And the best part? Proceeds benefit the scholarship fund for the Sons and Daughters of Douglass Alumni Association.
"It's all about helping the kids," says Gary Maxwell, co-organizer of the event. "If the kids can get into college, they'll make productive citizens. We hope the scholarships will help them get to that goal."
The Alumni Scholarship Golf Tournament will be held on Saturday, May 21st at Warriors Path State Park in Kingsport. Maxwell says, the tournament will take up to 32 teams, and right now 12 teams are committed to play.
"The driver range opens at 12:30 PM," he says, "then a shotgun start at 1 PM. Each team consists of 4 members, modified select, that includes each player hitting three drives, three approach shots, and three putts. The cost is $55 dollars per person individual, or $250 dollars for a team signing up together."
"It's going to be a good day to play golf," Maxwell says.
Members of the Sons and Daughters of Douglass will be helping out at the golf course that day.
Then there are the 'goodies' that come along with the tournament.
"We'll be raffling off some major league baseball sports items, also some NFL, NBA and NASCAR things," he says. "One of the Detroit Tigers pitchers, Daniel Norris from Johnson City, is donating some items for us to raffle off. I've also talked to (Washington Nationals Baseball right fielder) Bryce Harper about donating to us some sunglasses he promotes. We'll also have tickets that have been donated, to the night NASCAR race at the Bristol Motor Speedway."
And then... there's the possibility of a new car for one golfer.
"We are very close to securing a donation for a hole-in-one, on Number 14, which will play about 180," Maxwell says. "There's never been a hole-in-one right there. The prize is a brand new car, valued between $20,000 and $25,000 dollars. All the winner has to do if they drop one, is pay the taxes, title and insurance. There's no additional cost to win the car."
For the ladies, two special raffles give them the chance to sport one of two name-brand handbags worth hundreds of dollars.
"The first one is a blue Michael Kors luxury handbag with a strap, and the other is a striped Prada that also has a strap," says Charlotte Maxwell, who secured them. "The quality of the leather is what makes them so special.. it's a very soft texture. You can always tell the originals by the stitching and the solid gold handles and markings on them."
Tickets for the raffles to win one of the handbags are $5.00 apiece.
"Names, address and phone numbers are important," she says, if folks want to enter the raffles. "If we aren't able to do the raffles at the golf tournament, we'll do them at one of the Sons and Daughters of Douglass alumni meetings, then call that person and let them know they've won."
But the kids going off to college, will be the real winners.
"They are our next generation," Maxwell says. "A lot of kids need financial help once they get to school, if they're unable to get it through the lottery or their parents cannot afford it."
"Everybody who participates in the golf tournament, no matter how they do it, will help some kids who may really need it," he says.
