LET’S PLAY GOLF!

By Shana Jewell

Since the early 1970’s a group of fun loving women have been coming together at the McKenzie Golf Course and chasing that little white ball from hole to hole - calling themselves the McKenzie River Ladies Club. Recently however, due to the economy, the number of women participating has gone from an easy 40 per year down to almost half that.

I had the pleasure of talking with the longest running member of the Ladies Club today; Lillie. Lillie has been in this club since 1972 and explained to me how, not only is this club about having fun playing golf, and it’s not even about being able to be away from the husbands every Wedsday. She said, “We are a support group. If someone in the community is having a hard time, we like to pull together for that family and offer any kind of help that we can give.”

Lillie also went on to say the ladies play golf for charities as well. Over the years the group has held benefits for the American Heart Disease Foundation, the American Cancer fund, the McKenzie Resource Center, Womens Space, Food for Lane County, The Child Center and the Willamette Child Center. The ladies even hold special events. Lillie also noted, “We have what we call a pajama drive where members of the club can invite a guest and bring a pair of pajamas to be donated to our local schools. We’ve collected donations of children’s socks, gloves and hats for the McKenzie Resource Center.”

This group of women has been coming together all these years and doing so much for our community and they have, a lot of times gone unnoticed. However, it is not recognition that they are seeking, it is simply more members.

Over the years they have had women who have traveled from as far away as Veneta and Junction City. Now this is not a group of women who are golf pros, this is a group of ladies who love having fun and helping the community at the same time. Isn’t that what we would all call a perfect world?

So if you are a 9-hole person or you like to play the whole 18 - it only costs $45 a year to join the McKenzie River Ladies Club.

Heck I’m not very good at golf. I have my own clubs and yes, I like to chase that little white ball and kick around in the brush looking for it, because mostly that’s where it is. But I think the bigger picture here is for us to remember what it is like to be a part of something, something that has almost been forgotten; being a part of your community. So those of you who want to join can come to Aunt Ding’s on March 19th at 11 a.m. for the kick-off luncheon. The first day of golf is April 4th and tee time is at 9 a.m., or you can simply contact Lillie Hengler at 541-896-3213 or e-mail her at [email protected].

March 15, 2012