From the desk of Ed Dowd, Executive Director of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce:
Triskaidekaphobia, paraskevidekatriaphobia, or friggatriskaidekaphobia, is this alphabet soup? No, this is our Mattoon Chamber of Commerce Annual Golf Classic which will be held on Friday July 13, 2018 at the Mattoon Golf and Country Club. Our volunteer Chamber Golf Committee decided to utilize a Friday the 13th theme. We looked into marketing this theme and our first question was what do we want to call it? Hence, the aforementioned alphabet soup above. These are terms for fear of the number 13 and fear of Friday the 13th.
We have a lot of fun in store for our Golf Classic this year. The Mattoon Golf and Country Club will be hosting our event. Player registration and our putting contest will begin at 10:30am. Lunch will be at 11:00am served al fresco or in the Clubhouse. Lunch will include grilled chicken, brats, hamburgers, chips and cookies. We will have a shotgun start at 12 noon. After the event, dinner will be served including ribeye sandwiches, baked beans and an assortment of fruit and potato salad.
Our putting contest, which is free to all golfers who sign up, will follow our theme. Each golfer will have 6 putts to make all four holes. The four holes will each measure 13 feet and 13 inches. Any golfers to make all 4 holes in 6 putts will enter a playoff. The closest to making all 4 holes again will win a fantastic prize of $1,313.13. We will also have our Longest Putt Contest for $1,000. Each golfer will get one chance to land a putt from 13 yards, 13 feet and 13 inches. Of course, going under ladders and navigating other superstitions might be obstacles to completing the putt. The lucky ones to make the putt will enter a “putt off” until there is one winner.
Consolidated Communications has agreed to be our Platinum Title Sponsor. KC Summers will be offering a car or truck to anyone who can sink a hole-in-one on the par 3 sixth hole and Niemeyer Repair Services will be offering a 4 wheel Kubota RTV 500 to anyone who can sink a hole-in-one on the par 3 eleventh hole. We will have many other fun and exciting contests throughout the course. We have received fantastic support from over 40 sponsors of our event, all listed on our website.
The event is open to the public. For those of you wanting to play in our event, we have a registration form available on our website at www.mattoonchamber.com. Space is limited so sign up your foursome now! Not a golfer? You can pick up one or multiple raffle tickets for the low price of $10 each. The raffle grand prize is $3,000 and the drawing will be during the dinner portion of our Classic. You do not need to be present to win. For more information you can a call us at 217-235-5661, or you are welcome to stop by our office at 1518 Broadway Avenue.