I love the annual Hole in One Charity Festival at St. Louis Catholic Church. People hit golf balls and try to win prizes.
And they eat.
I don’t think I’ve ever played golf at the event, which begins on Father’s Day and runs through that next Saturday. I usually go to eat Hole in One food and see people.
Golf and I need to come together again someday. When I played decades ago, I loved the precision of hitting the ball correctly and trying to get it on the green and not somewhere else. And I felt the same way about hitting a tennis ball. One of my tennis teachers, Mark Booth, I believe, called tennis “outdoor pool.”
I remember my mom taking me to a golf clinic conducted by the late Memphis pro golfer Cary Middlecoff in the latter part of the 1950s or early ‘60s. I think she wanted me to learn to play golf, but I wasn’t interested in it at the time.
I did get interested around 1970 and, if I remember correctly, I took golf lessons at then Memphis State University, now University of Memphis. I also went to a driving range at least once. But someone told me if you play tennis you shouldn’t play golf and vice versa because you’re using your wrist in one of those and not in the other. And you don’t want to screw up your ability to play one or the other.
But then I stopped taking tennis lessons. About 20 years later I ran into my last tennis teacher (not Booth) at a dinner. I told him I was thinking about taking tennis lessons again. He replied: “Stick to what you can do best.”
I might return to golf one day. And I might hit a ball at Hole in One. I might actually make a hole in one.
I called Wes Kraker to get the skinny on the St. Louis event. He’s been involved with Hole in One for more than 20 years.
“We transform the campus at St. Louis Church into a 37 tee box driving range,” Kraker says. “And we give out cash and prizes for good golfers for getting holes in one or closest to the hole. Certain qualifiers on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night shoot out for a car from City Auto. And we accumulate points for performers all week. And those top 10 performers shoot out for a million dollars on Saturday.”
Nobody has ever won the million dollars. “But we did have a car winner one time.”
They also have a corn hole tournament every night, Kraker says. “We added it last year, but we expanded it and it was widely successful. Cash prizes for winners. I think every tournament we had was full.”
It will return next year. “It was a big hit.”
On Friday and Saturday. the Hole in One features inflatables for kids, and a rock climbing wall, a water slide, and an obstacle course.
This year’s event, which celebrated its 64th anniversary, drew 10,000 people, Kraker estimated. And he estimated they made about $190,000.
But the food at Hole in One is my top draw. I always get a barbecue sandwich. They’re delicious. The cooking is done by the “St. Louis Men’s Club Culinary Institute.”
Dr. Whit Wills, a local dentist, came up with the barbecue recipes for the rub and sauce used on the ribs, shoulder sandwiches, and bologna sandwiches, Kraker says. “I call him ‘the doctor of barbecology.’’’
Wills also makes the homemade crust for the pizzas sold at the event. These include barbecue pizza and shrimp pesto pizza.
This year, Andrew Arbogast, a St. Louis parishioner, was on hand with his Arbo’s Cheese Dip. “All our barbecue nachos on Saturday were made with his cheese dip. It was crazy. People were going crazy for it.”
So, I ate a barbecue sandwich (I could have eaten two), chips and Arbo’s dip, and then a cup of a combination of Arbo’s dips that I just drank. I also celebrated the Hole in One Charity Festival with two ice cream sandwiches from the Prairie Farms booth.
After all that, I probably couldn’t have hit a golf ball anyway.
