Golfers hit the links for an afternoon of fun at the Minor Hockey Golf Tournament.
The second annual event was held at Sylvan Lake Golf and Country Club on Aug. 23.
Tom Witty, vice president of the Sylvan Lake Minor Hockey Association, said the event went well, the weather held off and everybody had “a ton of fun.”
Different vendors, such as the Red Deer Rebels on hole two, were scattered around the course to give the players additional activities. There were also holes featuring food and refreshments.
“I don’t think I heard a complaint from 104 golfers,” said Witty, adding the tournament was at capacity.
Witty explained there was a waiting list as the tournament was full two and a half weeks beforehand.
“At the end of the day it wasn’t about a competition [or] about winning the tournament,” he said. “Everybody knew they were out there to have fun and raise money for a non-profit within our community.”
As of publication there isn’t a total figure of proceeds from the tournament and silent auction, but Witty says they did really well compared to last year.
Last year the Minor Hockey Golf Tournament had 42 golfers and lacked in big sponsorship.
“Once we started the buzz from last year and people started hearing that we were doing it again, and we started planning a lot earlier this year so that helped quite a bit,” said Witty of this year’s growth.
He added getting Vesta Energy on board as the naming sponsor helped get other corporations on board as well.
One of those sponsored offered up a Million Dollar Hole-In-One.
Five golfers were randomly drawn for a shot at the hole in one, but none of them came close.
All fun aside, at the end of the day Team Barnes won the four player scramble tournament.
Tyler Steenbergen, who scored the golden goal for Team Canada at the world junior hockey championship in January 2018, golfed as a member of Team Barnes.
“That was nice to see a Laker alumni who’s actually gone on to do some good things within the hockey community,” said Witty.
In the future Witty would like to expand the tournament if they could get more carts to increase the numbers, but has no intentions on changing the venue.
Majority of the funds raised at the tournament have been allocated for the development of players, coaches, goaltenders and referees. The money will help the organization bring in extra programs and sessions from professionals.
The Sylvan Lake Minor Hockey Association encompasses the Sylvan Lake Lakers, the West Central Tigers, West Central U15 Panthers and the West Central Midget Wildcats.
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