On May 1st, The St. Augustine Chapter of the WCR will host one of the very last tournaments to be held at the historic Ponce de Leon Golf Course. After Sunday, the course will be closed by the new buyer, Stokes Development, Inc. to make way for the construction of hundreds of new homes. This exciting event will not only be fun and historic, but will benefit one of our chapter's chosen charities - The First Tee of St. John’s County. The First Tee is a national organization dedicated to teaching children life skills through their special programs and exposing them to the game of golf using these tools as a conduit for building character for the future. Their headquarters are located at the St John’s County Golf Course and they currently have over 200 participants under the age of 18 after only one and a half years in existence!
This tournament, the second event our chapter has organized to help the First Tee, will be a historic event, not least because it will be twilight for one of the nations first golf courses and Florida' oldest. Opened in 1895, "The Ponce" first existed as "The St. Augustine Links", a 9 hole course on the green at Fort Castillo de San Marcos (with 50% female membership!), then moved to its present site in 1916. Designed by Donald Ross, one of the nations most famous golf course"architects", this fabulous course offers a veritable trip through a nature preserve. Flanked by the ICW and marsh, it is home to 125 species of birds(who don't mind watching you play!), spectacular trees, ponds and dense natural woods.
Our WCR is putting its heart and soul into organizing this event to make it a "historic" success. The Title sponsorship has already been secured by EQ Financial and several major sponsors have come on board such as; Unity Media Services and Associated Land Title. Homes and Land was the first business to purchase a hole sponsorship. There are several levels of participation available - the fee for a single round is only $100. If you are not a golfer, consider joining us for the awards reception afterwards-admission includes 2 drink tickets, food and fun! Come and join us on May 1st (registration at 12:30) for "The Last Hurrah." We can all be a part of history!! For more information about this exciting event contact Mitsu O'Riley at 904-874-6271 or Jane Miller at 669-4374.