No To Abuse tournament draws 60 golfers in Pahrump

Molly Clark of Nevada Realty insists her golf foursome does not play to lose just to win free golf lessons.

But the women of Nevada Realty again claimed last place Saturday in the annual No To Abuse Golf Tournament at Mountain Falls Golf Club, a finish that comes with a prize of free golf lessons.

“Three years in a row,” Clark said with a laugh. “Actually, we’ve never taken advantage of the free lessons.”

Clark teamed with agents Catherine Ray and Alli Murphy and one of the agency’s clients in an event that raises money for Nevada Outreach’s No To Abuse program.

“Catherine Ray and Alli Murphy are new agents to Nevada Realty,” Clark explained. “Alli has never golfed before in her life, but she came out with us and had a great time. And she didn’t do too badly. And the other player with us was one of Sheryl Hunter’s clients.”

The four-player scramble format was played with a shotgun start, and the event drew a near-capacity crowd of golfers.

“We got 15 teams, super happy about that,” said Salli Kerr, executive director of Nevada Outreach. “Everything went smoothly again. I ordered the weather especially, and it worked out very well.”

Kerr appreciated the 60 golfers who paid $100 apiece to play in the event, but she had special thanks for the venue and the sponsors that make the event happen.

“They make us look like we know what we’re doing,” Kerr said of Mountain Falls Golf Club and golf pro Randy Mudge.

Mudge was happy to hear the kind words but deflected the praise.

“We just set up all the carts and scorecards and everything else for them,” Mudge said. “Get all of their players together. We try and make it happen.”

But Kerr could not say enough about the tournament’s sponsors. Core Construction provided the breakfast for the event, while lunch was provided by Best Bet Products. Eagle sponsors included Desert View Hospital and Brian and Linda Kunzi, while Premier Adoption and the Nye County Regional Economic Development Authority were Birdie sponsors. Nevada Realty and Stage Stop Casino sponsored contests within the tournament.

Those contests were the closet-to-the-pin contest, won by Kenny Weaver’s 2-foot, 7-inch effort, and the long-drive contest, won by Pahrump Valley High School golfer Kasey Dilger’s 280-yard blast.

“I’m appreciative of money. We can’t do what we do without money,” Kerr said of the sponsorships. “But the other thing people don’t recognize is that this shows community support. When I have a grantor and I have to write in my application how do you define community support, I can say, ‘Well, I had 72 people show up to my golf tournament, give us this much money, put their names on the dotted line for us and had a wonderful time.’

“And I have four grant applications due right now. People don’t realize there’s significance in the actual money this helps us generate, but on top of that it really does prove community support, that people know about us, the things that funders want to hear about how sustainable we are. What they’re going to look at is, if I give you this money, where are you going to be next year if I don’t give you this money? We can show community support, and that’s the backside that people don’t always know.”

For most people, the chance for a fun morning of golf, a nice lunch and the chance to show support for No To Abuse, an organization that assists some of the area’s most vulnerable citizens is the reason to attend. And that doesn’t go just for the golfers.

For the third consecutive year, Pahrump Valley High School’s Key Club was on hand to help with the raffle tickets. The raffles, including a 50/50 that brought in $400, are the other source of funding at the tournament.

“No To Abuse is a great organization to help out,” said Reva Braun, the club’s adviser. “If we can help them, we’ll be here. We come out and help them wherever we can.”

Club members Faith Bulone and Andrea Cook had their hands full of raffle tickets, happy to spend their Saturday morning imploring the golfers and their guests to buy chances to win gift baskets, rounds of golf and other prizes.

“I like watching people golf, I don’t exactly like golf in general,” Bulone said. “I also wanted to bond with whoever in my club also came out, get to know new people and get out in the community.”

“We love to be part of the community, and it was a great opportunity to meet new people and help with whatever they needed,” Cook added.

A team from Core Civic, including Matt Redmond and Danny Owen, won the tournament, posting a score of 62. Derrick Holzer, Mark Natali, Neil Cowlehy and Angel were right behind with 63, and right behind them were Snowden Landscape and Redman Fencing at 64. Their prizes were rounds of golf at local courses.

Then there were the Nevada Realty women, and while they might have finished last — again — Clark said her team had a great time and that she has been golfing for a while.

“But my scores don’t reflect that,” she grinned. “We play for fun.”

She hinted that it was possible more fun could be had by faring better in events such as the No To Abuse Golf Tournament.

“By the way ladies, get those lessons,” she said.

No To Abuse is Nevada Outreach’s domestic violence advocacy program, serving victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, stalking and teen dating violence. For more information, call 775-751-1118.