When Terry Eggan took over as Eden Prairie Lions Club president this month, he did so with an objective.
“Part of my mission with being president is also to focus on getting younger membership (in the club),” he said. “The golf tournament is one step toward that.”
Eggan has been working since January on resurrecting the Lions Club Charity Golf Tournament, which hits the links on Monday, Aug. 1, at Dahlgreen Golf Club in Chaska. It will be the first time the tournament has happened since 2006.
His late father, Willard, a founding Lions Club member, enjoyed playing in the golf tournaments at Dahlgreen. In fact, Willard and three other late founders (Bob Carling, Bob Gibson and Haak Nyhammer) played as a foursome in that 2006 tournament.
“(The Lions Club) did the golf tournament for about 8-10 years, and they were successful with it,” said Eggan, a Lions Club member for 14 years. “The gentlemen doing it couldn’t do it any longer, and no one else stepped up to take the reins. So it’s been 16 years since the Lions Club has had its golf tournament. As a fundraiser, it raises as much as Schooner Days does (for the club).”
Eggan, who serves as tournament committee chairman, has been planning it since January, when he served as the club’s first vice president. His wife, Nancy Vest, set up the website and has done the marketing for the event.
He is looking to fill out the field of 36 teams, each consisting of four players (the minimum age to play is 18). There is still room for four more teams.
The cost is $125 per player, which includes shotgun and scramble play, 18 holes, dinner, court contests, raffles, entry into a Hole-in-One contest ($10,000 prize) and Shootout ($250,000 split prize with the Lions Club should there be a winner). The Hole-in-One and Shootout prizes are paid by insurance.
“This is a chance for people to enjoy the outdoors, engage with friends, community members and local businesses, and raise money for some very deserving causes,” Eggan said.
Service projects the Lions Club contributes to financially include MN Lions Gift of Sight Eye Bank, MN Lions Hearing Foundation, Can Do Canines (service dogs), and True Friends Camp Eden Wood (special needs children’s camp). For a complete list, visit eplions.com.
“We can say that all proceeds from this event will go to charity, not to running the Lions organization,” Vest said. “And they do give a lot of money away every year, but it’s been a challenge (due to the pandemic). Not only is Terry looking to appeal to younger members but also to shore up those (Lions Club) coffers again a little bit from the last couple of years.”
Check-in is at 11 a.m. on Aug. 1, with the shotgun starting at 12:30 p.m. Cocktail hour is at 5 p.m., with a shootout at 5:30 p.m. Dinner, awards and prizes begin at 6 p.m.
To register a foursome online, visit eplionsgolf.org.