August 15, 2008
By Lynn Lane,
Ottawa Chapter membership coordinator

Sunshine, partly cloudy, a cooling breeze and a mere 21 degrees + 90 enthusiastic golfers + loads of prizes and giveaways + great sponsors = a perfect combination for LO’s Ottawa Chapter golf tournament on July 10th.

The golfers, representing over 60 member and non-member companies, cruised into the Canadian Golf and Country Club at 11:30 for a chicken barbecue lunch, which was generously sponsored by B & T MacFarlane and Wajax. After a full meal and a trip out to the putting green for the putting contest, everyone hit the course for golf and fun contests. Two putting prizes were won, a day in the Hummer golf cart and a $400 pool cleaner, donated by Splash Pools. We had some great (and some not-so-great) shots during the day.

Here are some of the contest winners: men’s longest drive, sponsored by Oaks Concrete Products, was won by Glenn Martin; ladies’ closest to the pin, sponsored by Kobes Nurseries, was won by Jen Siba; ladies’ longest drive, sponsored by Tony Olsen Enterprises, was won by Patricia Stanish; men’s closest to the pin contest, sponsored by Nutri-Lawn, was won by Denis Lacelle; best foursome, sponsored by Donnely Automotive Group, was won by Roger St. Germain, Gerry Knight, Gilbert Kingsbury and Patrick Charest (event chair); most honest golfers’ trophy, sponsored by Green Tech Ag and Turf, was won by the Garden Creations team of Kent Merkley, Stephanie Scott, Ryan Kearney and Tim O’Brien.

Try as they might, nobody won the $10,000 hole-in-one prize sponsored by Smith Petrie Carr and Scott Insurance Brokers and HortProtect Insurance. Better luck next year!

Manderley Turf Products held two special contests at the ninth hole. Closest to the pin winner Chris Burns won a GPS navigation system. Players were invited to participate in the Beat the Turf Guy 50/50 contest at this hole. Chris Burns (yes, you read it right!) won again. This time he took home $175. Manderley Turf Products donated the other $175 to LO’s charity that supports industry education.

By 7 p.m. everyone was in for a great steak dinner, sponsored by Permacon Group. Wine with dinner was thanks to sponsor Lafarge. Over 35 prizes, generously donated by our local companies, were drawn as dinner ended.

“We could not do this without our generous sponsors,” said event chair Patrick Charest of Permacon. Our sincere thanks go out to all the sponsors, as well as the following hole sponsors: Canlok Stone, Twin Equipment, Greely Sand and Gravel, Manderley Turf Products, Gro-Bark (Ontario), Brandt Tractor, Distribution Viking, Techo-Bloc, Yates Custom Lawn Sprinklers, Frisby Tire, Peter Knippel Nursery, Landscape Ontario Congress and Garden Expo, and Techniseal (beverage cart).

The big ending to the night was the drawing of the huge 50/50 contest. We sincerely thank all who bought tickets creating a grand prize of $417, won by Dan Shwetz from Stone Builders. Second prize was a $600 barbecue, donated by Rona Hunt Club, and won by Richard Beaulieu of Techniseal. Congratulations to all our winners!

The LO Ottawa Chapter board would like to thank Patrick Charest and his amazing crew at Permacon (Deana Sherif, tournament coordinator, Suzanne Nadeau and Karl Gagnon) for organizing such a great day for the chapter. Watch here for next year’s dates.

Caption: The Ottawa Chapter golf tournament combines a winning combination of enthusiastic golfers, sponsors and prizes.