Loveland Athletic Boosters Golf Outing a success

Annual LAB event was good fun for a good cause

By Chuck Gibson

LOVELAND, OH (July 31, 2020) – The annual Loveland Athletic Boosters (LAB) Golf Outing was held Monday, July 27, at the O’Bannon Creek Golf Club.

A passing shower only served to cool down the 36 teams (144 golfers) on an otherwise hot Monday afternoon on the links. The outing featured an 18-hole, “best ball” scramble with some fun extras – for a fee of course. Mulligans, playing from the ‘up-tee’ and a “Cannon Shot” could all be purchased with proceeds going to help support the Loveland Schools Athletic Programs and athletes. It only makes sense that LHS Boys Golf Coach David Allan was one of the golfers.

 “It was a blast to come out here and play with the boosters,” said Allan. “It’s good to support the cause. I hope we have a season. We’re good to go right now.”

There’s the rub. Nobody knows exactly what the fall high school sports season is going to look like. Allan said they did have one tournament cancelled at Legendary Run because they would have to shuttle all the kids on the course. They simply weren’t comfortable with the idea of shuttling three kids on a golf cart.

“Everything else is on at this point,” Allan said. “Hopefully good to go. Golf is one of the safest things we can do.”

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If it is “good to go,” the golf season starts today, Saturday, August 1, they’ll practice during the weekend and Allan hopes they’ll play the first tournament the following Monday. The real question for Allan was how his group fared out there on the fairways

“We hit it okay,” he said. “We just didn’t really make anything. Scrambles really come down to how you play the Par 3’s, we made to many pars on the Par 3’s.”

The winning group was Brian and Kathy Garry with Steve and Julie Plitt coming in at 18 under par for the 18-hole scramble. Julie Plitt had some fun teasing LAB President Jeff Williams about his group’s “about 13-under” was not going to be good enough. Williams was still very happy with the day.

“We’re grateful, we’re lucky, we’re blessed that we were full,” said Williams. “We had two groups of four at every hole. That’s the max we can do to be able to do it during this time.”

As recently as a month ago, there was still a lot of doubt they would even be able to have the golf outing.

“As usual, Loveland always rallies,” Williams said. “They love their community, they love the athletes, and they love the school district.”

 A full field of players and all those extras helped LAB reap the benefits of a great day of charity golf. The exact final tally of funds raised is not yet known, but according to Rich Mykelbust, one of the event chairpersons, they netted between $13-15K. He and event chairperson Ashley Duff Thomas credited the “tremendous help” from more than 25 volunteers and the “excellent staff” at O’Bannon Creek Golf Club.

There were a lot of recognizable and notable names and faces on the course. Loveland Mayor Kathy Bailey was among those enjoying a day of golf for the cause. She didn’t say much about her score, but she was having fun while waiting for after-golf food and refreshment with her group.

“It was good fun, for a good cause and I’m always happy to support the Loveland Schools,” said Bailey.  

The course was dressed up with the huge inflatable Tiger supplied by LHS Athletic Director Brian Conatser and Jake Elfers. Every hole had Loveland sports helmets placed as tee markers.

There were prizes for long drive, closest to pin, and a hole-in-one could have made a lucky golfer proud new owner of a Performance Lexus sports car. Prizes like $50 gift cards (Kirby’s and O’Bannon Golf Club) and L-Paw Golf Bag (RP Diamond), engraved coasters, a gift basket and a $525 Golf lesson package from Golftec, were also awarded after golf.

A full field of 36 treams helped it all come together (Chuck Gibson)

The view from the 1st Tee at O’Bannon for the Loveland Athletic Boosters Golf Outing Monday, July 27, 2020 (Chuck Gibson) 

“It all came together,” Williams concluded. “Today, we reap some of those benefits. We hope we’re raising money to help out all our student athletes.”

Coaches and athletes are all hoping there is a season this fall.

 Click here to visit LovelandAthleticBoosters.com