August 15th 2025
Golf tournaments come in all shapes and sizes. Some are built around prestige. Bragging rights. They have generally a dazzling array of prizes. They provide a showcase to show off skill. Tournaments like the Masters, with a prize ‘table’ of cash in the millions of dollars.
Then there are charity golf tournaments. Here too, there are prizes to recognize great levels of skill and achievement. Low score. Longest drive. Lots of sponsors. Again, quite an impressive prize table generally. But the aim is to raise money for some worth while cause or charity.
And then there is the RE/MAX Garden City Realty Hackers Golf Tournament. No prize table – although we do recognize longest drive – men’s and ladies’ and closest to the pin. No bragging rights because it’s a scramble format. The object is to have a good time and that we do!
As the name would suggest, it’s not to be taken too seriously. And each year the golfer skill category ranges from very capable ‘scratch’ golfers all the way to novices who have never held a club. But because it is a best ball type of format, as long as someone in each foursome can get off a decent shot, everybody fares pretty well. And it’s nice, if you have a tendency to slice or hook every shot, that you don’t have to contend with a second recovery shot. You get to play from the best ball position, not the worst.
The site for this year’s golf tournament was Beechwood Golf Club. Over the years we’ve been to a lot of sites. We began at Municipal, but have played St. David’s, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Hidden Lakes to name just a few. Over the past 2 or 3 years we’ve settled in at Beechwood. Close to St. Catharines. Nine holes, which is what our event consists of. Wonderful people, who among other things put on a spectacular dinner of prime rib, baked potato and trimmings. Always a highlight of the day.
This year 40 golfers took to the field, which represents about one third of our work force. Along with a few guests it was a splendid mix. I’m always moved by the quality of men and women who make up RE/MAX Garden City Realty. They get along famously. They really enjoy one another. They are like family. And this year we had over half of our support staff participating. At least two of which had never golfed before.
We have a lot of special events on the RE/MAX G.C. social calendar: Christmas Gala, Awards Gala, Fall Broker B.B.Q., etc. And I suppose each one is the favourite when it’s happening. But without a doubt the Hackers Golf Tournament is right at the top. We’ve had rain. We’ve had mishaps with carts. This past outing was a clear, bright, sunny day with temperatures approaching 35⁰C, but regardless, we are out with a fabulous group of people we are blessed to work with and play with. It doesn’t get much better than that. No wonder it’s a classic tradition on our calendar.