Dave Sturick
FMMGA Propagandist

We had the 2022 Fort Mill Men’s Member-Guest Tournament this past weekend.  What a weekend and what a tournament.

I have attached the scores and some pics for your enjoyment.

The flights were all battles and at the end of the day, two family affairs come down to the final two groups in the shootout for overall champion.  We had Team Janowicz fighting it out with Rick Johnson and his Uncle Jeff.  On the 18th green after a great shot in by Rick, his Uncle Jeff Woodruff cozied the putt down to gimmie range and hands were shaken and a crowd roared for Rick Johnson and Jeff Woodruff as our 2022 Fort Mill Men’s Member-Guest Champions.  This was a very well deserved and popular win.  Rick worked as hard as anyone to bring all of us a great member-guest.  His Smoke cooked meat on Thursday night is second to none.  He and Gary Schatz co-ran almost every event we had.  Rick also does our Saturday Morning Dogfight and works on the ground crew changing holes and setting up the golf course.  He is beyond a worthy winner and its awesome for he and his Uncle to hold the title.  Congrats my friend !!!

Congrats to all the flight winners as well.  We had 10 flights and 10 flight winners and the two Wild Card teams.  All played hard and all worthy champions in their own right. 

I know I’m going to miss somebody so beforehand, I apologize if I don’t mention you.  I promise each and every one of you who contributed are greatly appreciated. 

First, I thank our corporate sponsors.  Wing King Café both donated a lot of money to our events and hosted the Para Mutual Event Wednesday night at the restaurant.  There is no better friend to all we do at the golf course than Brad Hartley and his staff.  Brad is simply amazing and his contributions are beyond appreciated. 

The Sauce Monkey Liquor Store in the Harris Teeter Shopping Center across from Captain Steve’s has been a great contributor the past couple of years.  If you are in the mood to buy some liquor, (Rob Boyer and Gregg Ferrell, this means you), we hope you consider the Sauce Monkey for your purchase. 

David Martin and his Law Firm also are a great contributor. 

We had a series of other contributors that had signs on the course.  Every single one of these are invaluable to adding to our event and keeping our cost per person down.  We thank all of you. 

David Whiteside as always is a great help securing different gifts for us to give away.  He is great about getting us our grand prizes such as Drive A-long’s for the Richard Petty Driving Experience.  He is great about this.

Lets talk golf course.  Ashley Patterson continues to be one of the best things Fort Mill has done in forever.  Ashley’s drive and love of Fort Mill shows every single day.  We have had limited rain and a pond that was emptied because of some road construction.   With both of those things as anchors, he somehow has made Fort Mill one of the best conditioned golf courses around.  We are excited we got some needed rain and the pond has since been refilled.  We are excited for the anticipated results to come.  His crew is amazing and we are glad he is given the resources needed to make this place great. 

A very special thanks goes to David Gies, Cal Williams and the whole staff of the proshop.  They did their normal great job for the golf tournament and then went above and beyond with accommodating our shoot out.  On Saturday, just after golf, the skies opened up and the course became more than unplayable.   With the anticipated dinner that night, we couldn’t wait it out and still make it to dinner on time.  With suggestion and cooperation by David and Cal, they allowed us to come back Sunday morning to complete our shootout beginning on the 15th tee at 8:30 am.  That was so very generous.  We love that Cal is director of golf and we love that David Gies is our pro !!!

Speaking of dinner – we had a great time Saturday night.  Unfortunately, our long time friend and DJ for this – Johnny Colvard – passed away over the winter.  Johnny is terribly missed.  We did find a great DJ and he had us on the dance floor most of the night.  The crowd stayed longer this year longer than I can ever remember.  The Oakroom, the Snack bar and the outside deck were full well into the dark hours.  Normally that doesn’t happen.  We thank all of you for staying and enjoying.  Going back to dinner and food in general though.  A special thanks goes to John Anderson and his staff.  Our daily lunches were SERIOUSLY UPGRADED from years past.  He and his crew were amazing.  Our dinner Saturday night was equally and beyond amazing.  John’s smile is infectious and his work ethic is second to none.  Between John Anderson,  Ashley Patterson, and also Cal Williams, these three hires have taken Fort Mill from good to one of the best golf experiences you will find anywhere in the country regardless of cost.

I want to thank the ladies of the Women’s Golf Association for all the fun they bring.  You guys are awesome, we were able to collect a lot of money for these ladies.  The proceeds go toward them having a great member guest of their own right.  We love it every time the ladies are involve.  I’m attaching some great pics of some fun they had as well.  Thanks Gregg Ferrell !! 

A few of the wives were here to collect Calcutta and mulligans money headed up by Dinah Teachout and Nancy Haase.  Thank you ladies !!!

I also want to thank my fellow board officers and members.  There is a lot of work that goes into this undertaking.  We start planning in January and don’t stop until a couple months after with us looking at the good and bad and where we can get better next year.  Gary Schatz has been a great lead over the last 8-10 years now but is getting great help from Rick Johnson and the rest of the crew to make this event what it is.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who played – member and guest. What a crew and what a great time.  I was fortunate enough to play in the shootout Sunday morning.  Honestly, I thought maybe a handful of people not playing may show up to watch.  Instead, I bet 40-50 non playing people came with Bloody Mary’s in hand to see who won and take in the experience.

In the end, there was a great crowd to honor our new champs – Rick Johnson and Jeff Woodruff !!!