Charity Golf Tournaments
Two Examples of How Golf Is More Than Just a Game
The efforts of Florida's Place of Hope, and a small Lexington, Kentucky Sunday School class demonstrate how a charity golf tournament can make a huge difference for many.
In 2005, the PGA TOUR surpassed the $1 billion mark in charitable donations. It expects to hit $2 billion in this decade. Both are astronomical numbers for a relatively small organization, when compared to many other mega-corporations. To be sure, the PGA TOUR gets lots of exposure every week to aid in its efforts, but much smaller organizations and groups, even individuals, can make just as big of an impact to people in need.
Here are two shining examples of how goodness and charity through golf can pay big dividends. The first shows how merely a few people with a common goal have made an immeasurable impact on as yet untold numbers of lives. The second is evidence of how much a small charitable organization can do to help itself and those to whom it is dedicated.
Broadway Christian Church, a small church in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, is home to the Agape Sunday School class. In 2003, the roughly 30-member class decided it wanted to do something substantial to benefit a local organization, the AA Pregnancy Help Center, now known as Assurance. The center, which survives largely on charitable donations, provides open-ended counseling, pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, information on pregnancy options and a host of other services to young, expectant mothers.
The Agape class decided they could best raise money through a charity golf scramble. The class members enlisted the financial support of church members, local Lexington businesses, friends and family and held the first Agape Charity Golf Scramble that year. The charity tournament raised over $1,000 in 2003, a respectable amount with which the Center was pleased. But, it wasn’t enough for the class.
Agape kept up it’s efforts. They eventually renamed the charity golf scramble as The Bobby Wilhoite Golf for Life, named for a beloved member of the class who had lost his long battle with cancer. Last year, the charity tournament enabled the class to deliver a check for $10,500 to the small pregnancy help center. The Agape tournament came a long way in a short time, but they will again try to eclipse the old mark this August.
In April of 2007, Place of Hope, a faith-based and state-licensed child welfare organization in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, held their Spa Golf Classic and Charity Auction at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort and Spa in Jupiter, Florida.
The two-day event was sponsored by hosts Dean Morehouse, The Nocera Family, and The Wall Family, who made it possible for 100 percent of the event’s proceeds to go toward annual operations for Place of Hope. The event was also supported by Christ Fellowship Church, HMS National, PDS Health, The Barrie Peterson Family, and WestLB Bank.
Due to such financial support, as well celebrity support from NFL Hall-of-Famer Bob Griese, former MLB star Jerry Royster, author John Maxwell and golf course designer Jim Fazio, the event was a tremendous success. According to Place of Hope representative Erin Fields, $800,000 was placed into the coffers. All of the funds will go toward residential care of abused and neglected children.
A tiny Sunday School class and a small, community organization have at once both multiplied and maximized their charitable potential by giving through the game golf. The commitment of both groups will ensure their continued success. Their examples also provide the blueprint for how, with some imagination and willingness to work, everyone can make a difference in their own ways.
Imagine the impact companies would have if they were to expend as much energy toward such worthwhile endeavors.
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