INNISFAIL, Alta. – The big crane rolled down the fairway towards the driving range and parked expertly half a dozen metres or so west of a golf hole flag.
Volunteers with the Innisfail Kinsmen were making feverish preparations with 1,575 golf balls, each with a number.
The balls were stuffed in a big white bag, and then clipped on a crane hook.
A long rope was tied to it.
The bulging white bag was slowly raised 100 feet in the air.
Kinsmen then began a countdown with a small crowd of Kinsmen and golfers who came to watch the unique spectacle.
And then 1,575 golf balls were let loose; falling 100 feet and crashing to the ground, bouncing high at first, and then finally settling still all around the flag.
The 50 closest balls to the hole would each be a prize winner.
The Second Annual Innisfail Kinsmen Golf Ball Drop Raffle on Aug. 19 at the Innisfail Golf Club was in the books.
“It is quite a spectacle to watch. It's pretty unique,” said Russ Klemmer, secretary of the Innisfail Kinsmen. “We didn't come up with it. We saw it from another fundraising group and thought this is pretty cool.”
The Innisfail Kinsmen golf ball drop event was also a fundraiser; money the service club will use for the never-ending community projects they support, such as the recent all-inclusive playground at the Napoleon Park Sports Fields behind the Innisfail Twin Arena.
The idea behind the golf ball drop raffle is to sell tickets for each of the balls. The cost for one ball is $10. Each ticket has a number that corresponds to one of the fallen golf balls.
Last year 2,000 tickets were sold. This year was under the 2021 total with 1,575 tickets sold.
But the rules were the same - the closest three to the hole get big prizes.
First prize this year was a $3,000 golf membership at the Innisfail Golf Club, second was $1,000 cash, while the third-place winner got $500 worth of Subway gift cards donated by Innisfail Subway. As well, the next 47 balls closest to the flag pole each received a prize donated by local businesses.
Innisfail’s Link Contracting provided the crane for the ball drop that provided plenty of visual interest as it rolled into position.
“Instead of having tickets and you pull it out of the drum, the actual draw itself is a spectacle to see,” said Klemmer.
