Leprechaun Open 2014 welcomes spring

Although the weather has said it is spring for a few weeks, and the calendar says it starts Thursday, St. Patrick's Day starts our spring season at Antelope Hills. The Antelope Hills Men's Golf Club hosts the Leprechaun Open. Approximately 120 golfers are participating in a scramble this morning with a nice lunch and prizes to follow.


The Pro enjoys dressing as a leprechaun to greet the golfers and will continue in costume when prizes are handed out at the end of the tournament.

You can see all the pictures in our Facebook photo album which is part of the Antelope Hills Facebook page. Albums of the previous opens are also available there.

Antelope Hills is open all winter but weather determines whether or not much golf is played. By the time St. Patrick's Day arrives, Prescott usually enjoys great weather. This is official start of the golf season. When the hot weather arrives in Phoenix, usually sometime in April or May, golfers from the valley start heading north to our milder weather.

Antelope Hills, with two championship golf courses, hosts tournaments from March through November. Some of these are small local events while others are much larger. The golf season means that the Pro spends most of his time at the course, at least for six days of the week and often seven. He feels that in order to provide the best customer experience, he wants to be on hand. While his staff is wonderful and could carry on if he could not be there, he feels responsible to see that the events start off well.

This year, the men's club is donating proceeds to the Prescott Women's shelter. They hold raffles and sell mulligans to fund the donation. Each year they pick a different cause for contribution. They provide a great service in hosting this event. Hosting means they manage the check-in process and see that everyone who wants to play has a group to play with.

After the golfers head to the tees, the Pro creates the scoreboard and posts it in the patio area where lunch will be served. As the golfers pick up their lunches, they will be able to see the results of all the rest who are already eating.

This is a fun day for all the participants. In previous years, there have been junior participants when this coincided with spring break. That was last week, so there are no juniors this year. We are happy to officially welcome spring.

On family events

This past weekend, in Prescott, Arizona, the Arizona Golf Association and Antelope Hills Golf Course hosted the 51st Father-Son tournament. Pictures are here. Fathers, sons, and grandsons play 36 holes of golf together over the course of two days. For the AGA and the volunteers and staff at Antelope Hills, they are very long days. But it was so rewarding to participate.

Some teams have been playing together in the tournament for over 30 years. This is a family tradition, handed down from generation to generation. Golf, in and of itself, can be a wonderful experience (or, if you play like I do, it may be quite frustrating.) But what is so fabulous about this weekend is the annual ritual of getting together for two days (or three if they come up early for a practice round), visiting, having fun, and being together. Most of them started out as Arizona residents, but now many of them come in from other places to see their family and play. And it is not just the fathers and sons. Whole families come out. In some cases, mom and/or grandma rides around with them as play. In others, they join for the meal after the round but visit Prescott for one of its many amenities.

It is so easy for families to draw apart. We live in a very fast paced world. I have lived only 1.5 years near my folks since I became an adult. They were in California; I was in Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Arizona and Utah. While my sisters stayed in California, I am not unique as a highly mobile family member. My daughter has lived in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Utah and Tennessee. With so much mobility, a tradition such as the Father-Son tournament helps draw the family together. While many of us get together for the holidays, there is often an underlying tension and expectations that also join us. This was less evident at the tournament.

It was fun seeing so many teams wear matching shirts, shorts, hats, complete outfits, etc. A father might play with all 3 of his sons, and those sons might be also playing with 1 or 2 of their sons. I meet so many wonderful people having a great time, even if they didn't play as well as they would have liked.

The volunteers also contributed to the atmosphere: helping keep score in the large family groups, replenishing the water jugs (we had a record high 97 Sunday), managing the check-in process, rangering, managing carts, and generally making it a great experience.

While a formal tournament might not be the thing for all families, it is great to hold a family reunion around an annual event that the whole family can enjoy.