Above: Marshal “Dinky” Pederson played a ball from the fairway, chipping it close to the hole. Left: While officials and Chris Lavigne, leaning on his putter, looked on, Lavigne’s playing partner putted to see if he could win a prize on the first hole.
Sandwiched between the bright blue waters of Lake Superior and the brilliant orange, red, yellow, and green leaves splashed across the Sawtooth Mountain hills were 21 teams who participated in the 18th annual North Shore Health Care Foundation golf scramble on Sunday, September 29 at Superior National at Lutsen golf course.
It was a perfect day for golf. It was perfect day to be outside, period.
Second-year director Dori Betts said, “We’ve made a lot of upgrades this year. We placed new banners and logos on every hole. We added a lot of fun contests and fun prizes for the golfers.”
While the focus of the Scramble was on raising money, some serious golf was also played. Behind some great putting by Marshall “Dinky” Pederson, the Men’s Division was won with a final score of 58 by the Pete Gresczyk team made up of Pete, his wife Carline, Pederson and Dwight Holcombe.
“Dinky can’t miss,” laughed Pete Gresczyk as he came off the 12th hole. “He’s made seven putts in a row.”
Mark Youngdahl, Seth Williams, Samantha (Williams) Wallner and Stephanie Radloff, who were sponsored by the Grand Marais State Bank, won the Mixed Division with a fine score of 66.
A team made up of Mike Jerabek, Tom Wentworth, Bob Jensen and Dick Christiansen won the Elite Division with the same score of 66.
Nearly one fourth of the teams entered were made up of Superior National at Lutsen golf course manager Bob Fenwick’s relatives, who formed five teams and used the event as a time to hold a family reunion, said Betts.
“The Christie team has played in 17 of the 18 tournaments. They hold the record for the team that’s played in the most events,” Betts said, although she wasn’t sure if all of the players on the team had played every year.
Proceeds from the tournament go to the North Shore Health Care Foundation (NSHCF), which awards grants to various health care providers in the county. This year $16,500 was raised, about the same as last year,” said Betts, adding, “Considering we had some significant ‘one-time’ expenses for the new signage this year, I am quite pleased with those results. We love the new signs.”
To date about $500,000 has been awarded throughout the county to qualified North Shore health care providers by NSHCF.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better day all around. The picture perfect weather combined with our generous sponsors, donors, golfers, the entire staff at Superior National and our amazing volunteers made for a spectacular day. This is a labor-intensive event and each volunteer plays a very important part of its success. We just couldn’t pull it off without every one of them,” Betts said.
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