Birdies For Charity program, donating the proceeds to 33 charity partners.
In 2024, the tournament began an Executive Women’s Day event in an outreach beyond the traditional male demographic of golf. Funds raised at the event are invested in the community.
One of those recipients has been One Safe Place, a resource center for domestic violence victims. One Safe Place is using funds received from the Executive Women’s Day event to set up a new forensic exam clinic.
“The Colonial is really, really important to this community,” said Ken Shetter, president of the resource center. “We have not historically been a recipient, but we got our first grant this year and it has been strategically important to us. So we are benefiting tremendously from the Colonial initiatives and I know we’re not the only ones.”
It’s not that the tournament doesn’t still face challenges.
The timing of the Schwab Challenge, traditionally around Memorial Day, makes some golfers drop from the event. This year, top golfer Scottie Scheffler and local favorite Jordan Spieth, who won in 2016, both elected to skip.
Compounding the problem, the 2027 tournament is expected to follow the PGA Championship in nearby Frisco. That’s an issue because many professional golfers take a week off following a major tournament.
But for area businesses like Five Iron Golf’s Jim Waterman, golf looks to be a part of Fort Worth’s cultural fabric for the foreseeable future.
“I see that enthusiasm here every day,” he said. “People in Fort Worth love their golf.”
Bob Francis is business editor at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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