Tellico Village’s golf professionals squared off Friday in a friendly exhibition to raise money for Folds of Honor, a charity that provides scholarships to spouses and children of soldiers killed or disabled in service.
The organization was founded in 2007, and Village golf courses have supported the charity since its inception.
“We do some kind of Folds of Honor benefit each year,” Jim West, director of golf, said. “... We’ve been one of the top producing facilities in the state each year.”
Past fundraisers have included donating golf lessons or pro shop merchandise for a raffle.
This year’s event provided a change from the norm and was originally proposed by pro Casey Flenniken.
“With the Village being as large as it is, you’ve got a lot of people who live here that are retired and served our country, men and women,” Flenniken said. “I know the Tennessee (Professional Golf Association) kind of promotes the Folds of Honor and we back that. So we wanted to do something big and we felt this would be a great way for people to pledge or give donations.”
Each pro took pledges from members of the community. Some donated for golfers to win each hole, while others pledged for each birdie.
“I think right now for each birdie we make it’s something like $35,” Flenniken said just before teeing off Friday. “So it pushes us to play good golf.”
Before the group began Friday, West encouraged crowd interaction and communication, stressing the event was designed to be fun.
“I think we’re going to have quite a few people show up to watch us play,” West said prior to the start.
The exhibition between course pros, which included West, Flenniken, Adam Jacob, Jeff Harrington and Peyton-Elizabeth Ritchie, was a first for Tellico Village under West.
“I just kind of thought of it really, of what could we do other than just having a normal scramble,” Flenniken said. “... I thought it would be cool because (members) always ask, ‘Hey, can we see you play? We want to see you play golf.’ They never get to play with us because we’ve got day-to-day operations and we just don’t get out there as much. This way we can get out there with them and have some fun.”
Villagers gather in droves to watch players compete in the final round of the annual Men’s Member-Guest tournament, and West said he thought watching the pros square off would draw a similar response while providing a fun change of pace for those in attendance.
“We just like to do stuff that’s new and interesting,” West said. “I think we’ve done that with this.”
Joe Mulherin, who was the 2016 Men’s Member-Guest winner and retired as a colonel from the United States Air Force, was excited about the event.
“I think this is a great idea because of where the money is going to go — scholarships for people who have lost their primary wage earner in their house in combat or in the military,” Mulherin said. “It’s fun for us that live here to see our pros play, but also the money is going for a good cause.
“I would like to see them carry on with that and do a little better job of publicity next year so we could get a bigger crowd out here,” he added.
Beer was provided for those who came to watch the exhibition, and West estimated a crowd of more than 100 attended.
“The response we’ve gotten has been incredible,” West said. “... We’ve had a ton of members say they’re going to come out.”
The amount of money raised and golf results from the exhibition were not available at presstime.
