By BOBBIE GREEN
The Progress
The Mesquite Senior Games held a two-day Golf Celebrationon October 18-19. The event comprised of an 18-hole tournament at the Conestoga Golf Course in Mesquite, a Long Drive contest at the Mesquite Sports & Event Complex, a Closest to the Pin competition, a shoot-out event and a nine-hole tournament at the Oasis Golf Club.
An awards banquet was held Tuesday evening in the Oasis Red Room where Chef Matthew John prepared a tasty spread of BBQ favorites. Mesquite resident Dennis Hangey was present at this festive event playing his bagpipes to welcome the participants into the banquet.
Director of the Mesquite Senior Games Amy Bradshaw was Master of Ceremonies for the banquet with her distinctive brand of humor that kept her listeners laughing.
“Thanks to our wonderful volunteers we had two great days of smiling competitors!” said Bradshaw. “We could not put on our events without their hard work.”
Bradshaw, with her group of volunteers and MSG board members keep the Senior Games running like clockwork. Devoted as everyone is to be getting the games perfected, they are not without incident.
The Long Drive contest on Monday afternoon was challenging for everyone involved due to the high winds in the area. The women played first and had the wind at their backs, helping them to drive as far and longer than some of the men. By the time the men played the winds had changed and they were driving against the wind. One volunteer’s sole job was to hold down the score board and keep it from being blown away in the wind.
On Tuesday at the Oasis the Closest to the Pin contest had contestants driving to the green and not putting. One ladies ball hit the pin midair and of course bounced back clean off the green! What were the odds of that happening?
The tournament had several different age divisions. Awards were presented in each division. Many participants earned more than one medal, based on their golfing skills. Some golfers walked out of the awards banquet looking like ‘Mr. T.’ with many different medals around their necks.
“This was an amazing event!” said participant Nancy Seck. “The organization was fabulous. Thank you MSG.”
The tournament drew a total of 42 participants and too many scores to list. But the most senior players did well. In the 80-84 age division Lone Stephens took first in the 9-hole, first in the closest-to-the-pin and first in the long drive with 136 yards.
The longest drive for all age divisions was from Jean Mills who hit a ball 227 yards.
For the Men 80-84 Keith Thorp’s long drive was 200 yards. Closest to the pin was Larry Robinson.
The longest drive for all age divisions in the Men’s competition was by Michael Yoder at 275 yards.
Two days of golf skills saw plenty of great shots and some…well…not so great. But there were smiles all around as our competitors made new friends and enjoyed the incredible golf venues that Mesquite has to offer.
“We cannot wait until our spring season when we can do it all over again!” said Bradshaw.
