Charity
How it Began
14/05/08 11:33
I'm sure many of us think about it….doing something to make a difference or to help others. I have for years. Wondering what I could do to raise money for charity….cycle the country, climb the three peaks, a sausage eating contest (mmm yum!), lose weight (hmm unlikely!) or a charity night of some sort. But, I never got as far as actually making any of them happen. That is, until last year.
Things happened in my life that made me think I really should do something and not put it off any longer.
In April, my father died of pancreatic cancer having only been diagnosed 17 days earlier. Then, towards the end of the year, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully enough this was caught early and the lump was removed. It was a pretty depressing year, and I realised the huge impact cancer has on the lives of sufferers and the family and friends around them.
A decision!
So, a few weeks before Christmas, I silenced the voices in my head and made the decision that I would organise a charity golf day. A bit more realistic perhaps than my previous ideas! I asked two of my good friends Kris Babb and Jeff Lawrence to help me and hey presto within a few days "The Hookers and Hackers" was born!
Between Kris, Jeff and I we managed to turn this event around in a little over 4 months. I was glad to have their help as I had not realised just how much work would be required in setting up the day. To say it wasn't easy is a bit of an understatement! I had only expected 30-40 to be interested in participating so to have 67 for the day was great!
Jeff and I enjoy playing golf together as much as we can. We tend to play with our favourite clubs in our bags and on many occasions we talked of playing 9 holes with just 3 clubs, so we decided that we would incorporate this into our event in the hope it would make it a little more interesting and challenging.
18 April 2008 – The first "Hookers and Hackers" Charity Golf day
Before we knew it the day was upon us!
We had our fingers crossed the weather forecasters were wrong and it wouldn't rain, bit didn't hold out much hope – it had been miserable all week! Luckily it held off, though we had strong winds which made the day and the course a real slog!
I really enjoyed meeting everyone on the first tee. It was good measuring up who the bandits might be as we had golfers of all levels of experience taking part, ranging from our 2 professionals to someone who had never played on a course before! His first tee off provided the start of what was to be an entertaining and often amusing day! He teed up, looking every bit a pro, then whoosh, an air shot! His second swing struck, but only moved the ball three feet ahead. A few more air shots, now the members on the 9th green had stopped to watch! Another and another…they must have feared the worst for their beloved course! Eventually he got the swing of it (excuse the pun!) and I'd like to say well done for giving it a go. Hopefully he enjoyed it and it's encouraged him to play again.
The first tee definitely seemed to get everyone. The stables on the left took a peppering. I began to wonder if the balls we'd provided were any good!
In the afternoon one of my playing partners had a tin cup moment; hopefully you will have seen the film. On the 10th hole, with his second shot in the water, he took a drop 10 foot in front of the lake, splash! Again straight in, dropped again, splash! And again splash! Now in the film, Kevin Costner eventually holes his shot, but no, after 5 balls this guy was still going. He was determined to get over and finally with a wild shank he was over. Did people really not like the balls we provided?
I even witnessed the same player, play someone else’s ball and have to run 150 yards to retrieve it. It was a long day but I had a lot of enjoyment and laughter, I hope everyone else did to.
Congratulations to the winners on the day. I hope they come back next year to try and retain their trophies. Thankfully the winners were of low handicaps and thus the bandits amongst you left the pony and sombrero at home.
Thanks
I am very very grateful to Premier for sponsoring the entire event, VR Sani for sponsoring the “3 Club Challenge Trophy”, the Ultimate Car Store for such fabulous par 3 prizes and the numerous firms that donated raffle prizes and donations. This website has a page dedicated to these firms. Many thanks.
Thanks to Kris and Jeff for all your help – I couldn't have done it without you both.
I also want to say thanks so much to my wife for putting up with me in those four months. The moods, the stress, the constant talk of "golf this, golf that" and all the hours I spent away from her whilst writing begging letters and emails to companies and making arrangements. It was so nice coming home afterwards to both her and my mum saying "I'm so proud of you" – it made it all worth it!
