The Grosse Ile Invitational is an historic, annual event put on to promote club comradery and tradition. The first invitational was held at the Grosse Ile Golf and Country Club in 1937, and since then, the three-day event has grown exponentially from their initial 25 player tournaments. In recent years, the event hosts more than 200 golfers, and the returning participant and lucky winner, Tim Mann, is the elder half of the father-son team who would continue the grand tradition of playing in the Grosse Ile Invitational.
Tim, a former fisherman, picked up golfing roughly 35 years ago because “fishing got too easy”, Tim claimed. Since then, Tim grew quite fond of golf as did his son, Charlie. Tim received an invite to the outing and said, “I’ve done a few other tournaments before, but none of them ever had a hole in one prize even offered.” Tim was looking forward to the event for weeks prior, and it turned out to be everything he had hoped for saying, “the sun was shining, and our father-son team made it a great outing”.
Approaching the 13th hole, Tim recalls, “we already shot for one of the bonus prizes and didn’t hit it, and now we were up against the toughest hole on the course.” Charlie shot first and came up short of the hole. Knowing what Charlie used on his shot, Tim switched clubs to hit it further and it turns out he made the right choice. He said, “I didn’t think it was a very good shot right away.” However, out of 216 golfers, Tim far and away had the best shot of the day. With that, Tim Mann left Grosse Ile Golf and Country Club a Hole in One winner of a Brand New Ford Escape from Gorno Ford.
When the time came for Tim to pick up his new Ford Escape, Tim spoke very highly of the dealership saying, “The prize was perfect; I love it, and Gorno Ford was fabulous. It was overall a great experience working with them.” Tim enjoys his prize from Gorno Ford every single day, adding, “I’ve made a few hole in one’s before, but this was the most memorable.” This was actually Tim’s fourth hole in one in his 35 years of golfing, and it will be the one he’ll remember the most.
The entire team at J. Ryder Group/Ford Hole in One Program are absolutely thrilled to be a part of Tim’s big win and we congratulate both him and the great folks at Gorno Ford on their very exciting day!
