Bright blue skies and even brighter smiles graced the greens of Merrillville’s Innsbrook Country Club as the course once again hosted the Hobart Chamber of Commerce's Annual Golf Outing.
With spirits high, 72 golfers loaded their clubs into the backs of carts and took to the greens for the annual event, which promotes good spirits, networking and cooperation between numerous local businesses.
Sponsored by many local companies, including American Water, Hobart YMCA, NIPSCO, MainSource Bank, your own Ideas In Motion Media and several others, the event featured a fun-filled round of golf, with door prizes for participants, a raffle, charity chip contest to benefit Meals On Wheels and more, all followed by a delicious lunch.
Lisa Winstead, Executive Director of the Hobart Chamber of Commerce, was on hand to speak with Ideas in Motion Media, and even gave us a tour of the course.
“All the businesses come together here,” said Winstead. “We’ve got St. Mary Medical Center, TelePerformance, and many others. They all have teams here today. Everyone is here today to network, play some golf and just have a great time.”
Winstead said that the annual golf outing is a long-standing tradition, going back well over 20 years.
“This is our fifth year here at Innsbrook. Our chairperson this year was Kevin Kosek from REGIONAL Federal Credit Union. This is a great chance for the golfers here, who may not have a membership to the country club, to get out here and experience what Innsbrook has to offer.”
Jodi Bella from Meals On Wheels of Northwest Indiana was excited to be there for the Charity Chip-In Challenge.
“For just $5 or $10, golfers can try to chip a golf ball in to the kiddie pool, which is about 10 yards away. If they get 2 balls into the pool, they can win double their money back. If they miss it, then the money goes to help Meals On Wheels.”
Bella is proud of the work that Meals On Wheels does for the community.
“We help deliver meals to about 900 homebound seniors throughout Lake County. We have a lot of seniors who may be homebound, and a little bit stressed financially, and events like this allow us to help serve those individuals,” Bella told IIMM.
“We’re super happy to be here, and we really appreciate the Hobart Chamber of Commerce for inviting us out here today,” said Bella.
Among the many golfers enjoying a beautiful day out on the course was Tom Silich, Hobart Township Trustee.
“It’s a beautiful day today. We’ve got perfect weather. We’ve got low humidity, sunny skies and just wonderful conditions to be out here playing golf,” said Silich.
“Now, if my partners here could just get going here, we’d be under par now, but even if they don’t, it’s a great day and we’re out here, having fun,” said Silich, as yet another golfer failed to win the Charity Chip-In.
But, funny thing was, no one seemed to mind.
“Yup,” Silich nodded, looking out over the beautiful greens. “Just a perfect day.”