An American Legion Golf Day Fundraiser — with emphasis on the “fun” — will take place at the Tracy Country Club on Friday, July 31.
The tournament is a collaboration of five American Legion posts: Tracy, Balaton, Russell, Echo and Garvin.
The idea for the golf outing came from John Jones, the District 7 Vice Adjutant, said Tracy American Legion Commander Dave Dieter.
“He contacted us and said they’re invested in doing some fundraisers,” Dieter said. We met in Balaton in early spring; next thing you know, we’re planning a golf outing in Tracy.”
The fun day of golf will help support local veterans and Legion posts. Dieter stressed that this is not a tournamenttype event, preferring instead to call it an outing.
“It’s just a fun day,” he said. “We want to appeal to the people that either have never golfed or are not necessarily good at golf. You can keep score if you — the little kids can come out; if they can’t drive it, at least they can putt. We’ll have some prizes, there’ll be some games out there.”
Legion members from the five posts involved gathered sponsors for the tournament.
“Whatever sponsors they get, that’s their money,” Dieter said. “After we deduct our expenses from the event, we’ll split that up evenly between the five posts. It’s pretty easy (to get sponsors) when you present it the right way. We’re doing it to support our Color Guards and Honor Guards — the guys that honor our veterans at their funerals.”
The event will be from noon-8 p.m. The cost to take part is $50 for adults, and $25 for those 16 and under.
“You can golf all you want,” said Dieter. “We’re renting the course, so it’s up to us — we can decide what we want to do.”
The outing does not include golf carts, but golfers can rent those on their own.
A free pork lunch will also be provided by Fultz Farms.
Dieter said a tournament committee has recently been formed at TCC as a way to encourage and inspire more people to enjoy the game of golf.
“As we go along, we’re going to come up with new things,” he said.
