Golfers Hit the Links for the Interval House

Golf Clubbing

The Huntington Harbor League of Interval House--a temporary shelter for battered women and their children--held its fifth annual golf tournament Monday at the Seacliff Country Club in Huntington Beach.

About 100 golfers (and a few self-designated “hackers”) showed up for mid-morning registration despite high winds, storm clouds massed overhead and a few ominous raindrops. Their reward came shortly before tee time when the clouds parted on a big belly of sky blue--just like in the movies.

The Look

Sure they wore pastels and white belts and checked pants and colors not found in nature. Whattya want? This is golf we’re talking about here-- the links look --not couture. Sue Middleton garnered all the available style points with a black top, black socks, and floral-print black cotton knickers in between. Homemade knickers, at that. “I got the pants and chopped ‘em off,” said Middleton, an Interval House volunteer and twice-weekly golfer. Dropping a few orange golf balls onto the putting green, Middleton called her outfit “old-fashioned, with a new twist.” Then she laughed. “Do you think I should have gotten balls to match?”

Check In

Golfers started showing up an hour before the 11:30 a.m. tee time to check their names off the list at registration and pick up a bag of “goodies” (an Interval House sun visor, a box of golf balls, ball cleaner, divot marker and a towel). They could also buy a couple of “mulligans” for $5 each. (A mulligan is a free shot--a “do-over”--and the raffle tickets signifying get-out-of-a-bunker free were as popular as medieval indulgences.)

“Can I buy a few extra?” begged Norm Davidson, who played with a foursome from the Los Alamitos Medical Center. “ Please .”

Popping the Question

What’s your handicap?

“I’m more of a hacker,” said Davidson, who teed off with colleagues Doug Meyer, Lindy Beck and Jerry Levy.

“Sixteen,” said Ed Strickler of Huntington Harbor, who golfed with neighbors Earl Belk, Bob Clouse and Leonard Lady.

“Fifteen,” said Spencer Sheldon, who works in the Huntington Beach office of Signal Landmark, a development company that partially underwrote the tournament. Sheldon’s foursome included Jim Silva, Paul Cook and Bob Davis.

“You asked the magical question,” said Ed Zarp, loading his clubs on a cart with golf buddy Bob Stellrecht, “but I’m not saying.”

The Bottom Line

The Huntington Harbor League was founded five years ago to raise money to buy and maintain furnishings for the Interval House shelter. The tournament and awards dinner on Monday evening raised an estimated $18,000, said Chris Frejlach, who chaired the event. Proceeds will be used to decorate and furnish a new facility purchased by Interval House late last year, she said.

Quote

Every time I pick up a golf club,” said Marty Beyer, grinning at the shifting skies, “the sun comes out.”