Glow-in-the-Dark Golf

Members turned out by the dozen for Highland Woods Golf & Country Club's annual night-glow golf tournament.

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
February 2010
 

The sides of the fairways were aglow with candle-filled paper bags, the flagsticks marked with luminescent glow sticks, and the holes lit with glowing rings. In every cart, there was a flashlight and more glow sticks.

Children may invent new ways to build forts, but adults invent new ways to play golf.

Held just after sundown on a cool December evening, Highland Woods Golf & Country Club, in Bonita Springs, Fla., hosted its annual night-glow golf tournament, reports Southwest-Florida’s The News-Press.

“It's like a big cocktail party,” says Highland Woods’ Head Professional, Reed Kleintop. “It's always one of the most popular events of the year. A lot of the neighborhoods will be out on their porch watching.”

Highland Woods’ annual affair, which is played over a handful of holes, was sold out two weeks in advance in 2009, with a couple of dozen golfers added to a waiting list.

“It's a lot of work,” says Kyle Olson, First Assistant Professional at Highland Woods, which precedes its event with dinner and ends it with dessert. “But it's worth it, because the members have a blast.”

Balls used for the event have a hole drilled through them with a small glow stick wedged into the hole, to give the illuminated sphere a tumbling effect as it moves. Along with tee, fairway, flagstick and hole markers, the course also puts red glow sticks or red candle-filled bags around bunkers, lakes and hazards. Green glow sticks encircle the green and mark the 150-yard stakes placed down the centers of the fairway.

“It looked like airport runways out there,” said Kleintop, estimating that Highland Woods puts out 700 to 800 candle-filled bags to light seven holes.