Hunters Hit the Links for a Good Cause

The Buckmasters Golf Tournament raised $25,000 for Big Dream Outdoors, which provides access to outdoor experiences to people with intellectual disabilities. (Photo by Realtree)

Well-known hunting personalities and outdoor industry leaders traded in their camo and boots for polos and golf shoes to raise money for a deserving cause during the first annual Buckmasters Golf Tournament, sponsored by Buckmasters and Realtree.

The tournament raised $25,000 for Big Dreams Outdoors, a nonprofit dedicated to providing individuals with intellectual disabilities access to outdoor experiences like hunting and fishing through adaptive equipment and guided events.

Held at the prestigious Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Capitol Hill in Prattville, Alabama, the tournament kicked off early on the morning of August 15 with a greeting from Buckmasters’ Jackie Bushman and Realtree’s Bill Jordan.

Jordan wished everyone a great day and told the participants that he and Bushman would be hanging out at hole 16 to meet and mingle and perhaps sink a few putts.

Bushman said it was an honor to team up with Realtree and Big Dreams Outdoors to raise money for the organization.

Golfers attempt a hole-in-one shot for the chance to win a Yamaha Grizzly. (Photo by Realtree)

“Being a grandfather of someone with special needs, this means a lot to me personally. With the dollars you raise, we’re able to take some of these kids with autism and Down syndrome into the outdoors where a lot of them thought they couldn’t go,” Bushman says.

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The 27 teams brought the same energy to the course as they would to a raucous deer camp. They were mischievous, competitive and teased each other mercilessly. As it turns out, some of the hunters could hit a ball straighter than their best bow shot, while others looked like they were trying to knock squirrels out of trees with wayward balls.

“I’m just glad my shoes are waterproof,” said Phillip Culpepper, host of Realtree’s Spring Thunder, after having retrieved a couple balls from water hazards.

It was a hot day for 18 holes, but the golfers all had a great time goofing off and raising money for a good cause. (Photo by Realtree)

But the event was about a lot more than winning. The golfers had a great time giving each other a hard time and it was made even more fun by the challenges added to the course.

An “Archery Tee Shot” was set up at one hole where golfers could start the hole from 150 yards out if they hit the target using a recurve bow.

Tournament sponsors were set up throughout the course adding challenges and offering incentives and giveaways to the golfers as well.

The “Wader Tee Shot” required one team member to tee off wearing a pair of frogg togg waders. The team was then required to play that drive.

Yamaha’s Scott Newby was at hole 3 with a shiny new Realtree camo Yamaha Grizzly ATV.

“If someone gets a hole in one, they get to take home this Yamaha Grizzly ATV,” he said. “I hope someone wins so I don’t have to get it back home.”

Team UCPWA won the first-ever Buckmasters Golf tournament with a score of -21. (Photo by Realtree)

Turns out, Newby did indeed have to cart the ATV home.

Winners of the longest drive at another hole got to take home a pair of PUMA Realtree golf shoes signed by U.S. Open winner J.J. Spaun. The winner of the longest drive got to take home a driver also signed by Spaun.

After a long, hot day of 18 holes, the golfers gathered at the club house where Team UCPWA (United Cerebral Palsy of West Alabama), with a score of -21, was named the winner of the first-ever Buckmasters Golf Tournament and outfitted with Sportscoats from Perfect Pattern Sportscoats, featuring the iconic Realtree Legacy camo.

Thanks goes out to the sponsors who made the event possible including Mountain Dew/Pepsi, Yamaha, Scarlett Oaks, MB Ranch Kings, Halfface Blades, Hoyt, SunSouth, United Country, RackHub, Vortex Optics, frogg toggs, Baptist Health, Great Lake Guide, Pets Best, Rocky Boots, Yukon Outfiter, WileyX, Dunn Animal Hospital, Vortex Optics, Outlaw Beer, 4S, Dirty's Outerwear, SCI and Tiny Homes.