Only giving his best will do for Jan Best to support fundraisers, particularly the Professional Golfers’ Association of B.C. Golfathon for ALS.
The Mount Brenton Golf Course head pro had been consistently involved in the charity for those affected by what’s commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease before COVID intervened.
On June 1, he was back at it again, waking up at 4 a.m. to drive to the course for a 4:30 start.
“The problem was I was somewhat crippled from a recent soccer injury,” he noted.
That’s not a great thing when you’re about to play multiple rounds of golf as quickly as possible.
But it’s a good thing his driver was Chris Fritsch, a medical doctor, Best confided.
“Good planning is important. Overall the leg held up and things were fine. I played about as good as I possibly can as far as ball striking goes in the first three rounds and then things started to get harder. Greens were firm and quite quick.”
Best managed to play 3.5 rounds before the tee opened to the public.
“Once the play started my rounds slowed down slightly but not by much,” he indicated. The average pace per round was about one hour.”
Best finished the day playing 171 holes, with scores for each 18-hole round of 70, 68, 72, 76, 76, 74, 79, 69 and 71.
Many people were interested in what he was doing and donations came in steadily.
Best had four main volunteers – Rick Mellson, Fritsch, Charlie Gonzales and Richard Redfern. Others helped out, including the senior men’s league.
“I also want to thank my staff for helping out and Arden Chailler for her generous donation,” Best added. “Also to everyone else who donated. Many of our members donated and we appreciate all of it and their donations make the entire thing possible and fun.”
All the money raised hasn’t been tallied up yet, as donations are still coming in, but Best expected the total amount to reach around the norm for each year of about $3,000
