Back in the Saddle

I have taken about a month of a hiatus in writing blog posts.  It definitely didn’t have anything to do with lack of activity around the golf course.  Probably because there has been too much activity.  Here I am, though, back in the saddle and ready to bring you lots of information about all of the happenings that have been taking place in our little area of the world.

First up, let’s recount our Season Pass Holder Giveaway Banquet that we hold every year.  This event started about nine years ago.  We had about fifteen people in attendance and we thought we were pretty fancy.  We had never cooked for fifteen people before and we had so much fun.  Over the years it has grown to where we now have over seventy season pass members in attendance.  It’s so rewarding to have fun with these people, many of whom I have known my whole life.

The evening began with lots of hors d’oeuvres.  We had no idea that our season pass holders would love shrimp so much!  They devoured it!

Each guest arrived and found their name with their table assignment.  After they found their table service, they got to pick out one of the ornaments that Theresa had made for them.  Since a majority of our season pass holders are men, we found it amusing that they allowed their wives to pick out the ornament!

We spent the entire day getting ready for the event.  Theresa and I kept trying to listen to Christmas music while we set the room, but somehow my brother, Jason, won and made us listen to talk radio.  There’s nothing quite like Rush to get you in the holiday spirit!

Since these are people who have been in our lives for a long time, we like to treat them well to show our appreciation.  We had over $500 in prizes that we gave away!  Those items included things like a golf bag, set of kid clubs, golf balls, hats and tickets to the Drake basketball games.

Since this was our 40th year in business, we thought it’d be fun to honor those golfers who have been with us since the very beginning by giving each person a $50 gift card to the golf course.  We had made up four gift cards in advance thinking we couldn’t possibly have more than that.  We had them all stand and counted seven golfers who have been with us for 40 years.  Wow!  What an honor!

We also give away four $250 gift certificates that can go toward the purchase of a 2014 season pass.  We have done something different every year to give these four coveted prizes away every year.  Our family always has fun dreaming up a new way to give them away.  This year, we created a Golf Bingo game that everyone played.  We called out golf words and they marked off the words on their bingo card.   Our first winner was Roger.

Ironically, the other three winners were the wives of our golfers!  We love meeting the wives of our golfers.  They always thank us for keeping their husbands entertained and busy throughout the week!  This golfer, Mark, loved his wife for winning him $250!

It was a really fun event.  We are so thankful to our loyal golfers and patrons of our business.