A hole-in-one scored at Olympic View Golf Club during the recent Base Commander’s Tournament managed to create a three-way benefit.
Jim Utterson nailed the ace with an eight-iron on the 157-yard 11th hole, setting in motion a chain of events that define community support.
Through an insurance policy typically taken out for such promotions, Utterson won $10,000 for his perfect shot. His drive sailed high and dove straight into the cup without first bouncing on the green.
“I’ve hit the stick (in the air) many a time, but never had that happen,” said the Victoria Shipyards worker, for whom the ace was his third ever. “The spotter got up and didn’t say a word. When she realized what happened she threw her hands in the air.”
Last week in the golf course lounge, Utterson received his cheque. The View Royal resident promptly turned over a $1,000 personal cheque to Gaynor Jackson of the CFB Esquimalt’s charity of choice, the Military Family Resource Centre.
And as part of the insurance policy, a $2,000 donation was passed along to Mary Lynn McKenna, executive director of Utterson’s charity of choice, the Esquimalt Neighbourhood House. McKenna said the money would go toward upgrading her facility’s playground area, a project currently in the planning stages.
Utterson said workers at the shipyard are familiar with the work Esquimalt Neighbourhood House does, and it made sense to help them out.
Jackson said her organization would use the donation to help provide casual respite child care for families where a serving member is on a mission away from home. Through a partnership with the neighbourhood house, that care often is facilitated at their location.
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