Saturday's raucous event raised at least $6,000

NEW HAMBURG, Mo. -- This was a loud and rowdy "Kow" town Saturday afternoon as hundreds played golf with tennis balls and oddly shaped and abnormally large clubs, all for the sake of the Kenny Rogers Children's Center and the Missouri Veterans Home.

It was the 20th anniversary of the Kow Pasture Klassic behind Schindler's Tavern at St. Lawrence Parish.

Sixty-six teams of four "golfers" participated. Each team paid a $120 entry fee.

This was clearly not a gentleman's golf course. The short nine-hole course is set on, as the title suggests, a cow pasture where patties replace divots as course obstacles.

And many of the participants were every bit as rugged and outrageous as the fairways.

Polite applause was replaced by the occasional swear word. Water bottles were replaced by beer. No one seemed to care about keeping the noise down. Laughing and carrying on appeared to be accepted as proper etiquette.

Shortly after noon, following a serene color-guard ceremony, some men could be heard whooping it up at the first green.

"I saw Tiger Woods do that at the Masters last week!" one man exclaimed.

The chuckles disappeared as the men moved onto the next tee.

One team, comprised of four college-age men, had a few girls walking the course with them, including a caddy who carried a cooler instead of a bag.

Brooks Heuring had one of the more impressive drives of the day on the difficult ninth hole. A patch of brush and trees are a few feet in front of the tee, and the golfer had to clear the trees to reach the fairway. Heuring was one of the few who didn't have problems on the hole.

Using a "monster" wedge -- the club's blade was the size of a large book -- he blasted the florescent green tennis ball within 10 feet of the stick.

Surely, the rest of New Hamburg heard the reaction.

"It's fun to do this for a good cause," he said. "We like to drink, and the money goes for good people in Southeast Missouri."

Mitch Miller, the tournament organizer, said the event would bring in between $6,000 and $8,000. In addition to the tournament, an auction was held. Food was also served.

The Kenny Rogers Children's Center works to improve the quality of life for children with special needs and their families. It is located in Sikeston, Mo.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635