The wind-swept Tierra del Sol golf course on the west end of the island of Aruba was teeming with cacti, parakeets, lizards and wild-swinging arborists for the annual Robert Felix Memorial Golf Tournament.
Held February 12, in conjunction with the TCIA’s Winter Management Conference, this year’s tournament set records for balls blown off course and for the amount of money raised to assist the next generation of arborists. In all, 66 golfers and a seemingly endless list of sponsors teed off to benefit the TREE Fund’s Robert Felix Memorial Scholarship and Education Fund.
Maybe they didn’t win anything, but they sure had fun! At least, from left, Tom Golon, Paul Markworth, Tim Harris and Mark Tobin had a great view to enjoy!
Two foursomes bent into the wind but were not broken, including the winning team of Howard Bowles, Brandon Brown, Pat Covey and Janet Bornancin. Also taming the difficult Robert Trent Jones Jr. course was the second-place team of Jerry Morey, Richard Goforth, Tommy Nix and Steve Marshall.
The final numbers aren’t in yet, but the tournament produced hundreds of stories and should yield total net proceeds of more than $25,000. Recently, this fund supported arboriculture education through scholarships, assistance to 350 students to attend TCI EXPO, distribution of Careers in Arboriculture DVDs and teaching kids about arboriculture at Tour Des Trees events.
TCIA, the TREE Fund and all those involved in educating the future leaders of arboriculture would like to thank the golfers, as well as Bandit Industries for sponsoring the golf carts, lunches and beverage cart; Cummins Bridgeway for sponsoring the lunches and beverage cart; Rotochopper for sponsoring the hole-in-one contests (and monitoring all those who missed); Altec Industries for sponsoring the putting green; Massachusetts Arborists Association for sponsoring much needed mulligans; and Vermeer Corporation for hosting the awards reception after the event.
The second-place team of, from left, Jerry Morey, Steve Marshall, Tommy Nix and Richard Goforth.
The winning team of, from left, Janet Bornancin, Pat Covey, Brandon Brown and Howard Bowles.
Finally, we would like to thank an unprecedented 40 hole sponsors, who each made commitments to the future of the profession: Arborist Enterprises, Inc.; ArborMaster Integrated Productivity & Safety Solutions; ArborMax Insurance; Arborsoftworx; Asplundh Tree Expert Co.; Autumn Tree Care Experts; Bandit Industries, Inc.; Buckingham Manufacturing Co., Inc.; Buckley Tree Care Specialists; Cedar Lawn Tree Service, Inc.; Cleaves Company, Inc.; Collier Arbor Care; Fanno Saw Works; Gamma Tree Service; Gamma’s Shield Shade Tree; Hartney Greymont, Inc.; Jarraff Industries; Lewis Tree Service, Inc.; Lueders Tree & Landscape, Inc.; Metropolitan Forestry Services, Inc.; McFarland Tree & Landscape Services; Ogilvy Hill Insurance; Plant Health Care Products; PTS Professional Tree Surgeons Supply, Inc.; Rainbow Treecare Scientific Advancements; Tree Health Management; RTEC Treecare; SherrillTree; S & S Tree & Horticultural Specialists, Inc.; Swingle Lawn, Tree & Landscape Care; Tamke Tree Experts, Inc.; Terex Utilities; Teupen America; The Care of Trees; The Davey Tree Expert Company; Tree Tech, Inc.; Wachtel Tree Science & Service, Inc.; Wonderland Tree Care, Inc.; and Wright Tree Service.
See you all next February at Our Lucaya Resort in the Bahamas!
