The annual Legacy Charity Golf Day – although still a recognised Club Competition – adds a little fun and novelty to the fundraising efforts of the Club, raising money for Legacy. This is evident through the betting holes and accurate drive competitions we play on the day, with all proceeds of the day raised through entry fees, raffles and our betting holes going directly to Legacy Sunshine Coast.
Many traditional charity days and golf events have a Long Drive competition, which is usually only attainable for A Grade players or the few big hitters in the field. On our Legacy Charity Golf Day we wanted to be all inclusive, so instead hold an Accurate Drive competition, with the aim to hit the ball as close to the centre line as possible. This is much more suitable to our Club Members age demographic, as well as the fact that many of the players in the field are ex-defence force personnel who have served some time ago during their prime.
There is still an emphasis on distance in the Accurate Drive competition, as the ‘Line’ used to mark the centre of the fairway starts about 100m from the tee, and any debates or ties with two balls being the closest to the line is decided by the longer shot being the winner.
All this preamble leads me to the heart of this post though, highlighting the exact reason that Lance Davitt was indecisive about entering the Accurate Drive competition during Legacy Day on Saturday. Approaching his 80th birthday, Lance wouldn’t have even entertained the thought of entering a Long Drive competition, and was seriously considering not going in the Accurate Drive competition given that he couldn’t even see where the line started it was that far up the fairway. Being Legacy Day though, Lance threw in his gold coin figuring he was just going to be donating it to the Legacy Charity anyway.
‘My shot off the tee was a beautiful – controlled – slice that started left and swung back towards the centre of the fairway” said Lance chuckling as he recalled the shot.
The ‘controlled slice’ bought the ball back beautifully toward the centre of the fairway, and it came to rest just a few inches from the line painted down centre. And the best part, it was only just a meter or two from the start of the line!
“Poor Joe (Quang) had to run a hundred metres up the fairway to collect the marker” laughed Lance as even he admitted that it was probably one of the shortest drives of the day, as well as the most accurate, on that fairway. “It must have been the 40kn headwind that was blowing when I hit the tee shot”.
Lance won a bottle of wine for his Accurate Drive, which was kindly donated by Fiona Simpson – local State Member for Maroochydore.
It is through the generosity of individuals like Fiona Simpson, as well as many local Golf Clubs, RSL’s and Surf Clubs that we are able to donate prizes for our Legacy Charity Day that enables us to donate the entry fee and proceeds to Legacy Sunshine Coast.
This year we raised almost $4500 through the various fundraising activities, which will add to the now more than $100,000 the Club has donated since this concept began back in 1990.