History

The Soup for the Soul Charity Golf Tournament was first run in 1999. It started from humble beginnings and was a great day filled with a lot of fun memories. It ran for 2 years, and then due to a lack of volunteers was postponed until 2004. In 2005, the tournament was repeated and was a huge success - with 75 golfers in attendance and raising a substantial amount of money for the cause! This year, we hope to get over 100 golfers in attendance and break all past records for the tournament.

The 2007 Tournament for Soup for the Soul was a wonderful day. I had the opportunity to meet new people and see old acquaintances. The weather was perfect, the food delicious and a wonderful prize table, prizes for everyone. I discovered you don’t need to be a great golfer to be part of this tournament because I wasn’t the worst golfer. I also discovered that ministers don’t always use Christian language on the golf course. The best thing of all is this tournament supports St. Andrew’s United Church outreach ministry “Soup for the Soul”
- Gary Goodale

The weather was perfect and 130 golfers enjoyed a great day The Greens of Renton is a beautiful course and the Soup for the Soul Tournament is a fun day. Great food, lots of fun people and an awesome prize table. If you were lucky you could even win a hot tub for a hole in one, but unfortunately no one did in 2007. So, join us on Monday, August 25th, 2008 for a shot gun start and another fun day. Maybe you will be lucky and win the hot tub or another great prize.
- Todd Abbott
 

The 2005 Tournament: Wow! What a perfect day! Even the first drive down the fairway went straight as an arrow. The support and outpouring from not only the direct community, but also from the greater area is amazing - word must be spreading! We had players drive from as far away as Sarnia (cars not balls). The course was again in mint shape. The supper was quite a spread. All in all, a wonderful day. Definately looking forward to next year.

The 2004 Tournament

In 2004 the tournament was reborn with amazing success. The surrounding community showed its support by making the tournament the largest to date. There were over 40 golfers participating in the games, and a great prize table thanks in part to the generous support of business from across the neighbouring cities.

In 2004, the day could not have been better selected! The weather was a wonderful sunny 27ºC with a slight refreshing breeze putting everyone in a wonderful mood. The Greens at Renton were wonderful hosts, who were up late the previous evening putting the final touches on the manicured 27 holes.

The rules were set as standard Tournament Shotgun Scramble, however we forwent the shotgun start and allowed the groups to tee off individually as they arrived early in the day. The rules of best ball (scramble, Texas scramble) were in effect, with every member of the team to have at least two tee shots, allowing everyone to participate.

Starting at about 11:00, groups were registered and signed in with the first tee times starting shortly thereafter. There were groups with participants from many different areas - many as far away as Sarnia, Ontario (or Camlachie for the locals). Many people came in twosomes or singles and had a lot of laughs through the day with people they were matched up with in their foursome.

Throughout the day our volunteers and photographer toured the course, talking with the golfers and helping out along the way - sometimes offering sagely advice. Many of the golfers seemed to think they were professionals and asked to have their swing analyzed by the local club pro.

By the end of the day however, the playing field was leveled and everyone came out a winner. We could not have asked for a nicer day.

All of the sponsors of the day were noted on both in the clubhouse, and also on individual signs by the hole they sponsored. In this way, local businesses were able to both support the charity, and have a little recognition for their business.

This year we are hoping to obtain an overall tournament sponsor we well as the individual hole sponsorships. If you own or are part of a business that might consider sponsoring a hole this year, please let us know! This will allow us to brand the entire tournament around the sponsor's brand and unify the tournament (besides, we need an official sponsor if the CBC or FOX sports are to pick us up for network air). Incase anyone official is reading, we are willing to talk syndication.

After the main round, the next stop for the participants was the skill testing putting skills competition. The infernal mouse-hole board was brought out and placed on the practice green. There were complaints that the mouse-holes were actually too small for a golf ball to pass through, but this was proven incorrect by our winner who obtained a score of 45 points.

This year we hope to add a few more skill competition games to the docket; a chipping competition, a driving range competition, a tee-tossing event, and perhaps a cart race (we are still in negotiations with our legal department and the course greens-keepers on the eligibility of this last event).

Following the day's activities, there was a wonderful roast beef dinner which was enjoyed by all. The prize table was also a fabulous success - much thanks to all the sponsors who donated their time, money and prizes.

Our keynote speaker for the evening following the dinner, Wayne, spent a lot of time entertaining the crowd and wowed them with an enlightening speech about the proper technique of driving, and who the rightful champions of the day were (or perhaps should have been). Hopefully we are able to coax him to speak at this year's event.

Everyone went away full, happy and tired after a long day. We raised several thousand dollars for the charity which was put to very good use the following year. Plans were immediately made to replay the tournament the next year, with several good-natured vendettas in the works.

Thanks to everyone who supported this amazing event! We couldn't have done it without you and we look forward to see you in August for this year's tournament - it's going to be bigger and better then ever! Please take a minute and register now if you have not already for this year!