The Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce recently held the 22nd annual Ron Despres Golf Classic at the Shattuck Golf club.
The amateur tournament drew in 82 golfers divided into 19 teams of four and one team of two, along withover 30 local sponsors and eight corporate sponsors. It is held in honor of Ron Despres, a local businessman and chamber member, and is the chamber’s largest fundraiser.
The chamber of holds this tournament annually to raise money for the Jaffrey community. Players can purchase mulligans, and there are golf-adjacent challenges on each hole. Many of the golfers’ favorites on 16th hole was a golf ball launcher. Instead of teeing off with a club, they shoot their golf ball with an air pressure cannon. Other challenges were furthest shot, and closest shot to the flamingo on the second hole.
“It’s less competitive and more geared towards charity,” said Thomas Lyons, a member of the chamber board of directors.
The weather was a worry for many of the golfers, as when the tournament began to set up at 7:30 a.m., it was misting, and very cloudy,
“It never rains on the golf course,” said Cyndy Burgess, the past president of the chamber, who remained hopeful through the rain and wind.
By 8 p.m., golfers were showing up in droves, signing in and discussing the weather.
“We’ll take mist over rain” one golfer said, and another said, “ I don’t think (the weather) knows what it wants to do yet.”
However, right when it was time to tee off at 8:30 a.m., Burgess’ statement rang true, as the weather held up, the sky cleared up and the temperature increased.
Teams started to finish at around 1 p.m., and by that point it had come down to four teams. Team Burgess, which consisted of Clint, Hunter, Zach and Taylor Burgess, was the youngest team out on the course. The Paul Bourgeois Team consisted of golfers, Paul Bourgeois, Mike Fish, Shannon Murphy and Tilman Evers.
The second place team of MilliporeSigma No. 1 included Kevin Anderson, Matt Gendron, Chad Balcom and Tommy Roberts. Apollo Steel, consisting of golfers Don Gutterson, Nick Gutterson, Nick Cauley and Bob Alperin, won the tournament.
The Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce is welcoming any sponsors or golfers for next year’s tournament and can be reached via email at info@jaffreychamber.com.