South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Davie golfers help raise $90K for charity
Two Davie men were at the forefront of helping raise over $90,000 for charity during the fifth annual First Tee of Broward 100 Hole Golf Marathon Challenge recently.
Drew DiAlberto, 38, not only raised funds by playing 101 holes but also assisted First Tee of Broward’s director of operations Jack Bloomfield by recruiting golfers to play and fundraise in the event.
Stan Schachne led the way in fundraising — the 62-year-old architect and general contractor from Davie raised $12,327, the most of anyone this year.
The event, which took place over three days at three different courses, netted a record amount of $91,506 with 46 golfers and 871 individual donors for the First Tee of Broward, which provides golf programming to children and veterans. The First Tee Gold Coast serves Broward, Palm Beach, St. Lucie and Martin counties.
The total this year far surpassed the previous high of $47,000 collected by 27 golfers.
Golfers were encouraged to play 100 holes in a day; however, most were able to get in between 60 and 80 holes. There were several golfers that completed 100 or more holes during play.
Rounding out the top five money raisers following Schachne, were Pembroke Pines’ Shelby Coyle, an assistant golf pro at Weston Hills ($8,362); Fort Lauderdale’s Adam Spiegel, a CPA ($5,961); Coral Springs’ Buddy Mansor, an IT salesman ($5,461); and Coral Springs’ Emma Leonardi, director of instruction at Lago Mar Country Club ($5,239).
“This was my first time playing,” Schachne said. “It was really hot, and it was exhausting. We played 36 holes and my partner and I stopped for lunch and grabbed a quick sandwich and a quick drink for like 10 minutes and our bodies were so sore when we got up.
“It took us nine holes to loosen up a bit and we decided not to stop again and just play straight through and keep playing no matter what.”
Schachne said he enjoyed the fact that he didn’t have to keep score.
“That was great,” he said. “I had a couple of birdies and that was fun. I hit a couple of nice shots that I didn’t expect. When you play 76 holes, you are going to have about 300 or so swings, so you are going to get a few good ones in there.
“Probably the best thing was you didn’t have to worry about putting too much,” he said. “You get on the green and one putt in, if you got it close to the hole great, if not, you move on to the next hole. You weren’t really putting for scores.”
Schachne said it is gratifying. He said his father raised him on the premise “if you can’t give money, you give time.”
“I was able to give both with this,” Schachne said.
DiAlberto, 38, was playing in the marathon for the first time in addition to serving as the chairman. He logged 101 holes at Weston Hills.
“We raised over $91,000 this year, and just to put it in perspective, last year we raised $47,000,” DiAlberto said, who raised $1,875. “They had 27 golfers last year and we had 46 this year.
“All I want to do is get the ball in the hole and move onto the next hole,” he said. “The scoreboard for this one was raising money for the kids and the veterans. That’s why I liked the charity when I first learned about it last year.”
Weston’s Marty Kaplan, 46, raised nearly $1,000 this year after playing 85 holes at Weston Hills and 100 at Lago Mar.
“It is a lot of golf for a good cause,” said Kaplan, who has played the last two years in the event. He raised $1,200 last year. “I am not much of a golfer, so I just want to hit it, get it in and play as fast as I can. I try to keep it in the fairway and keep it efficient. Last year when I played, I had my best consecutive 18 holes of my entire life. I was 2-over. This year, not as good.”
Bloomfield said he was pleased with the efforts of the golfers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s incredible,” said Bloomfield, who netted $5,088 in his efforts. “The idea of losing some of our corporate partners because of COVID, which is totally understandable. To have the people’s family and friends step up is just amazing because we do need funding to keep our chapter going and the only way, we can do that is with outside funding. The only way we survive is through corporate sponsors and individual donors.”
The Golf Marathon took place for two full days at The Club at Weston Hills and the Country Club of Coral Springs. The third and final day was staged at Lago Mar Country Club but was rescheduled for mid-October because of inclement weather.
When they first started the Golf Marathons five years ago, there were five golfers and they raised $9,000.
“It has just grown to this year having 46 players and over 870 individual donations, which is really amazing,” Bloomfield said. “Our goals for 2021 is 60 players and raising $120,000.”