The early Saturday morning golf swings marked another successful year in fundraising for The Villages Charter School.
Fifty-one teams competed in The Villages 23rd Annual Charter School Golf Tournament at Palmer Legends Country Club. The tournament was structured this year as an 18-hole scramble with four-person teams, starting at 7:22 a.m. and starting at 9:28 a.m.
Last year’s tournament raised $47,649, and this year’s total should be about the same. Proceeds go directly to support The Villages Charter School through its parent organization, Buffalo PRIDE (Partners Responsible in Developing Education).
It’s a really fun event for us to support The Villages Charter School, said Erin Natalino, President of Buffalo PRIDE.
Teams were again split into three flights for the tournament, playing two of the three courses: Cherry Hill, Riley Grove or Laurel Valley.
Many teams have been formed by large corporate sponsors, but some have been formed by groups of friends.
We all work for the sales team, but decided to create our own team to support the school, said Addam Roma, who formed his team, The Team.
Roma, a licensed real estate professional with Properties of The Villages, enjoyed some quality time with his friends and colleagues in The Villages for a good cause.
Everyone is coming together and helping each other, Roma said. I love the camaraderie here. I am by no means a great golfer. I love seeing these people doing well, but they were just having a good time with our friends.
Colin Bouette, a bullpen specialist at Villages Golf Carts, joined his friends to form their own team, Gerrys Kids, to enjoy the tournament.
It’s good. I have many child friends who go to school and have benefited from it, says Bouette. So I’m always happy to participate.
Teams also enjoyed some of the renovations that took place on the Riley Grove course in 2022, which included resized and relocated bunkers, new drainage, lane changes and other changes to benefit the game.
The renovation turned out to be excellent and we heard a number of compliments to support our thoughts, said Mark Verkey, PGA Professional at Palmer Legends Country Club.
Palmer Legends Country Club has hosted the tournament for 18 years. This year was one of the biggest tournaments with 204 golfers split into teams of four. Even so, there was always a waiting list.
The tournament went very well, Verkey said. We had the biggest demand to play in the tournament that we have ever had… It’s great to see the demand for the tournament and to support the school.
The annual Villages Charter School Golf Tournament this year had 21 sponsors who could make donations ranging from $200 to $7,500, as well as raffle donations. The main sponsors this year were The Villages, Properties of The Villages, Citizens First Bank, T&D Concrete, AgeWave Solutions and Sunshine Air Conditioning.
The overall winner was the Palmer Legends team, consisting of Eddie Connell, Chad Strausbaugh, Bob Wotring and Michael Rohan, who also won the Riley Grove/Cherry Hill flight.
The Technology Solutions Group – Team 2, consisting of Adam Bokuniewicz, Kurt Miller, Brad Andrews and David Rees, won the Cherry Hill/Laurel Valley flight.
The Properties of The Villages team, consisting of Matthew Ostrander, Nick Vespa, Charley Singletary and Harper Boone, won the Laurel Valley/Riley Grove flight.
Greg Walters of the Clymer Farner Barley Inc. team was the winner closest to the pin. Walters was just 1ft 6in from the pin on the 8th hole at Laurel Valleys.
The full list of this year’s results is at tvcs.org/golf/results.
