It was the summer that never was. “Look, it’s raining again, and 68 degrees.” The event has been delayed for two days and it looks like we may never get a winner. No wait, that was the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in June. This is the 10^th Annual ASCE Mohawk-Hudson Section Scholarship Benefit Golf Outing on July 24 at Airway Meadows Golf Course in Gansevoort. Fortunately Mother Nature stopped toying with us (at least for a day) and provided a great day for golf! 

A field of 84 golfers (21 teams) took to the course in pursuit of the Mohawk-Hudson Cup, a perpetual trophy to be engraved with the names of the winners each year from this year forward and which will be proudly displayed by Airway Meadows throughout the year. The pressure was on. Balls were lost and clubs were tossed. In the end it came down to a four-letter race; QCQA and KAPL…..KAPL and QCQA….and it’s QCQA by a nose! The QCQA team of Tod Kobik, Steve Savaria, John Hewitt, and Ron Berube finished at (-8) and took home some cold, hard cash to go along with the honor of being the first to have their names adorn the Mohawk-Hudson Cup. The KAPL team didn’t leave empty handed as they also claimed a cash prize for their efforts. Trophies were also awarded to Dina Ayers for Long Drive, Ozzie Priotti for Most Accurate Drive, Mark Williams for Closest-to-the-Pin, Ray Darling for Best Putts, and your esteemed Section Treasurer said something about losing his favorite lure as his team claimed the trophy for Should Have Gone Fishing. Congratulations to all of our winners! 

The staff at Airway Meadows did another wonderful job with the event! They are supremely organized. The beer was on tap, the putting contest was set up, and the golfers were sent to their starting positions on schedule. They handled the scoring in the end and served an excellent buffet feast. Oh yeah, and the course was in great shape. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to work with such quality folks! I can’t wait until next year! 

This year’s event was also the first to have a Hole-in-One contest sponsored by Northway 8 Golf Center. The first lucky person to score an ace would have taken home a complete custom fit golf package. According to our observer, we should all consider taking lessons on iron play before next July since no one got close! Thanks to Jill Shorter for sacrificing her day in the office to spend it with us selling 50/50 tickets, taking photos, and watching some interesting tee shots on the ninth hole.

As you all know, this event is to benefit the ASCE Mohawk-Hudson Section Student Scholarship. The Scholarship is a cash award made to a high school student that will be attending college for civil engineering. This year the Board voted to change the scholarship to be $1,000 per year for four years instead of a one-time award. Assuming my math is right, in four years we will be paying a total of $4,000 per year split among four students. 

We were nervous about the economy and concerned that turnout and sponsorship might be low this year, but it somehow worked out just fine. Net proceeds from the event were over $4,000. Thank you to all the attendees, volunteers, and sponsors for making our 10^th annual event so successful. Your contribution is greatly appreciated! Special thanks to D.A. Collins Companies for sponsoring the event dinner. Other sponsors included:

• ADS
• AECOM
• Ashtead Technology
• Bulter Rowland Mays Architects
• The Chazen Companies
• Colden Corporation
• C. T. Male Associates
• Duke Concrete Products
• The Fort Miller Company
• EJ Prescott
• Erdman Anthony
• ESMI of New York
• EYP
• HMA Contracting Corporation
• MC Environmental Services, Inc.
• Meyers and Meyers
• Phoenix Environmental Laboratories, Inc.
• Precision Industrial Maintenance, Inc.
• QCQA Labs, Inc.
• Ramsco
• Ryan-Biggs Associates
• SJB Services, Inc. / Empire Geo Services, Inc.
• Stantec
• Test America
• TVGA