Ted Bishop, the President of The PGA of America and 2013 Indiana Golf Hall of Fame inductee, is the PGA general manager at The Legends Golf Club in Franklin, Ind.

 

As a PGA Professional, I have always tried my best to support local charities through outings and donations of rounds of golf. In 2011 I had an idea to set aside The Legends for entire day and hold a charitable event large enough to benefit multiple charities in the surrounding area if Johnson County. I worked with a local group of businesswomen called the Savvy Dames who all had marketing and community involvement backgrounds and created Pay It Forward Johnson County. This event invites charitable organizations to submit an application to be a part of the event. Once approved, each organization is invited to be part of the golf outing by having representatives on a tee box during the event to educate golfers about their mission. The organizations are grouped into one of five categories: Basic Human Needs, Education, Emergency Programs, Female-Related Programs and Healthcare Services. From each of those five categories, a single organization is chosen at random to be one of the main benefactors of the event prior to the outing. After the golf concludes, there is a sixth organization drawn at random that will earn a large share of the golf outing’s proceeds. For the organizations that aren’t drawn, we hold a silent auction and split the proceeds equally between the organizations that weren’t the main benefactors.

Pay It Forward Johnson County has been a great success for all of the charities involved and The Legends. Since the first event in 2011, we have raised over $50,000 for local charities. In addition, every organization that participated received a check for anywhere from $500 to $4,000. To hit those numbers in this economic climate is something that makes me very proud. Because of the great results, Pay It Forward Johnson County has quickly become the best regarded charity event in the area, with players praising the way the event is run and with the ability to benefit multiple area charities with a single donation. We may have given up the course to public play for an entire day, but the contacts we make are priceless. Many of the participants continue to return to The Legends and have even brought other tournaments to the facility.