MOBILE, Ala. — One of the area’s oldest charity golf tournaments reaches a milestone this month.
Boys & Girls Clubs of South Alabama will host its 35th Annual Mayors’ Cup Golf Tournament, presented by Lexus of Mobile, on Thursday, Sept. 24, at Magnolia Grove, 7001 Magnolia Grove Pkwy., Mobile.
The Format
Golfers will play a full day and enjoy a light breakfast and lunch, with the Mayors’ Cup awards presentation following play.
Tickets: $1,500 per team. A team of four players includes green and cart fees, breakfast and lunch.
Participants also get two chances at a hole-in-one to win a Lexus, and can take part in a silent auction for a trip for two to Pebble Beach.
Where the Money Goes
Proceeds allow Boys & Girls Clubs of South Alabama to continue providing high-impact activities and programs for Alabama Gulf Coast youth across a substantial footprint:
- Six year-round Clubs
- Four summer-only programs
- Three school-based sites
- Camp Chandler-Tonsmeire, a summer camp
That structure — year-round sites supplemented by summer-only programs and school-based locations — reflects how youth-serving organizations match capacity to demand. The need is highest in summer, when school is out and working parents have the fewest options, so the organization expands seasonally rather than maintaining year-round overhead at every location.
Why Charity Golf Tournaments Persist
The charity golf tournament has outlasted a great many fundraising formats, and it does so for reasons that have little to do with golf.
A tournament sells a full day rather than an evening. Foursomes are typically purchased by businesses, which means the cost falls on a marketing budget rather than a household one, and the day functions as client entertainment as much as philanthropy. Sponsorship tiers — hole sponsors, cart sponsors, beverage sponsors, presenting sponsors — let companies of very different sizes participate at their own level.
At $1,500 per team, a field of any meaningful size generates substantial revenue before sponsorships are counted.
Thirty-five years of continuous operation is the more telling number. An event that survives that long has an institutional base — companies that enter every year, a volunteer structure that persists, and a place on the local calendar that people plan around.
The Hole-in-One and the Auction
The two hole-in-one attempts for a Lexus are a standard tournament feature backed by hole-in-one insurance, which lets a sponsor offer a large prize at a fixed, modest cost. The odds of an amateur acing a given par 3 are long enough that the insurance is inexpensive and the prize is real.
The silent auction for a Pebble Beach trip targets the same audience from a different direction. Pebble Beach is among the most recognized golf destinations in the world, and for the kind of golfer who buys a $1,500 foursome, a trip there is an aspirational item that bids competitively.
Magnolia Grove
Magnolia Grove is a Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail facility in Mobile, part of the state-spanning network of public courses developed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama beginning in the 1990s.
The Trail was conceived as an economic development project as much as a golf project — a way to draw visitors to Alabama by offering high-quality public golf at accessible prices. Magnolia Grove’s Crossings and Falls courses, along with a short course, give it the capacity to host a large tournament field.
For a charity event, a Trail facility offers championship conditions with the logistical capacity to move a full field through a day.
Boys & Girls Clubs on the Gulf Coast
Boys & Girls Clubs provide after-school and summer programming focused on academic support, healthy lifestyles and character development, typically serving youth from families for whom paid alternatives are out of reach.
Camp Chandler-Tonsmeire, the organization’s summer camp, adds a residential or day-camp dimension that many club members would otherwise never have access to. Summer camp is an experience largely stratified by household income, and organizations that operate their own camps can extend it to children who would not otherwise attend one.
How to Register or Sponsor
To register a team or sponsor the event, contact Rebekka Wolfe at (251) 432-1235.
If You Play
What: 35th Annual Mayors’ Cup Golf Tournament, presented by Lexus of Mobile
When: Thursday, Sept. 24
Where: Magnolia Grove, 7001 Magnolia Grove Pkwy., Mobile, AL 36618
Cost: $1,500 per four-player team, including green and cart fees, breakfast and lunch
Extras: Two hole-in-one chances to win a Lexus; silent auction for a Pebble Beach trip for two
Benefits: Boys & Girls Clubs of South Alabama
Contact: Rebekka Wolfe, (251) 432-1235