Excitement mounts as another Greatest nears

As you hopefully know by now, we are rapidly approaching our third annual Vindicator’s Greatest Golfer of the Valley Tournament. In fact, just this week my wife and I saw our friend Scotty Porter’s smiling face on the television talking about what a thrill it is to play in The Greatest.

And as the number of participants climbs toward our maximum number of 240, I figured I’d take a few minutes this week to talk about what a personal thrill it’s been for me to be involved (in my own small way) with a program like “The Greatest.”

Three-plus years ago, I got to know Todd Franko, the editor of The Vindicator. He showed a clear desire to start a local golf tournament in Youngstown. Having had a little experience in golf tournaments, it took me about two conversations with Todd to realize that the tournament he envisioned was something that I wanted to be a part of.

The original “crew” was already in place: Todd and Ted Suffolk at The Vindy, Dennis Miller from Mill Creek, John Diana from Trumbull Country Club, and Mike Ferranti and Ed Muransky from The Lake Club. I think I chewed away at Todd’s ear just enough to get invited to the initial planning sessions.

The goal was simple (or so we thought): Let’s start a premier tournament that’s fair, inclusive for all skill sets, is a great deal for local golfers, highlights some area courses and is run in a professional way.

We created the format, laid out the flights and away we went.

By the time the inaugural Greatest Golfer of the Valley was here, we were very happy to have 97 participants.

For me, I was just happy to be involved. One of the by-products of The Greatest in year one was the Greatest 18 Holes of the Valley on Vindy.com.

Todd gave me the opportunity to do the online blogging and here I am, still typing away several years later.

Year one was a success! We had 97 players, great finishes in all of the flights and a great list of “Inaugural Greatest Champions.”

If possible, I think The Vindicator promoted the Greatest even more in year two than it did in year one.

We created another Greatest 18 Holes of the Valley as voted on by the golfing public.

We started a junior golf series that culminated with a season ending tournament of champions. And we got more courses involved with the actual Greatest Golfer tournament. The result? The number of participants climbed from 97 to 190, along with 150 juniors — success!

And now, here we are in year three:

Six junior tournaments that thrilled 250 junior golfers.

Six different courses to compete on.

A weekly column talking about all things golf.

A great list of corporate sponsors for the juniors and adult tournaments led by Farmers National Bank.

More Vindicator promotions than before.

More “chatter” at the courses than before.

And what looks to be a maxed out field.

Pretty awesome!

I love my opportunity to be involved with the Greatest. From online blogging to this Sunday column, I have always tried to convey my love of the game and my thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts with fellow golfers of the Valley.

Only three weeks out, I can’t wait for year three. I hope you’re all as excited as I am.

Jonah Karzmer is a former player at YSU and a member at The Lake Club. He works in insurance when not writing a golf column every Sunday in The Vindicator. Email him at jkarzmer@farmersagent.com.