November 7, 2010

BARNESVILLE, PA — With the announcement of the Mountain Valley Golf Course and Barnesville, PA as the choice venue for the 2011 Carl Spackler Open Championship, the Captains Club released the details surrounding the new gift proposal for each tournament course.

"As the event grows into legend, we have been examining the opportunities to leave a mark with each venue for several years," says Captains Club member Jeremy Myers. "I think everyone understands that Jon Munksgard leaves a mark each year by the form of a raccoon-skin divot, but this initiative would be a positive mark."

After 3 years of collecting ideas, the event designed a 2-foot high by 3-foot wide matte last spring. The standard matte was cut with 10 holes measuring 3 1/4-inch high by 4 1/2-inch wide. The matte has also been cut with a larger 14-inch tall by 20-inch wide hole for a mounted Carl Spackler Open golf flag.

The outer 10 holes in the matte are filled with a mixture of photographs resembling the golf course, Golden Jacket, Spackler News Network, Championship Trophy, and Carl Spackler Outfit.

A metal plate mounted to the matte finishes off the initiative. The plate proudly displays the Carl Spackler Open website address, golf course name, and date of event.

"It looks incredible," says Myers referring to the finished product. "I expected something good, but this item exceeded all my high expectations. The ability to create this gift for courses and participants with ease makes this item perfect."

Myers added, "We considered presenting it to the golf course during the awards presentation in June, but realized the gift had more potential."

The item was designed, purchased, built, and mailed to Mountain Valley in mid-October 2010 for event marketing. The head professional and assistant, Brian Dries, received it two weeks later and proudly accepted it.

"Thank you. This thing is going in our lobby," says jubilant head professional of Mountain Valley, Walt Tobash. "It really looks awesome. I am leaving right now to get it framed." Tobash immediately had the matte framed professionally and hung.

The gift was hung inside the Mountain Valley clubhouse lobby two weeks ago. "It took about 15 minutes before a local wanted to register for the Carl Spackler Open," says Brian Dries, a.k.a. Pork. "He asked us about it and we told him. He wrote down the website address and went home like a man on a mission."

The proposed "course gift" is a trial gift for 2011 and probably 2012. The success or failure of the gift will be evaluated for future distribution.

"The word of mouth for our national championship has an eye-catching look inside the best party clubhouse in America," says Myers. "This is an item that hopefully will show our thanks and enhance our tournament in ways we cannot imagine."

The matte design is a multi-purpose design as it can be used for courses, hotels, bars, and participants. Jeremy Myers, Jason Watson, and Greg Long were the first participants to receive a matte. The guys all received "Decade of Dedication (DOD)" awards in Texas for 10 years of attendance. Each DOD came with personalized metal plate and 10 different golf course photographs; one for each event attended.

The 2011 Carl Spackler Open will be held June 9-12. There are 70 to 90 participants expected to make the trip to Barnesville, PA.