20th Annual Memorial Golf Classic to be Held

MIDDLETOWN – After two eventful decades, this spectacular, prize-rich golf tournament has established itself as an annual fixture on the Hudson Valley links scene. Sponsored by the New Windsor-based Maj. Gen Irene Trowell-Harris Chapter of the national Tuskegee Airmen organization, the tourney memorializes both the famous World War II all-black fighter and bomber squadrons and the late, great Orange County golfer and educator Willie Carter.

Carter was an African-American pioneer in promoting young golfers as well as his students at Mechanics town Elementary School, where he served as Principal.

Play will tee off with a 10 a.m. shotgun start on Monday, August 20th at the West Hills Country Club, in Middletown, New York. Registration and breakfast begin at nine, against a background of a rich selection of silent auction items. Beverage carts will be available on the course, with lunch at the turn.

Please call for Greens fee; they’re per golfer with food, reception and golf cart included.
This year, the Trowell-Harris Chapter’s special guests will be “the Sisters in the Fairway”-five African-American women golfers from York County, Pennsylvania who attracted national attention this past April when police were summoned and they were ordered to leave a golf course for playing too slowly. (Video and bystander reports revealed that to have been code for “golfing while black.”)

After play, golfers will gather for the tourney’s famous helicopter golf ball drop, featuring Stewart Airport-based International Helicopters’ Robinson R44 helo salvoing the practice green with a basketful of marked golf balls. Closest to the pin wins a one-week stay at a Colorado ski resort timeshare during Christmas week.

Buy a ball discounts for multiple-ball entries, no need to play to enter. BMW of the Hudson Valley is also providing a new BMW as a hole-in-one prize. (All funds raised by the Willie Carter Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Golf Classic support the Trowell-Harris Chapter’s youth and scholarship programs as well as the Hudson Valley Tuskegee Airmen Endowment Fund, hosted by the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan.)

For registration and further info, go to www.tai-ny,com or call 845 838-7848.