News : VU Golf tournament begins at Country Club

Robin Martin, Nathan Hesson and Tom Lindauer sign in VU golf tournament participants Friday.

Jim Murry watches his putt during VU Golf Tournament.

Karl Smith drives on the fifh hole, where a hole-in-one on Friday would win a car.

Hayley Rippel was one of the T-shirt winners at the IMCA hole. She hit a ball through a tire.

VSHS golfers Kelsey Mahood & Katie Lovell pose with Suzuki Kizashi offered as hole-in-1 prize.

Scores of golfers lined up to sign in to the Vinton Unlimited annual golf tournament at the Vinton Country Club Friday afternoon.

VU director Nathan Hesson, Tom Lindauer and Country Club Manager Robin Martin greeted participants and helped with registration as the first golfers headed to the course.

Many of the holes had local sponsors that offered refreshments, free gifts and/or prizes to golfers who could meet a specific challenge. The IMCA hole offered a free t-shirt, cooler and racing tickets to any participant who could put a golf ball through a tire. The U.S. bank booth offered t-shirts and other prizes to those who could get a golf ball inside a snow globe to rest on the tee.

The biggest prize -- which went unclaimed -- was a free car to anyone who could get a hole-in-one on hole 5.

Coach Janet Woodhouse and the members of the Vinton-Shellsburg girls golf team were there to verify any such winning shots. They also offered a light-hearted wager as a fund-raiser. Participants could bet up to $3 on themselves or a member of their party. The girls would keep the money if their drive missed the green, or double their money if the ball landed and stayed on the green. Many people participated, and most who landed on the green let the team keep the money for equipment.