FAIRWAYS: Get Your Crew Together

A roundup of this season’s charity outings

“Golf is not about your score. It’s about who you play with.”

Megan Sarkis and her family use that quote each year to promote the Jim Sarkis Memorial Golf Classic, a fundraiser for Door CANcer and other local charities.

But that slogan pertains to a lot of golfers at this time of year, as they gather up their weekend foursomes, prepare for league matches at the home course or make dates to play in fundraisers for good causes. 

One year ago, golf outings were just reappearing in the county after a one-year hiatus for pandemic protocols. Charity outings are back in a big way this year, however.

Here are just a few we found so far:

Sunday, May 22 — Gibraltar Booster Club/Ephraim Men’s Club 9-Hole Golf Scramble, 11 a.m. shotgun start, Peninsula State Park Golf Course. The donation is $80 per player ($70 for Peninsula members, $60 for Gibraltar students). It’s for four-player teams, with prizes for men’s, women’s, mixed teams, etc.  Forms and info available at the Peninsula clubhouse.

Tuesday, June 14 — 13^th Boys and Girls Club of Door County Celebrity Golf Outing Horseshoe Bay Golf Club. In addition to community members, former Green Bay Packers flock to this outing. The fundraiser and this cause draws a massive amount of support from Northeast Wisconsin businesses, ranging from Jim Olson Motors to Portside Builders, including Portside retiree Fran Shefchik.

Celebrities signed on include Jerry Kramer, Mark Tauscher, Paul Coffman, Harry Sydney III, Dave Robinson, Bart Starr Jr., Chris Jacke and Don Warren.

“It’s a great event. It’s our major fundraiser,” Shefchik said. “It really helps us provide the services we’re doing for the kids here in Door County.”

Those programs include providing summer camp on site and at Crossroads and providing after-school programming, helping boys and girls with homework, socializing and sports and games in the gym and an indoor astroturf recreation room. The club also provides dinner three or four nights each week and sends backpacks with food home with some kids in need. The club also has counselors with psychology training to watch for warning signs and issues. Shefchik said the counselors do a great job of noticing problems, issues or struggles the children are having, and they do a great job of making those “kids feel great about themselves.”

Shefchik said there only was room for two more foursomes as of May 12, but plenty of $75 dinner tickets remained available. To register, call the Boys and Girls Club at (920) 818-1046.

Monday, June 20 — Door County Charities annual Jim Sarkis Memorial Golf Classic at Horseshoe Bay Golf Club. Proceeds benefit Door CANcer and other local charities. For more information, call (920) 493-87778 or (920) 888-0779. 9 a.m. registration.

Monday, June 20 — Tavern League outing, $250 per team, 10 a.m. registration. Forms available at Idlewild.

Saturday, July 9 — Aloha Scramble, 8 a.m. Inquire at Idlewild.

Sunday, July 17 – Sister Bay Lions Golf Outing, Peninsula State Park. Fun, food, prizes, camaraderie and a golden opportunity for duffers from near and far to give back to the community. Proceeds will be donated to a long list of Northern Door causes and organizations that the Lions Club supports in the area. The Lions Club, which celebrates its 70th year in the community this year, donates to more than 30 non-profit charities, organizations and causes.

Monday, July 25 — 20^th annual Golf by the Bay fundraiser for Door County Y, which provides programs throughout Door and Kewaunee counties. The day-long YMCA event is a 36-hole scramble for four to eight golfers per team, with morning or afternoon tee times available. Call 920.743.4949 to participate, sponsor or volunteer. Some foursomes play all 36, some only play in the morning, and others bring in substitutes. The Y only started promoting this year’s event in mid-May, but the opportunity to play all day at the exclusive club usually results in a full field by late June. The price, at $1,000 per team for the full day and $600 for half, might sound high. However, tee times at world-class courses often cost $160 or more, and those fees don’t come with food, prizes or a chance to play for a cause. The donation also covers all on-course games (such as closest-to-the-pin and yardstick mulligans).

To sign up, call Megan Schneider at the Fish Creek Y location, (920) 868-3660.

The Y event raises about $40,000 per year and helps subsidize memberships and access to YMCA programming that many families and young people could not otherwise afford. Just a couple of the Y contributions to the community include summer day programs and serving 105,000 meals for children and senior citizens in 2021, about 180 per day during the school year and about 600 per day in summer, said fundraising campaign director Alyssa Dantoin.

Saturday, July 30 — Door County Community Child Development Center outing, Idlewild. Forms available at Idlewild. Watch for details on the local childcare center’s Facebook page or call (920) 818-0877.

Sunday, Oct. 2 — Eighth annual Little Eddie Big Cup, Peninsula State Park. Started by golfing buddies of the late Ed Strege, Ivan Bridenhagen and James Larsen, it’s always on the Sunday before Columbus Day weekend. The tournament benefits the Mental Health Awareness Fund, a component of Door County Community Foundation, which promotes mental health awareness, education and provides mental healthcare. Also, people can donate to the Ed Strege Memorial Fund. Find more at [email protected] or at Peninsula.

Looking for Nor-Dor League Play?

Many leagues already teed off for the season and had spots filled before some courses even opened.

However, the popular Nor-Dor Men’s Golf League welcomes newcomers and all of the past players to the weekly nine-hole match play event at Maxwelton Braes Golf Course. League play begins May 25. It’s a shotgun-start every Wednesday at 4:30 pm. Alternates can sign up to substitute, said league operator Mike Novotny 920.421.2929 or [email protected]. The fee for the full year is $45.