DUBOIS – Saturday July 9th, there is a golf tournament taking place at the Dubois Golf Club that is not like typical golf tournaments. This won’t be a members-only tourney, nor a tournament for just like-minded people who love to play golf in their free time.
No, this is a golf tournament with a purpose that is made of good hearts and good spirit. It benefits the Dubois Boys & Girls Club which help give students and young children “a place, a plan and a program beyond what the public-school district offers”.
The golf tournament was put on by both parties, the Dubois Golf Club and the Boys & Girls Club, due to the outreaching arm of the Antelope Hills Golf Course co-owner Joel Wiener who was looking to put on a tournament with more of a purpose than the occasional fun time on the greens.
“We know the people at Boys & Girls Club,” Wiener said, “my girls attend some of their events and we wanted something that would benefit the club directly.”
Benefitting the club can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, whether playing in the 9-hole tournament or not. There will be 50/50 raffles that can be bought anytime before 5 PM at the golf course, and there will be a 50-foot putt challenge that could possibly yield $15,000 to whoever gets the long putt in the hole.
“I’m proud to be part of a benefit that goes to a local organization,” Wiener said, “that’s the biggest part of it in my mind, keeping it local.”
The golf course, which rests at around 7000 feet above sea level, will be home to 12 teams of four who are all playing to help out the great organization. The Wyoming Community Bank is also pitching in quite a bit, not only by putting up the money for the 50-foot putt but also by throwing in $100 per team to be donated to the Boys & Girls Club, totaling $1,200 on top of their other donations.
There is also Chamley Outfitting and Dubois SuperFoods helping out by donating food for the participants and members of the Boys & Girls Club.
The idea actually got started about one year ago when Madison Harper, Branch Director for the Dubois Boys & Girls Club, got married on hole #1 of the golf course.
“When Madison came out here and got married that’s when the ball started rolling with this event,” Wiener said, “we see a few weddings out here on the greens, it’s a nice place with good views for that type of thing.”
And ‘good views’ is putting it mildly, as the Dubois Golf Club sits between the Absaroka and Wind River mountain ranges and provides a great view of the beginning of the Grand Teton National Park peaks.
Playing at this golf course will be a fun time for anyone, but it will also have far reaching benefits for everyone involved, making this one of the few golf tournaments you don’t want to miss–even if you’re just going to watch and help out the local children in the community.