By Dana Vicich
A new trend has emerged in Disc Golf over the last few years. It’s a trend that doesn’t seem to be fading out any time soon, unless of course it’s Disc Golf season. I’m talking about the emergence of the Winter Putting League. It’s a time where most of the country is hampered by daylight savings time, cold and snow. To combat the lack of Disc Golf, some brilliant Disc Golfer somewhere came up with the idea of an indoor putting league. Now we see leagues all over the country at breweries, rec centers, bowling alleys and in the case of the “New Hampshire Indoor Putting League”, the Loyal Order of the Moose.
The “New Hampshire Indoor Putting League” was founded by Ryan Zewski in 2014 with the goal of giving New England Disc Golfers a place to get away from the snow and jam putts, see friends and enjoy beverages. Zewski had more in mind than just the fun and games of a putting league. He wanted the NHIPL to make a difference, so in 2014 and 2015 the league raised money for “Erica’s Walk for a Cure”. Over $1000 was raised these first two years to fight Mastocytosis.
The founder of the NHIDPL Ryan Zewski and friend Chris Baker
In 2016, Jacob Treadwell and Steve Green took over the NHIPL and stepped up the fundraising game. With the help of donations from both locals and touring pros like Cam & Lesli Todd, Michael Johanson, David Wiggins Jr, Will Schusterick and Eric McCabe the NHIPL was able to raise $1,120.11! Unfortunately, “Erica’s Walk” was not happening in 2017, so the search was on for another worthy cause to donate to.
Zewsky had remembered hearing some friendly banter between Terry “The Disc Golf Guy” and Dana Vicich on SmashboxxTV talking about who was going to raise more money for St. Jude. After learning some more about St. Jude and seeing some of the sports other top pros also raising money, the NHIPL decided to make their donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The plan was to donate the money to St. Jude through the annual PDGA St. Jude Charity Invitational. But due to the event taking a year hiatus, the NHIPL opted to donate the money to St. Jude via the Ledgestone Insurance Open.
The Ledgestone Insurance has raised over $57,000 for St. Jude over the last 4 years. This year, the event has a goal of raising over $20,000 for St. Jude. With the donation from the NHIPL, the Ledgestone Insurance Open is one step closer to their goal of helping St. Jude eliminate childhood cancer.
Please remember the NHIPL next Winter when running your indoor putting league and consider raising money for St. Jude or another worthy cause. If you have any fundraising ideas in regards to raising funds for St Jude, please call or email Dana Vicich at [email protected] or 815.575.1917. If you want to make a donation to St Jude through the Ledgestone Insurance Open, you can do so at this link: http://events.stjude.org/ledgestonedana
