Over a dozen students participating in Business Week gathered at the Weibring Golf Club the morning of October 2 to set up for this event. Twenty-two golf carts were lined up ready to go, signage was being posted, tables were being set up, and chairs were meticulously placed.
Stacey Miller ’11, golf pro at Weibring Golf Club, taught three clinics for the event’s student participants over the course of three weeks, consisting of putting, chipping, and range lessons. Miller said these clinics are a way to teach the etiquette, fundamentals, and basics of golf before the outing. Teaching was adapted to each student’s level, including such techniques as repetition, style, position, proper swing path, and club face at impact.
Miller is an alumna of the College of Business and a former member of the Illinois State golf team. She has been golfing since she was 12, and after college went on to participate in minitours, which are just a step below the LPGA Tour.
The October 2 event was a nine-hole game with a shotgun start. Each team was given a starting hole and an order of play, so all participants could begin at the same time and finish at the same time. Lunch was served before the event began, and an awards ceremony, featuring a guest speaker, was held afterward.
The outing offered several prizes to participants. The two teams with the lowest score in the event received a prize, as well as the person with the longest drive, the person with the shot closest to the pin, and the person with the longest putt. In addition, prizes were awarded to the two teams with the “Most honest score.”
“If you had told me I would have been part of a golf outing a year ago, I would have laughed,” said Molly Tesdahl, Business Week team member.
Molly Tesdahl, a human resources management major from Mackinaw and a Business Week Golf Outing team member, said that each student participant paid a $25 fee, which included three clinics, five meals, the outing, and a gift bag, which combined for a $270–$300 value. Tesdahl participated in last year’s golf outing and was front and center putting together the details for this year’s outing. “If you had told me I would have been part of a golf outing a year ago, I would have laughed,” Tesdahl said. She now knows all of the ins and outs of a golf outing and is familiar with the trials and tribulations of putting such an event together.
This year’s outing consisted of 21 foursome teams of three students and one local business professional from one of the corporate sponsors for the event, totaling 88 participants. Sponsors included Cintas, Enterprise, DentSmart, Tek Systems, and COUNTRY Financial. Four professors from the College of Business participated in the event. Nine of the student participants are also Business Week students.
This year’s outing consisted of 21 foursome teams of students and a business professional from one of the corporate sponsors for the event.
Gold outings are often used as fundraising events for organizations. But this golf outing was more for business students to build on their networking and etiquette skills, and to learn event setup. “The event is more of a ‘golf etiquette outing’ because the event focuses so much on learning proper etiquette both on the course and in business endeavors,” said Grant Rudin, an accountancy (BS/MPA) major from Towanda and a Business Week Golf Outing team member,
Weibring Golf Club has been open since 1964, and is the home course of the Illinois State University men’s and women’s golf teams, as well as the University High School boys and girls teams. With more than 20,000 golfers testing its challenging 18-hole championship golf course, Weibring Gold Club is open daily to the public and has many different packages and passes available in its pricing structure.
