By Bruce Karnick

As kids growing up by a golf course in the 80’s, you get used to “trespassing” on the “forbidden” grounds late at night.

“I grew up right by the Country Club building,” said lifelong Hastings Resident, and participant that brought the event to our attention, Aaron Schultz. “I knew the country club golf course well, way before I was allowed too.” Kids in the 80’s, it was a more innocent time, they played all over the neighborhood, including running all over the golf course at night. “Yeah man, we were ALL over that golf course.” Schultz laughed. The 80’s brought us big hair and one of the most fun times of Rock and Roll. It also brought crazy outfits with crazy neon colors, some that glow in the dark. “We always thought ‘how cool would it be to play golf at night out here?’ when we were kids.” Schultz added.

Schultz and others got their chance to do so on October 1st when the Hasting Golf Club held a Glow Golf event. The cost was $30 to play, which included a light up ball, glow sticks to wear on the course for safety and a chili bar. HGC set up paper bag lanterns all along the edge of the fairway to give golfers a path to follow and many golfers brought flashlights to wear on their heads to read scorecards and dig through their bags. The beverage cart and other carts for workers had lights on them for safety of everyone involved. It was a shotgun start, teams assigned the front nine played the front nine, teams assigned the back nine played the back nine. Normal pace of play expectations for HGC are nine holes in two hours, obviously, this could be a little longer.

There was no fundraising event attached, “This was just for a fun outing,” Schultz said. He estimated 18 teams of at least three golfers participated in the event. “I think most teams had four, but I’m not sure.” “It was just cool to be out there, to see how they lit up the course, and the lighted balls were cool to see flying all over,” Schultz added. “I didn’t golf much; I went more for the fun of just being out there. If I tried to golf nine, I’d regret it for the next few days.” He was involved in a serious, multivehicle accident a few years ago with his girlfriend, an accident that has left permanent damage to his body. “I hope to organize something like this next year as a fundraiser. I want to have a fund setup to be able to help a person in Hastings if they go through something similar. I have been struggling since the accident and I want to do what I can to help someone else not struggle as much if they need it. I tell ya what, it ain’t fun to go through,” Schultz concluded.

A long exposure photo of the course to show the lighted bags around the green, the lighted pin and the fairway ath the Hastings Golf Club’s Glow Golf Event on October First.

Photo by Bruce Karnick