Nothing will tee off a golfer more than being told to come in out of the rain, so naturally while the course at Pheasant Run in St. Charles may have been blanketed with showers recently, 133 puttered through and took a swing at raising an estimated $10,000 for the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce at its 17th annual fundraiser.
”Our tee-off time was 8:40 a.m. and we finished at 3:30 p.m., 2 1/2 hours longer than it should have taken. But we were continuously putting up our umbrellas and covering our equipment,” said David Oie of Geneva.
”Hey, it was a great time. At least we didn`t have to work,” said Oie, who was matched with his dad, Vern Oie of St. Charles. Each had paid $100 for green fees, lunch and a prime rib dinner in the stately floral banquet room at Pheasant Run.
To ensure that no golfer got caught in a rut along the way, organizers spiced it up a bit, throwing in a bit of fun ever other tee. For instance, one tee featured a face-off with a professional women`s golfer. (Last reports confirm that no man had beaten her.) Another had golfers driving with a Fisher-Price club.
And then there was the challenge of using a pitching wedge to send a marshmallow through a hula hoop and into the hole. The few that accomplished that feat had their names tossed into a hat; three were randomly selected to take a whack before dinner at $500 in $5s, $10s and $20s in First Chicago Gary-Wheaton`s ”money booth.” The booth featured a fan that blew the cash about in a whirling mass.
Steve Fordonski of Naperville was the first to go in. The rules specified that he could keep all the greenbacks he could sweep up in 15 seconds without touching the ceiling, floor or sides of the chamber. When he emerged from the booth, he had $65 tightly gripped in his hands.
”I`m always excited about money. I`m only human,” said Fordonski.
But before he had a moment to count his good fortune, a woman selling raffle tickets had talked Fordonski into gambling $10 of his winnings.
And there were other temptations in a silent auction, including airline tickets, a tailgate party (25 buffalo wings, a bottle of Dom Perignon and four tickets to a Kane County Cougars game) and a weekend at Pheasant Run in St. Charles.
”They`ll have us part with our money one way or another,” said Gordon Drawer of St. Charles, treasurer of the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce. Money from the day of fun will be used for ongoing projects, a token amount for soliciting speakers for seminars on broad-based business topics of interest to chamber membership and to help pay chamber staff.
”This is the main fundraiser of the chamber and because it is, everyone here goes all out,” said Jim Martin of Geneva. ”Everyone closed up shop (for this one day).”
”He played all 18 holes and was soaked to the skin,” said Rita Martin, Jim`s wife.
”I had a prior warning from my wife that if it was lightning, get off the greens,” said Jim Martin.
