Putting together a successful night golf event is about as difficult as it is for the golfer’s to pull each shot off in the dark of night.
Night golf is an event played in darkness with spaced lights illuminating each fairway and on the green to help guide the players golfing during the evening.
A real transparent golf ball is used, one with an empty chamber which houses a tube emitting a flourescent light which makes the ball visible clearly in the dark when hit.
To begin, local personal physical trainer and member, Neil Shipley and I put stakes in each fairway which would later support the lights. We aligned them in straight lines to offer visual runway appearances in the darkest part of night.
Later, before dark, Alex of Port Boat House and I hastily took the plastic tubes with the chemical lights and attached them to the stakes as well as the flagsticks and bridges. These provide the directional lighting needed.
Once we moved all the sponsorship signs and waste bins in place, it was time for the golfers to feel their way out onto the golf course and begin play. To see the golfer’s decked out in their colorful lights and their golf ball’s blazing the night skyline is an experience in itself. You know it is night golf just by hearing the regular and traditional vocal yells and whoops from all the golfers throughout the evening.
In the early morning, the golf and when the participants are snoozing away. Ralph Bouwman and I spend nearly two hours to return all the equipment and clean up the numerous beverage containers, sunglasses, and miscellaneous items left littering the golf course.
Night golf is a brand of the game that should not be missed if you are a true golfer.
Yes, the ball does not go as far and the hand-eye coordination required to strike a ball are challenges, but it is too much fun and should be tried.
While it wasn’t Night golf, Ken Moore claimed men’s night as his time and his alone, several nights previously. Not only did Moore take the Home Hardware low gross with a two over par 32, but he took the $225.00 jackpot for his deuce on hole No. 8 as well as the blindfolded putting competition later in the evening. Moore was one better than Big “O” Tires Denis Debolt, while the Hollies’ Larry Gavelin took the Port Alberni Pizza Factory’s low net of the night, one better than Richard Allen.
Joining Moore were: Jason Pley, Warren Longeuay, Trevor Cripps, Larry Gavelin, Robin Woodward, Richard Hewitt, and Scott Fuller for the K.P. prizes.
The Ty Watson House has nearly $1,700 in their fund, while Hole No. 3 will be worth $195.
* Pat Little pens the Hollies Golf column.