Recapping the HIA Golf Tournament

Last Friday around 9AM 20+ teams tee’d off at Surrey Hills Golf Club at the first ever Hope is Alive Golf Tournament. God blessed us with an incredible day of weather, with temperatures floating from the high 70’s to the low 80’s, along with little to no wind all morning. It was a fabulous day all around!

As teams pulled into the parking lot, they were greeted by a man from the Hope is Alive Mentoring Program who carried their bag to the appropriate cart and then directed them up to registration. Dozens of HIA volunteers waited to help them sign in, purchase mulligans and raffles tickets. After a quick Chick-Fil-A breakfast sandwich players stretched out and swung their way into playing shape with free range balls. Promptly at nine, Dr. Wendell Lang opened the day in prayer and a moment of silence in remembrance of those we lost on September 11^th 2001.

As we wrapped up the announcements, carts began taking off in all different directions heading to their respective holes for the shotgun start. Throughout the course of the day, the players came across various surprises and specialty holes. This included a hole where each player was given the chance (with a small donation) to hit their ball into a mini swimming pool (evidenced below) for “easy” hole in one! No one made it…

A hole where you could donate a small amount to the ministry, for the option to tee off from where a football landed, which was thrown from the ladies tee box, by Mike from HIA!

And finally, my favorite, a hole where your very own British commentator, announced your name and possibly heckled you… a bit. Ok maybe a lot!

By 1:30ish all the golfers were making their way back to the clubhouse, where they all enjoyed a hamburger bar and waited anxiously as each team turned in their scorecards to the golf pro. Slowly and deliberately he posted the scores and within a few minutes we had a winner! With a score of 57, the team of Chad Robinson, Andy Lawrence, Jerad Rhodes and John Herman took home the trophies from the first ever HIA Golf Tournament.

We ended the day by listening to two senior members from the Hope is Alive Mentoring Homes tell short versions of their stories. These guys did an incredible job telling how God has helped them restore their lives through the structure, accountability and mentoring they’ve received while living in our homes.

The tournament was a HUGE success and I am so thankful to everyone who was involved. We were able to raise close to $17,000 dollars for our Mentoring Homes Program (wow!!) and dozens of new folks were introduced to HIA and the programs we provided to those across Oklahoma impacted by addiction.