The 1st Annual HIS Golf Tournament - The Grand Experiment

About 6 weeks ago, Tendayi, the PTO chair, and I awoke from our dream of the Christmas holiday, and realized we were going to have to do something about the annual "Dinner/Dance" that was scheduled for February 25. Neither of us wanted a repeat of last year. I suggested a golf tournament - I had visions of Caddy Shack ironic prep, G&Ts on the veranda overlooking the green, and happy people. Tendayi was game. She actually knew what we were getting into.

Tendayi, the Brains

Golf tournaments are an institution in Harare. It works something like this: private corporations pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to sponsor a hole. That means they can put up a banner. They usually pay another couple hundred bucks to sponsor a team. Others will sponsor gin tents, lunch, dinner or entertainment. There are "longest drive" and "closest to the pin" awards on multiple holes, and there are different types of competitions. We did a Betterball Stableford. I won't go into all the details. Suffice it to say, I didn't understand the majority of what was talked about in the first few coordination meetings with the Club House. And I was supposed to be the coordinator for the tournament. I should also mention that I've never played golf.

Samsung Sponsor

The first week or so I fought the desire to abandon ship. The treasurer of the PTO (we'll call her Frieda) was made over-all chairperson of the event. Tendayi assured me that I should just treat it as an experiment - it was a first for HIS. We'll just try it out, see how it goes. No pressure. So what if it was 4 times the number of people who came to my wedding, and we had 5 weeks to pull it together. My job was to find golfers. My husband golfs. How hard can it be to find 25 teams of 4?

Picobello and the NGOs - Team A

Picobello and the NGOs - Team B

Frieda ended up not really taking on the role of coordinator for the event. She had to go out of town most of the last two weeks. But Tendayi stepped up to the plate: the food, the drinks, the prizes, the complimentary gift for participating, the rented chairs and tables and linens, the identification of sponsors, the various contracts and agreements - she even found half the teams since they were linked to the sponsoring businesses.

Team Banc ABC

Reception: Get Your HIS Hats Here

Yesterday was the big day. It rained. So my greatest fear was realized. I'd gotten a hundred men and women to sign up to play golf in the rainy season, and it rained! Most people got in 9 holes. It did start off well - people rushing in, excited to get on the green with their team. Parent volunteers and club staff materialized to basically run things. I didn't forget to pick up Miles from school in the middle of it all. And when everyone was suddenly finished with their golf at 3:30 instead of 5:30, we tried to move up the prize giving ceremony. Most people stayed, and non-golfing parents did come for the dinner and party. There was enough food, and it was good. The trumpet player in the band was great. People danced. And then it was over!