On Monday, September 16th, Global Partners in Hope hosted its First Annual Golf Tournament at Arrowhead Golf Course in Littleton, Colorado to help drive Africa towards a healthier tomorrow. The event was a hole lot of fun for the team to plan, host and be a part of. It was also great seeing several of our partners from the Denver area show their support for GPiH. It was even better to make so many new relationships along the way! It was a team effort to put this event together and the outcomes from the Arrowhead Golf Tournament were inspiring. Our team is excited to pursue more options in the Denver area and see where these new relationships will go!
The Preparation
At the beginning of 2019, CEO, Ian Vickers, had a specific goal he wanted to achieve, host a large networking event in Denver to expand GPiH’s overall engagement. He asked Brenna Sauer, Director of Community Engagement, to plan a golf tournament in Denver. With her hometown being Littleton and her previous experience as a caddie at Columbine Country Club, Brenna was excited to plan an event that intertwined her love for golf and her commitment to help those in need!
The Course
After touring several golf courses in the Denver area, the GPiH team decided to host the golf tournament at
Arrowhead Golf Course because its spectacular views and helpful team that was willing to make the tournament as smooth and as impactful as possible. Arrowhead Golf Course in Roxborough National Park is know for its amazing wildlife including wild turkey, rabbits, hawks, deer, and even mountain lions- don’t worry the mountain lions didn’t make an appearance at the tournament. The park is also known for its red rocks that cover the park. Several of the holes on the golf course are surrounded on both sides by these red rocks, which truly takes your breath away and makes for a challenging and fun course. The Arrowhead team, specifically their Tournament Sales Director, Kyle Bryant, was a joy to work with. He walked the GPiH team through how the tournament would run and what he needed from our organization to make simplify the planning process. For our first golf tournament, we could not have chosen a better course to work with. Thank you so much Arrowhead Golf Course for hosting our tournament!
The Sponsors
After the course was picked, the next step was to find sponsors to support the tournament. GPiH is so grateful to all the sponsors of the tournament who sponsored raffle items, holes on the course, and even a hole-in-one contest!
The Hole-In-One contest was sponsored by Stevinson Automotive, an automotive dealership that has specialized in new and used cars as well as car repairs for over 50 years in Denver. Stevinson Automotive was also able to make a foursome to play in the tournament, which won the tournament with the low score!
TSBA (Tom Sauer Bond Agency), which is an insurance agency that focuses on construction bonds, was a Platinum Sponsor for the tournament. They sponsored four hole during the tournament as well as the swag bags that had a sleeve of golf balls, golf tees, and ball markers for players to use on the course. TSBA also had eight people play in the tournament, and one of their teams got second in the tournament.
The Silver Sponsors for the tournament were John Ewing Company, a animal feed company founded in Colorado which sponsored two holes during the tournament. Stay Sharp Custom Apparel, an Omaha based embroidery company, was also a Silver Sponsor and supplied all the hats that were also added to the swag bags for the players.
Omaha RV Repair, an Omaha based company that focuses on RV and other large motor vehicle repairs, and Kathryn Sauer of Keller Williams Realty that is ranked number one for its agents and overall home sales were Bronze Sponsors for the tournament.
This tournament would not be possible without the help of our sponsors, and GPiH is so thankful for their support in not only this event, but in our mission to help provide hope around the world!
The Players
With the help of friends and family that live in the Denver area, news of the tournament spread like wildfire! The GPiH team was shocked when there were 13 different teams signed up to play totaling 52 overall players. From sponsors, to friends, to family, everyone who was able to attend had a great time playing at such a beautiful but difficult course!
The Tournament
The Games
One of the best parts of the tournament according to most of the players was how the GPiH team made it a unique and fun experience! Players were able to start the tournament with buying up to 5 mulligans per player in case they wanted to redo a shot they didn’t like. The game was also played as a scramble which means the foursome plays as a team and goes from best shot to best shot until they finish out the hole. This format of play was a great way for players of all levels to have fun!
Throughout the course there were several different games that players could choose to play in that also related back the work of GPiH overseas. Some of the games included a hole-in-one contest to win a car, using only a 7 iron on hole 7 to understand how Africans feel to have the knowledge but none of the tools to complete a task correctly, one person from each cart walked all of hole 14 to feel what it is like for an African woman to walk and get water every day, and buy a drive and hit the first shot from the middle of the fairway to understand how a little bit of wealth can go a long way in Africa.
The Outcome
Overall, the outcome of the First Annual GPiH Golf Tournament at Arrowhead Golf Course was that everyone who attended had a great time at a beautiful course and learned more about GPiH’s mission to bring hope around the world. From all the games, donations, and registration fees, the event was a complete success making over $8,500! Pretty good for our team’s first tournament. With the overwhelming response we received from the first tournament, GPIH is excited to announce that we will be hosting our SECOND annual tournament in September next year!