OTA High Stakes Christmas Party

The Ozark Turf Association held their annual Christmas Party presented by Professional Turf Products and hosted by Ledgestone Country Club on Saturday December 17th.

A social hour preceded a dinner choice of either Prime Rib, Spinach Stuffed Chicken, or Jack Daniels Smoked Salmon, served with sides of au gratin potatoes and vegetables. Dessert consisted of Cheesecake and/or cobbler with ice cream.

After the dinner hour, the attendees hit the casino gaming tables provided by B Sharp Entertainment, where players started with $500 funny money. The beauty of the set up was if one ran out of money, they were able to reload at another table. We had a Texas Hold-Em table, two blackjack tables and one spinney game table, more commonly known as roulette. After running out of money, some guests retreated to telling stories and catching up with each other.

At the end of the night, prizes were given to the players with the most money. In first place was Melvin Waldron III, CGCS, Golf Course Superintendent at Horton Smith G.C. sitting emotionless with steely eyes, (and therefore we need a sarcasm font), he won most of his money at the Texas Hold-Em table, where playing against fellow players instead of the house seemed to make the difference. Second place ended in a tie, with our sponsor Brad Gray, Professional Turf Products beating out one of our hosts, Kolby Armbruster, Golf Course Superintendent at Ledgestone Country Club, with an exciting game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. Both earned most of their bankrolls at the Texas Hold-Em table. Although Kolby earned most of his in the early going when blinds were less money. Fourth place was our Hostess, Katie Armbruster, she earned most of her money at the Blackjack and Roulette (or spinney wheel as she calls it) table. Fifth place also resulted in a tie between Maron Towse, Golf Course Superintendent, Schifferdecker Golf Course, and OTA President and Barry Siems, Owner of Precision Turf Products. Maron won the coin flip that they had. Barry still went home a winner, taking one of the Christmas ornaments Katie had made, as did all the winners.

We would like to thank again, our sponsor, Brad Gray and Professional Turf Products, our hosts Katie and Kolby Armbruster (who found B Sharp Entertainment for Casino Game Night) and all the wonderful staff at Ledgestone Country Club who prepared our food and drinks. We would also like to thank all our members who attended the festivities, we hope they enjoyed the evening.

We look forward to seeing our members at our next event, our Education/Annual Meeting Day presented by VanWall Equipment, January 18th, 2023, at Highland Springs Country Club. Keep an eye out for the agenda of the next couple of weeks.