The Crossroads Chamber hosted its annual golf outing on Monday at the Innsbrook Country Club. It was well attended with members getting to golf at Innsbrook’s 18-hole course.
“It is always a good turnout in terms of participation,” said TJ Pruzin, Crossroads’ Golf Committee Chair. “It is usually always filled to capacity. I've known Deann for quite a while, and I think she does a fantastic job. I am happy to support her and doings, so it was an honor for her to ask me to help chair this. Interestingly, I played in this outing for many years and actually got my first hole-in-one at this outing six or seven years ago. It is definitely a fun golf outing.”
There were attendees of all different skill levels. Some members play 50 times a year and others play only a few times.
“His golf outing is more business related, so there are some people that may not play golf very often against some experienced golfers,” said Pruzin. “It's a nice mix of people for a golf outing. It's something that we just like to have people come out and it's about the camaraderie and networking. I feel it's a good part for businesses to be able to team up and be able to have some fun and just not go to lunch.”
Not only were their golf games different, but the attendees came from a variety of backgrounds.
“We have a small business guy, who has 30 cows, that is just trying to advertise his meat company and what he does,” said Pruzin. “It's a nice mix of people to where you never know what a relationship can create. Afterward, they come together at the reception banquet, and are able to meet different people which I think is a huge addition to someone's business.”
Each of the holes was sponsored by various organizations and companies. This included: Holladay Properties, Centier Bank, CertaPro Painters, City of Crown Point, Lake County Economic Alliance, LakeShore Bone & Joint, Methodist Hospitals, Purdue Federal Credit Union, UnitedHealthcare, and VNA Hospice. NW Indiana ER & Hospital was the beverage cart sponsor, and they came around the course serving beverages to the members.
“We have really great support where with all the sponsorships there is a lot of recurring sponsors,” said Pruzin. “It's nice for our community to come together and support something like this. People show support and we have a lot of sponsorships. I played in a lot of golf outings and every hole here there's a sponsor table which you don't really ever see.”
The main sponsor for the event was Franciscan Health who also had a tent at their sponsored hole.
“We are a very proud sponsor of the Crossroad Chamber golf outing,” said Michelle Hurst, Development Associate for Franciscan Health Foundation. “We are good friends with many of the members, and they're very supportive of our causes. We're the philanthropic arm of the hospital, and a lot of them help us with everything from food insecurity to sponsoring some of our programs.”
In addition to the hole sponsors, Community Healthcare System sponsored the snacks, and McColly Real Estate was the keg sponsor.
“It's great to be the snack sponsor because we keep everybody with nutrition,” said Eileen Meingasner, Account Executive for Community Occupational Health. “We've got healthy snacks, and then we've got stuff like Skinny Pop. Everybody's coming by here where we got music playing, and we are just having a blast out here.”
The outing got off to a shotgun start and then everyone took their golf carts to play the Innsbrook course.
“It's a very smooth golf outing,” said Pruzin. “It's at Innsbrook Country Club, which is the premier course in Northwest Indiana. You get to play at one of the premier courses in Northwest Indiana on a beautiful Monday, but you get to also have fun while networking. You can get out of the office, and especially on a Monday it's fantastic that we can get this many people that come out and do this.”
To learn more about the Crossroads Chamber, visit https://crossroadschamber.org/.
