August 11, 2017 · 0 Comments
By Brian Lockhart
Weather wise it was a perfect day to hit the links during the Pro Am Flame of Hope Charity Golf Tournament held at the Shelburne Golf and Country Club on Tuesday, August 1.
Around 140 golfers participated in the best-ball tournament in support of Diabetes Canada.
The tournament has been held for the past three years but this year with the addition of some pro golfers it was decided a new tournament name was appropriate.
“There is a professional golfer who is golfing in each foursome,” explained Nicole Holder, Community Engagement Manager for Ontario for Diabetes Canada. “So you’ll see some really great shots out there and some learning shots. There are 16 pro golfers here today. We have club members and sponsors playing today and there are junior teams. There is a girls junior team and a boys junior team. We also have a junior clinic here that operates in the morning. Kids with Type 1 diabetes come out and learn how to golf from Sam Young (Club owner and Hall of Famer). This event is a fund raiser but we also want to show our mission. We promote education and awareness and offer different resources to people in the community who live with diabetes.”
The professional golfers in attendance all came from the Great Lakes Tour.
“Sam, he’s a Hall of Fame golfer, has connections all over and he worked with the Great Lakes Tour and recruited the professional golfers from there,” Ms. Holder said.
The main focus of the Tournament is to raise funds to send kids from Dufferin County to Diabetes Camp.
Called D-Camps, there are three camps in Ontario, that cater specifically to kids with diabetes and have medical professionals on sight.
“The camps are medically supervised. It’s the same experience that other kids have to go to camp. They get to do archery, swimming, they go hiking. It’s a lot about inclusion,” Ms. Holder explained. Sometimes a kid may be the only kid in their community that has diabetes or maybe the only one in their school. At camp they are surrounded by everyone who is the same.”
Around 80 sponsors from the community stepped up and took part in the tournament which also featured a live and silent auction in the clubhouse.