The slow economy this year made hardly a dent in the golf swings around the Wetherington Golf and Country Club in West Chester, said George Rees, general manager.
Rees and pro shop manager Steve Nelson kept things humming with some community outreach. They took golf to schools and businesses.
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Steve Nelson (left), head pro at the Wetherington Golf and Country Club, and George Rees, general manager, with Rees' son, Doug, a Hopewell student.
(Craig Ruttle photo)
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"Steve and I started a two-pronged program of getting the community and businesses involved," Rees said. "We went into Hopewell Elementary School and started giving golf lessons. After two weeks of lessons we gave a fun tournament and called it "Take a Parent to Golf Day." We had 110 people play in the tournament we held at the Greencrest Course."
Rees and Nelson also collected 500 donated golf clubs, cut them down and regripped them, and used them to teach about 2,000 kids about golf.
Marathon woman
Katie Kopf is a soft-spoken human resources specialist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
That's how she is known as a professional. But when you think of her outside her office, the word Ironkate comes to mind.
She earned that nickname by running in the Wisconsin Ironman Marathon, finishing 644th among 1,800.
The event includes a 2.4-mile swim, 112 miles of biking and a full marathon of 26.2 miles. She finished in 13 hours and 37 seconds.
Kopf, 32 and single, lives in Hyde Park.
"I will put this down as one of my goals accomplished and get back to normal for awhile," she said.
"I trained seven months for the marathon. The training may have been harder than the actual marathon."
Plain talk
Since his first book, The Legal Writer: 30 Rules for the Art of Legal Writing, sold out, Judge Mark Painter has put out a new version of his plea to get lawyers to write in plain English.
"Cases are about people. Shouldn't they be able to read what is happening to them?" Painter asked.
In his second book, he expands on that theme and offers 40 rules for lawyers to follow in changing their writing style.
Information: 382-4315 or 946-3444.
ACADEMIC ALL-STARS
Binder wins award
Jeff Binder, a home-schooled student from Montgomery, has received a $2,500 scholarship from the P&G Fund Scholarship Competition for children of P&G employees.
A National Merit Scholarship finalist, he also was awarded a Leadership Award, a four-year merit scholarship, from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. He plans to double major in computer science and mathematics.
Schneider honored
David Schneider has received a Membership Scholarship from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. The award is for $8,000 toward a Lutheran college or $4,000 toward a non-Lutheran private or public college.
The Colerain High School graduate is the son of Karen and Don Schneider of Monfort Heights.
To submit an item, please call 755-4165.
OUR KIDS
Nicholas Ventura believes someday he might play golf with the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
If that sounds brash, the 10-year-old Summit Country Day fifth-grader can back it up: He shot a 42 on a regulation course July 3 in the Little Miami British Open Tournament, placing third. And how about his 34 on a par 3 course in the Little Miami Junior Tournament July 17, and 37 on the Meadow Links Junior Golf Course July 22 in the Hamilton County Junior Championship?
"I feel good about the scores,'' Nicholas said. "I play three to five days a week during the season for practice."
Nicholas is the son of Joseph and Julia Ventura of Anderson Township.
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