And finally, thanks to everyone for taking part and helping me to raise a grand total of £3032.89! I am very pleased for my first event and to raise so much money! I felt it was a great success and hope to see you all again for the 2009 Hookers and Hackers Contest!
Stef
PS – Anyone up for a sausage eating contest!
Things happened in my life that made me think I really should do something and not put it off any longer.
In April, my father died of pancreatic cancer having only been diagnosed 17 days earlier. Then, towards the end of the year, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully enough this was caught early and the lump was removed. It was a pretty depressing year, and I realised the huge impact cancer has on the lives of sufferers and the family and friends around them.
A decision!
So, a few weeks before Christmas, I silenced the voices in my head and made the decision that I would organise a charity golf day. A bit more realistic perhaps than my previous ideas! I asked two of my good friends Kris Babb and Jeff Lawrence to help me and hey presto within a few days "The Hookers and Hackers" was born!
Between Kris, Jeff and I we managed to turn this event around in a little over 4 months. I was glad to have their help as I had not realised just how much work would be required in setting up the day. To say it wasn't easy is a bit of an understatement! I had only expected 30-40 to be interested in participating so to have 67 for the day was great!
Jeff and I enjoy playing golf together as much as we can. We tend to play with our favourite clubs in our bags and on many occasions we talked of playing 9 holes with just 3 clubs, so we decided that we would incorporate this into our event in the hope it would make it a little more interesting and challenging.
18 April 2008 – The first "Hookers and Hackers" Charity Golf day
Before we knew it the day was upon us!
We had our fingers crossed the weather forecasters were wrong and it wouldn't rain, bit didn't hold out much hope – it had been miserable all week! Luckily it held off, though we had strong winds which made the day and the course a real slog!
I really enjoyed meeting everyone on the first tee. It was good measuring up who the bandits might be as we had golfers of all levels of experience taking part, ranging from our 2 professionals to someone who had never played on a course before! His first tee off provided the start of what was to be an entertaining and often amusing day! He teed up, looking every bit a pro, then whoosh, an air shot! His second swing struck, but only moved the ball three feet ahead. A few more air shots, now the members on the 9th green had stopped to watch! Another and another…they must have feared the worst for their beloved course! Eventually he got the swing of it (excuse the pun!) and I'd like to say well done for giving it a go. Hopefully he enjoyed it and it's encouraged him to play again.
The first tee definitely seemed to get everyone. The stables on the left took a peppering. I began to wonder if the balls we'd provided were any good!
In the afternoon one of my playing partners had a tin cup moment; hopefully you will have seen the film. On the 10th hole, with his second shot in the water, he took a drop 10 foot in front of the lake, splash! Again straight in, dropped again, splash! And again splash! Now in the film, Kevin Costner eventually holes his shot, but no, after 5 balls this guy was still going. He was determined to get over and finally with a wild shank he was over. Did people really not like the balls we provided?
I even witnessed the same player, play someone else’s ball and have to run 150 yards to retrieve it. It was a long day but I had a lot of enjoyment and laughter, I hope everyone else did to.
Congratulations to the winners on the day. I hope they come back next year to try and retain their trophies. Thankfully the winners were of low handicaps and thus the bandits amongst you left the pony and sombrero at home.
Thanks
I am very very grateful to Premier for sponsoring the entire event, VR Sani for sponsoring the “3 Club Challenge Trophy”, the Ultimate Car Store for such fabulous par 3 prizes and the numerous firms that donated raffle prizes and donations. This website has a page dedicated to these firms. Many thanks.
Thanks to Kris and Jeff for all your help – I couldn't have done it without you both.
I also want to say thanks so much to my wife for putting up with me in those four months. The moods, the stress, the constant talk of "golf this, golf that" and all the hours I spent away from her whilst writing begging letters and emails to companies and making arrangements. It was so nice coming home afterwards to both her and my mum saying "I'm so proud of you" – it made it all worth it!
And finally, thanks to everyone for taking part and helping me to raise a grand total of £3032.89! I am very pleased for my first event and to raise so much money! I felt it was a great success and hope to see you all again for the 2009 Hookers and Hackers Contest!
Stef
PS – Anyone up for a sausage eating contest!