LEAP hits a hole-in-one for the business community with 51st annual Play Day Golf Outing

For the 51st annual year, members of the La Porte County community, along with work friends and close ones, came together for a fun golf outing at Beechwood Golf Course. The La Porte Economic Advanced Partnership (LEAP) invited people and businesses to two sessions for the annual Play Day Golf Outing on Friday, July 18.

There was a morning session at 8 a.m., followed by an afternoon session at 1:30 p.m. Every attendee was able to enjoy food and drinks from Papa Farm Pizza, Las Mamacitas, and the Bloody Mary & Vodka Lemonade Bar.

This golf outing provides LEAP with an opportunity to catch up with their partners by turning a day of work into a day outdoors with great camaraderie. Bert Cook, executive director of LEAP, is grateful that this event has been running strong for 51 years and only continues to grow over time.

“We have so many partners playing at the event, but also our volunteers and supporters out on the holes as well have been terrific,” Cook said. “It’s great for us to reconnect with so many people and build those relationships. This event has been going on for such a long time, and you start to think about all the different people who have been involved in these organizations over the years. It’s a testament to the partnership that has existed in La Porte, where our business community supports our chamber of commerce and economic development efforts.”

The morning session was completely sold out prior to the big day, as well as most of the spots for the afternoon session.

While everyone who signs a group up to compete in the golf outing has a familiarity with LEAP, this event is a great opportunity for friends of the partners who tag along to learn more about LEAP as they golf with their group.

“We have an awesome team that’s always open to introducing people to LEAP if they aren’t sure about what our organization does,” Cook said. “We know a lot of the people here, but there’s always a couple of colleagues, neighbors, or friends who are coming for the first time and want to become more familiar with what we’re all about.”

Event specifics included a four-person scramble format, two putt limit or a bogey max, depending on which was presented first. The first place team received a $100 gift card for each team member. Second place earned four rounds of golf to come back to the Beechwood Golf Course. 

Additional contests held for this year’s golf outing included the longest drive, closest to the pin, hole-in-one, and a non-profit hole. Donations from the non-profit hole go to support Girls on the Run for the morning session and Paladin during the afternoon. LEAP also did a giveaway for the hole-in-one contest for any team that completed it.

Some people have been coming to this golf outing for several decades. Ray Young, vice president of engineering with Jaeger-Unitek, has been playing at this golf outing since it was known as the Chamber’s outing.

“It’s just a great way to bring all of the business community together,” Young said. “The economic development team has been great to us. I’ve been doing this event for 30 years now, and it’s been fantastic every time. We’re happy to support the LEAP group for everything they do in this community.”

As for someone like TJ Kline, a worker for Hiler Industries, this is his first rodeo when it comes to the Play Day Golf Outing. While his company is no stranger to the event, he was asked to fill in at the last minute for one of his co-workers.

“My company has been coming to this event for the past several years,” Kline said. “I got approached about it because one of our guys who usually plays is out of town for his daughter’s wedding. They asked me to fill in for him, and I was totally on board. Any time you can bring people together to socialize outside of the workplace is great. It’s nice to actually put a face to the voice too, because sometimes you don’t even see the people if it’s usually connecting through phone calls or emails. To be able to directly talk to someone one-on-one, you can further develop those relationships a lot better.”

LEAP’s Play Day Golf Outing is one of the best summer celebrations for the business community in La Porte County. While every growing year continues to carry out the tradition, each event always has something new to offer.

“I personally love this event because there are so many people here that I don’t get to see regularly,” Cook said. “It may not be a long time, but to have a few minutes between holes or during lunch where we can catch up and find out what’s going on in their lives and with their businesses is amazing. It also helps that today is a really nice day to be golfing.”

For more information on the La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership, you can visit laportepartnership.com.