The constant flow of rain didn’t do much to dampen the spirits of those who participated in the 25th-annual Ken Kowalski golf tournament.
Although some groupings of players didn’t play the entire 18 holes, the bold print on the golf tournament pamphlet made it plain and clear – RAIN OR SHINE, IT GOES!
“What is great is we haven’t lost a single person. Everybody made it out despite the rain,” said MLA Ken Kowalski.
More than 250 golfers registered for the annual Kowalski tournament, which followed the Texas scramble format. All players tee off then choose the best ball. Each player hits from that position and continues until the team has completed the hole, except when a hole-in-one is made.
“The good thing about this format is the lack of pressure to come up with a perfect shot each time. It’s really a team effort,” said Lyn Hartel from St. Albert.
Despite the grey and gloomy sky, the atmosphere of the tournament was charged with excitement and fun. Most people donned proper rain gear while others took the rainfall in stride like big kids in the rain.
“It’s not like we always get to play in the rain. The fact that there isn’t any wind and it isn’t too chilly makes coming out here a lot more enjoyable. I may just jump in a puddle,” said Jeff Shroeder of Edmonton.
Golfers travelled from all over Alberta to participate in the annual tournament. There were golfers from St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, Westlock and some came from as far as Grande Prairie.
“It took us about two hours to get here from Fort Saskatchewan, but it was definitely worth it. We’ll be talking about this day for a while,” said Marlene Plumley.
Golfers were treated to a complimentary snack bar, hole-in-one prizes, a vast variety of specialty items and door prizes. The whole-day event was capped off with an all-inclusive dinner prepared by Sugar ‘n’ Spice Catering at the Barrhead Agrena.
“We just finished. I came straight from the course to the agrena,” said John Bereska, who was still sporting his wet clothes.
About 500 people attended the dinner portion of the golf tournament. There was a silent auction with more than 150 donated items on which to bid, ranging from a golf themed barbecue set to exquisitely hand-crafted porcelain eggs to a mini reclining chair. The silent auction items generated a lot of buzz, as clusters of people orbited the tables on which the items were placed prior to dinner being served.
“There is some really good stuff there and right now the bids are really low for most things,” said Tom O’Shea of Morinville.
MLA Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert) who is running for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta and a native of Barrhead was the only MLA who showed up to Kowalski’s to participate in the tournament.
Although he didn’t play in the tournament, he made himself available to anyone that wanted to speak with him.
“One of the good things about having golf shoes is they’re waterproof. You know, Barrhead is an association that has a tremendous amount of strengths and engagement. When you can pull off something like this with all the volunteers that gave their time, that speaks volumes about the people that make up this great town,” said Horner.
As the evening wound down, Kowalski reminisced about the first tournament and how far things have come since then.
“I’m beside myself. We had one of the biggest turnouts ever, it rained the whole day, and while baseball games and football games are being cancelled, we pressed on and weren’t going to let a little rain get in our way. We had the first tournament on the original nine-hole course in Barr-head and about 80 people came out for that one. Today, we had over 250 people come out despite the rain, which is phenomenal,” said Kowalski.
The 2011 rendition of the Ken Kowalski golf tournament was a huge success according to the accounts of many golfers. It’s the memories that will carry them through until the first tee-off of the 2012 tournament.
“I’ve never golfed with that much water on a course. It’s the only time I’ve ever golfed where I’ve had to use my ball retriever two times on the fairway. We stuck it out for 18 holes and it was really wet. This was certainly an experience I won’t soon forget,” said the vice-chair of the Shepherd’s Care Foundation Bill Bartel.
