Our Big Day: Calusa GCSA Golf for the Children Christmas Classic

Golf led to The Verandah Club director of agronomy Jake Wentz delivering athletic shoes. Golf produced one of the most poignant moments of his career.

The Calusa GCSA Golf for Children Christmas Classic rotates annually between the Fort Myers, Florida, club’s Old Orange and Whispering Oak layouts. Wentz does more than lead the team preparing playing surfaces for the 144-player outing featuring a field of superintendents and their corporate partners. He organizes behind-the-scenes logistics and handles front-facing aspects of the event, which partners with the Children’s Network of Southwest Florida to provide holiday gifts and meals for area youth. Wentz becomes emotional when discussing one of his earliest memories of the event.

“We go and give one kid his box, he opens it up, goes crazy about his new Jordans and said, ‘I’ve never had anything like this before,’” Wentz says. “I said, ‘What do you mean you’ve never had anything like this before?’ He said, ‘I’ve never had a Christmas present.’ He was 15 or 16. Talk about pulling your heartstrings right there.”

Inspired by a similar event conducted by the nearby Everglades GCSA, the Calusa GCSA started its holiday outing a decade ago. The Verandah Club, a private community consuming more than 1,400 acres along the Orange River, became the regular host two years later. The classic is staged on a Friday in early December, meaning it coincides with the acceleration of the southwest Florida snowbird golf season. Wentz and the tournament board meet regularly beginning in October to discuss logistics such as raffle prizes and catering, but Wentz begins pondering the event much earlier. “The hard part is thinking about what we can do this year that we haven’t done in the past,” he says.

The first tournament raised enough money to provide holiday gifts and meals for 17 children. The 2023 classic helped 140 children receive holiday gifts and meals. One day of golf and a post-round raffle raises close to $50,000 for the Children’s Network of Southwest Florida, according to Wentz, who educates his 36-worker crew about what the day means to the community. Not many turf teams, after all, are helping provide holiday cheer for children while simultaneously entertaining their industry peers.

“You want to be shined up and looking good,” Wentz says. “It’s our time of the year, going right into the season and January. We need to be top-notch come the superintendent tournament. If we are that, we are going to roll right into the season and it’s all going to be great.”

Wentz participates in the event, although it’s challenging to enjoy anything about the day until the first tee shots are struck. True fulfillment emerges when he and his peers meet the people they’re helping.

“You’re taking care of 140 kids in your area that wouldn’t be able to celebrate Christmas if it wasn’t for this,” Wentz says. “Some of them don’t have much to look forward to throughout the year. To be able to take care of them, step up for them and have them know the Calusa chapter is going to take care of them … it’s very, very rewarding.”

— Guy Cipriano