On Tuesday, November 12th, the League staged its fourth Swing FORE the Symphony golf tournament fundraiser at the Moss Creek Club. It was a beautiful day from beginning to end! One hundred and twelve golfers participated along with 30+ additional reception attendees and a sea of volunteers.

We had so much fun on the course, playing a step-aside scramble, with games galore – team low gross and low net, a closest putt competition (the winner left his putt on the edge of the hole), closest to the line for men and women, and hole-in-one competitions on each of the Par 3s (a 2-year BMW lease, a new Club Car, $10,000 cash, and golf clubs plus patio sets). And each foursome could “rent-a-pro” to hit a tee shot for them (he helped my team to its only natural birdie of the day!).  Lunch was a burger-and-hot dog grill on the 10th tee – which could be smelled from two holes away! The cookout was proclaimed as one of the day’s highlights.

At the Reception, we had wonderful food, including sliced tenderloin that was raved about. There was plenty of room for dining, though some overflow onto the terrace was needed. And plenty of room for our silent auction.

The Silent Auction was bountiful, with over 70 items up for bid, including 17 top golf courses, staycations, restaurant certificates and in-home entertainment with catering.

The Live Auction was extremely successful, with a fabulous golf and dinner package (Long Cove Club plus Bowdie’s Chophouse), two of Charles Sampson’s acclaimed pig pulls, and a sailing plus gourmet lunch experience.

We had an extremely hard-working committee who scoured prizes and sponsorships galore. Specific kudos to Mike Kling, co-chair and on-line registration developer, Bill Millhaem, our treasurer and tracker-of-all-things, Joyce Prange, auction item procurer extraordinaire, Nancy Millette, our F&B manager, Terry Hicks, over-seer of a thousand volunteers, Anne Millhaem, breakfast coordinator, and Tom Barreca, our Moss Creek inside-golf guy. Carol Gyllenhoff, Becky Hauk, Beth Harwood and Bob Cherichella secured or donated great items for our auctions. Thank you to all for your outstanding efforts.

The bottom line… despite the headwinds previously noted, we were tremendously successful. We had slightly fewer golfers and we lost a couple of significant sponsors, but we made up for those with more hole sponsors, more “smaller” sponsors, and slightly lower costs for the reception. And we delivered a great product with more prizes and more fun!  At the end of the day, we “netted” over $56,000 and beat our 2023 event by $100. Our success will go a long way to helping the League meet its financial commitment to the Symphony.

Thank you to everyone who participated or pitched in to make Swing FORE the Symphony a great success!